Professors Richard Schrock and Matthew Conley from the University of California, Riverside have developed new W and Mo based alkylidene olefin metathesis catalysts that can be produced by activation of metathesis-inactive precursors, accessible from metal chloride precursors via as few as three synthetic steps, using visible light. ??,??'disubstituted tungsten cyclopentane complexes can be prepared in the dark and form alkylidenes through irradiation. This technology is advantageous because it can potentially regenerate used catalysts by irradiation with visible light, offering a sustainable and cost-effective approach for industrial and research applications.  Fig 1: Synthetic scheme of alkylidenes from tungstacyclopentane complexes upon exposure to violet or blue light (405-445 nm).  A number of tungstacyclopentanes have been prepared from W(NR)OR’)2Cl2 complexes through alkylation and reduction with diethylzinc in the presence of an olefin.   

Professor Matthew Conley from the University of California, Riverside has discovered that catalysts used to generate polyolefin plastics also perform well in hydrotreatment reactions of plastic waste. This method works by treating plastic materials with known catalysts at 200⁰C to degrade  polymers into smaller alkanes in the presence of hydrogen. This technology is advantageous compared to existing methods since it does not require high temperatures​, has a relatively high yield (+80%)​, and can be applied to a variety of plastics to generate a feedstock of smaller polymers and monomers for further processing.  

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 Efficiency gains for a few sample applications; CGM = Continuous Glucose Monitor; MSS = Mergeable Stateful Signatures.

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Prof. Juchen Guo and his research team have discovered novel methods that use a liquid reagent to extract close to 100% of the metals lithium (Li), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni) and manganese (Mn) from LiCoO2 (LCO) and LiNixMnyCo(1-x-y)O2 (NMC) cathodes, efficiently. This low cost process is easy to implement, scale up, low cost and is environmentally friendly.

Prof. Sheldon Tan and his team have developed a new hierarchical learning-based electro-migration analysis method called HierPINN-EM to solve for multi-segment interconnects in VLSI chips. HierPINN-EM provides much better accuracy, faster training speeds and faster inference speeds compared to current state-of-the-art techniques. 

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Professor Matthew Conley from the University of California, Riverside has developed heterogeneous ruthenium catalysts for olefin metathesis. These catalysts have higher activity than state-of-the-art homogeneous catalysts in metathesis of terminal olefins.  They are combined with state-of-the-art anion capped materials that anchor positively charged Grubbs catalyst to the surface to form active heterogeneous olefin metathesis catalyst. This technology has the potential to produce heterogeneous catalysts that are less expensive, more efficient, and faster than the available homogenous ruthenium catalysts for olefin metathesis. Fig 1: Chemical structure of UCR’s heterogneous Grubb’s catalyst supported on functionalized silica for olefin metathesis.  

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Prof. Charles Cai and colleagues from the University of California, Riverside have developed a method for high yield co-conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to produce high octane fuel additives dimethyl furan (DMF) and methyl furans (MF). This technology works by using Cu-Ni/TiO2, a unique catalytic material that enables high yield (~90%) conversion of 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) and furfural (FF) sourced from lignocellulosic biomass into methylated furans (MF) in either single or co-processing schemes. This invention is advantageous compared to existing technologies due to its high yield and efficiency, low cost, and stable conversion process.   Fig 1: UCR’s furfural conversion and product yields as function of reaction time over Cu-Ni/TiO2.  

Professor Charles Cai from the University of California, Riverside has developed a method to produce a high-performance, renewable polyurethane material made from biomass lignin for use as an adhesive, resin, coating, or plastic. In this method, diols were introduced to realize faster and complete dissolution of technical lignins in volatile organic solvents, which improve lignin miscibility with other components and its dispersion in the PU materials. This technology is advantageous because it improves the economic viability of lignocellulosic biorefinery, can replace petroleum-based polyols in commercial polyurethanes products to reduce carbon footprint, and, as a natural UV-block, lignin reduces the UV aging of PU materials.   Fig 1: The UCR method to produce polyurethane material from biomass lignin.  

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