Technical Laboratories

The technical laboratories consist of the central high pressure and large scale synthesis facilities of the institute. The reactor designs are developed and manufactured in cooperation with the institute's workshop. Large scale synthesis facilities are available for reactions in glass vessels up to 200 L. Furthermore, a standard set of purified and/or dried and deoxygenated solvents (about 1.000 L per month) are continuously provided for all groups. Another focus lies in the disposal of chemical waste with an annual quantity of about 23 tons.

Nils Theyssen

Dr. Nils Theyssen

Vita Awards Publications

since 2008: Safety commissioner of the institute
since 2002: Leader of the technical laboratories and sub-group leader of a local scientific group from W. Leitner (RWTH Aachen, external scientific member of the institute)
2003: PhD-examination at RWTH Aachen (W. Leitner)
2000-2003: PhD studies at MPI für Kohlenforschung
1995-2000: studies of chemistry and environmental chemistry at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena;
1974: Born in Dortmund/Germany

2003: Borchers-Plakette

2010

High Pressure Methods and Equipment; N. Theyssen, K. Scovell, M. Poliakoff in: Handbook of Green Chemistry, Volume 4: Supercritical Fluids (eds. P. G. Jessop, W. Leitner, series editor: P. Anastas) Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2010, p. 31-75.

2008

Ruthenium dihydrogen complex for C-H activation: catalytic H/D exchange under mild conditions. M.H.G. Prechtl, M. Hoelscher, Y. Ben-David, N. Theyssen, D. Milstein, W. Leitner; Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2008, 22, 3493-3500.

Supported Palladium Nanoparticles on Hybrid Mesoporous Silica – Structure/Activity-Relationship in the Aerobic Alcohol Oxidation using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide; Z. Hou, N. Theyssen, A. Brinkmann, K. V. Klementiev, W. Grünert, M. Bühl, W. Schmidt, B. Spliethoff, B. Tesche, C. Weidenthaler, W. Leitner; J. Catal. 2008, 258, 315-323.

2007

H/D - Exchange on Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Heterocycles using D2O as Deuterium Source and Ruthenium Dihydrogen - Complex Catalysts; M. H. G. Prechtl, M. Hölscher, Y. Ben-David, N. Theyssen, R. Loschen, D. Milstein, W. Leitner; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 2269-2272.

Nickel(I)-Komplexe mit 1,1 -Bis(phosphino)ferrocenen als Liganden; J. Langer, R. Fischer, H. Görls, N. Theyssen, D. Walther Z. Anorg. Allg. Chem. 2007, 633, 557-562.

Palladium nanoparticles stabilised on PEG-modified silica as catalysts for the aerobic alcohol oxidation in supercritical carbon dioxide; Z. Hou, N. Theyssen, W. Leitner; Green Chem. 2007, 9, 127-132.

Synthesis and Characterisation of Nonclassical Ruthenium Hydride Complexes Containing Chelating Bidentate and Tridentate Phosphine Ligands; M. H. G. Prechtl, Y. Ben-David, D. Giunta, S. Busch, Y. Taniguchi, W. Wisniewski, H. Görls, R. J. Mynott, N. Theyssen, D. Milstein, W. Leitner; Chemistry - A European Journal 2007, 13, 1539-1546.

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Research Topics

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Transformation of coexisting gaseous and liquid into supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) by heating (for better discrimination of the phase barrier a colored metal complex was added)

Compressed and especially supercritical carbon dioxide is a technically well established solvent for analytical chromatography and large scale extractions. The extraction of caffeine from green coffee beans was developed by Dr. Kurt Zosel at the Technikum of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung in the late sixties and is nowadays used worldwide for the production of more than 100.000 t decaffeinated coffee per year. Most recently scCO2 has found considerable and ever increasing interest also as an environmentally friendly alternative solvent for chemical synthesis. Current research efforts at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung are mainly devoted to the utilization of scCO₂ as solvent for catalytic processes.

Development of Nano-Catalysts by Chemical Fluid Deposition (CFD)

Development of Nano-Catalysts by Chemical Fluid Deposition (CFD) for the Transformation of D-Glucose into Fuel Precursor Molecules

The diminishing fossil fuel reserves and the negative impacts of anthropogenic greenhouse gases emissions on the environment force us to implement renewable energy sources in a short time frame. Cellulose-containing biomaterials, which might originate from residues of food production or are ubiquitary and unintersting for current industry applications, are promising feedstocks for fuel production. As a participant of the DFG excellence cluster “Tailor-Made Fuels from biomass” we are dealing with the development of efficient nano-catalysts for transformation of D-glucose (the monomer of cellulose) into fuel precursor molecules such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, levulinic acid or γ-valerolactone.

Synthesis of Magnetically Separable Catalysts and their Application in olefin epoxidations

Synthesis of Magnetically Separable Catalysts and their Application in olefin epoxidations

The separation of highly dispersed catalysts and their recycling from liquid-phase transformations are often critical with respect to recovery rates and preservation of the catalytic activity. In such reactions magnetically separable supports allow a matchless easy and gentle isolation procedure of catalytically active components. Currently, we are investigating the suitability of polyoxometalates which are attached to ferrit cores as catalysts for the olefin epoxidation with hydrogen peroxide.

The institute’s health and safety management

The institute’s health and safety management

Quite a large number of employees are involved in health and safety at work issues. Beside the line executives, as many as 31 appointees for different hazards and six authorized persons with well-defined inspection duties are contributing to that field in form of a sideline job. The activities are coordinated and controled by the safety commissioner of the institute, Dr. N. Theyssen. The targets are arranged quarterly with the managing director, Prof. Dr. A. Fürstner, and the health and safety committee. In quite a large number of these activities, our health and safety officer, Mrs. I. Sahm, is involved in a profound manner. Her substitute, Mr. L. Winkel, is responsible for the central documentation. Our external company physician, Dr. med. J.-H. Bolle, consults the institute in all questions dealing with occupational medizine and carries out corresponding examinations.

The institute is also well-positioned in the area of emergency organization. More than 50 first-aiders, 31 evacuation officers, 21 firemen (twelve of them are skilled in the usage of compressed air breathing apparatus) and one paramedic, Mrs. N.-J. Schrader, support our institute voluntarily. In addition an important assistance is provided by three co-workers from building services, the four members of the on-call service and two certified electricians.