One million for state-of-the-art chemical research facilities

In the subsidy programme ’Investment Subsidy NWO Medium’ from the Division for the Chemical Sciences (CW) four applications have been honoured. A total of 1 million euros has been awarded. The projects cover an EPR machine for novel materials and catalytic processes, vibrational spectroscopy for molecular structures, equipment for gasoline production analyses and a new facility for unravelling molecular aggregation.

The programme for medium-sized investments within the Division for the Chemical Sciences covers subsidies for the acquisition of equipment costing between 110,000 and 900,000 euros. The nature of the equipment together with the quality of the research to be supported by it, plays a decisive role in the assessment of the applications. The approved projects are:

– Catalysts and materials scrutinised using EPR
Dr B. de Bruin, Universiteit van Amsterdam and Radboud University Nijmegen
With this NWO subsidy a new EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) machine will be acquired with which a team of scientists from the Universiteit van Amsterdam and the Radboud University Nijmegen will be able to study novel materials and catalytic processes.

– The dynamic structure of molecules exposed by infrared light
Prof. W.J. Buma, Universiteit van Amsterdam and FOM Institute for Plasma Physics Rijnhuizen
In recent years the ’Free Electron Laser for Infrared eXperiments’ (FELIX) at the FOM Institute for Plasma Physics Rijnhuizen has shown that vibrational spectroscopy in the gas phase can be an extremely powerful tool for determining molecular structures. The current project is a significant expansion to the FELIX research facility.

– The reaction mechanism of the production of gasoline from synthesis gas
Prof. J.C. Schouten, Eindhoven University of Technology
Hydrocarbons, such as gasoline, can be catalytically produced from a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen obtained from coal or natural gas. The mechanism of this economically important process can be clarified by suddenly replacing the reactor feed, when it is in a chemically stationary position, with an isotopic variant. The subsidy awarded will be used to make considerable improvements to the analytical part of the equipment present.

– Optical measurement techniques for unravelling the mechanism of molecular aggregation
Prof. E.W. Meijer, Eindhoven University of Technology
This subsidy will be used to create a new facility with which researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology will be able to unravel the aggregation mechanisms of synthetic and natural molecules. The facility will contain various spectroscopic techniques in which the formation of aggregates of chiral molecules can be studied with the help of circular polarised light.