Elisabeth Bouwman

 Research Page

Dr. E. Bouwman

Phone:(+31) 71 5274550
Fax:(+31) 71 5274451
mail her

Co-ordination and Bio-Inorganic Chemistry
Leiden Institute of Chemistry
Gorlaeus Laboratories
P.O.Box 9502
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands

Visiting adress:
Einsteinweg 55, room HB506
 
 

Personal

Date of birth: March 17, 1962; Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands;
married, 2 children (1995 and 1997).

  
 

Education Leiden University

  • 1986. MSc Chemistry,
  • 1990: Ph.D Chemistry,

    Title PhD Thesis: “Modelling the blue copper site with imidazole-thioether ligands”.
    Thesis advisor: Prof.dr. J. Reedijk.
  
 

Professional

  • March – July 1990: Post-doctoral research TU Delft
  • August 1990 – June 1991: Post-doctoral research, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.A., with Prof.dr. G. Christou,. Synthesis of polynuclear manganese clusters as model systems for the active site of photosystem II.
  • July 1991 – June 1996: KNAW-fellowship research, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Structural and functional model systems for nickel hydrogenases.
  • July 1996 – July 2000: Lecturer (UD) in Inorganic Chemistry, Leiden Institute of Chemistry.
  • July 2000 – present: Senior Lecturer (UHD) in Inorganic Chemistry, Leiden Institute of Chemistry:
  
 

Special research awards and grants

  • DSM Prize for Chemistry and Technology for graduate research (1989).
  • NATO fellowship for post-doctoral research in the USA (1990–1991).
  • Fellowship of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW: 1991–1996).
  • NWO programme for Young Chemists (1994).
  • NWO programme for Young Chemists (1998).
  • NWO/Aspasia programme (2000).
  
  Brief summary of research
Part of the aims of – and inspiration for – the catalytic research topics carried out in my group stem from structural and catalytic modelling of active sites in natural metalloproteins by synthetic complexes and their use as catalysts for a variety of basic organic reactions. The design of ligand systems and the synthesis of metal complexes strongly resembling the active site of hydrogenases are a topic of special consideration for a graduate student and a postdoctoral researcher. Others focus their attention on testing metal coordination compounds and model systems for catalytic activity in homogeneously catalysed reactions. Below a brief summary is given of the major accomplishments in my group. It is my aim to carry out exploratory and fundamental studies directed towards the development of homogeneous catalysts for a large variety of important reactions.

 
  We have shown that by careful selection of the ligands, nickel salts can indeed be used in homogeneous hydrogenation catalysis. We have found the first truly homogeneous nickel hydrogenation catalysts, a result of the successful investigation performed by dr. Angulo (CW "Young Chemists", 1996-2000). The activity of the nickel complexes of didentate phosphane ligands (Figure) was found to be highly dependent on the electronic and steric properties of the ligand. It was found that the oxidation sensitivity of the phosphorus donor atom, and the formation of inactive bis(ligand)nickel complexes determine whether or not a complex will be active as a hydrogenation catalyst.  
  We were the first to synthesise an example of an asymmetric dinuclear iron complex as a model for the iron-only hydrogenases (Angew.Chem. 1998). A large number of manuscripts concerning this work have been published, and several are in preparation. (LIC and CW "Young Chemists" funding; 1994-present)
The investigation dealing with the search for alternative driers for alkyd paints (STW-PPM, IOP, and Industry funding, 1999-present) concerns a highly timely and relevant application of fundamental knowledge of coordination chemistry in general, and of non-toxic manganese and iron complexes in particular. We established that the oxidation reaction of ethyl linoleate (EL) as monitored with time-resolved FT-IR spectroscopy is suitable as a high-throughput screening model reaction for new catalysts. The first insights into the active catalytic species in the drying of alkyd paints have been gained. We have proven the presence of the tetranuclear cluster [Mn4O2(2 ethylhexanoate)6(bpy)2] in the commercial drier SER-AD FS and its catalytic activity in the oxidation of EL. With the EL-oxidation screening system some alternative catalysts with promising activities have been found, and a patent application has been filed.
The one-step hydration reaction of butadiene to form butanone, an important industrial chemical solvent, catalysed by a homogeneous ruthenium catalyst has been reported. Our investigations (STW, 1997-2001) have resulted in increased understanding of the catalytic mechanism of this reaction as well as the deactivation mechanisms, and a tenfold increase in activity has been reached (Chem.Commun. 2001, EurJIC 2002, Organometallics 2002, J.Organomet.Chem. 2002). Furthermore, an unexpected and interesting activity towards catalytic allyl ether formation has been established. We have reported the first example of a ruthenium-catalysed ether formation directly from allylic alcohols. Homo-coupled ethers like di-allyl ether are easily formed as well as ethers from hetero coupling of allyl alcohol with aromatic and aliphatic alcohols. In fact, the ruthenium complexes achieve much higher turnover frequencies and turnover numbers than have been reported for palladium catalysed ether formation. This reaction may be of high importance for the development of new sustainable routes to epoxy resins.

New research projects deal with finding catalytic chloride-free routes to epoxy resins (STW) and phosgene-free routes to isocyanates (CW ECHO).

 
  Click here for a list of this authors CBAC publications