Golden Ball Mills as Green Catalysts

A gold-coated grinding bowl proves to be a real marvel

18-Jun-2024 - Less waste, mild reaction conditions, and no harmful solvents – only a very thin layer of gold is necessary to sustainably convert alcohols into aldehydes through mechanochemistry. A gold-coated milling vessel for ball mills proved to be a real marvel in the research work by Inorganic Chemistry ...

Female scientist strives for sustainability in chemical industry

Dr. Özgül Agbaba is on the road to success with her start-up "MechSyn"

04-Apr-2024 - Dr. Özgül Agbaba and her start-up company, which she launched together with colleagues from the MPI für Kohlenforschung, have successfully raised more than 1.26 million euros in funding from the Federal Ministry of Economics' Exist research transfer program. The next exciting phase is now ...

Light and milling balls for greener chemical processes

Reactions without solvents

16-Mar-2023 - A combination of photochemistry and mechanochemistry saves 98 per cent solvent and 80 per cent energy in a number of reactions. What’s more, the process takes less time than it does in solution. Light-driven chemical reactions so far were usually conducted with large amounts of solvents that are ...

Space Telescope unveils the dark side of pre-stellar ice chemistry

Chameleon I hides a wealth of frozen molecules

25-Jan-2023 - The discovery of diverse ices in the darkest, coldest regions of a molecular cloud measured to date has been announced by an international team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. This result allows astronomers to examine the simple icy molecules that will be ...

Green chemistry: BAM investigates pharmaceutical production without solvents and CO₂ emissions

Pharmaceutical production with mechanochemistry

28-Nov-2022 - The Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) is developing a more sustainable process to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients in a major EU project: The pilot project is intended to demonstrate the advantages of mechanochemistry for more environmentally friendly and CO2-neutral ...

More Sustainability with Mechanochemistry

Research project will develop new environmentally friendly methods for manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients using mechanochemistry as a disruptive technology

29-Sep-2022 - Flour, coffee or spices: Many people know the principle of a mill from the kitchen. But special mills are also used for research purposes in the laboratories of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung. The scientists are convinced that mechanochemistry can make the chemical industry more ...

How light activates MoS2 layers to become catalysts

08-Mar-2021 - Thin films of molybdenum and sulfur belong to a class of materials that can be considered for use as photocatalysts. Inexpensive catalysts such as these are needed to produce hydrogen as a fuel using solar energy. However, they are still not very efficient as catalysts. A new instrument at the ...

Nanoceramics from the ball mill

Nanometer-sized corundum particles can now be produced amazingly easily

01-Nov-2019 - Automotive catalysts, among others, and materials for dental implants could become more robust and easier to manufacture than ever before. This is because chemists at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung in Mülheim an der Ruhr have found a way to produce corundum (also known as ...

How frogs' tongues become sticky

Research team investigates the surface chemistry of the frog sticky-tongue mechanism

29-Nov-2018 - Frogs' capture their preywiththestickymucuscoveringtheir tongues, but this mucusisn't inherently adhesive.Frogmucus is thought to be pressure-sensitive, with tongue retraction strain triggering adhesion. A research team from Oregan State University, Aarhus University and Kiel University ...

Merck Ignites Firework of Research Initiatives During its 350th Anniversary Year

Funding of up to € 350,000 per research grant or up to € 30,000 per research challenge

23-May-2018 - Merck announced several research grants and challenges during the company’s 350th anniversary year in addition to already existing initiatives. The new research grants and challenges are mainly directed to scientists working in institutes, universities or start-up companies around the world. “The ...