Welcome to the Estes Group

Group of Molecular Heterogeneous Catalysis at the University of Stuttgart

People

Members

Deven P. Estes

Deven P. Estes

Junior Professor

Office: Pfaffenwaldring 55, 1.839
Phone: +49 711 685 64060
Email: deven.estes[{at}]itc.uni-stuttgart.de
Curriculum Vitae

Post Docs

Dr. Wael Barakat

Dr. Wael Barakat

Office: Pfaffenwaldring 55, 0.814
Phone: +49 711 685
Email: wael.barakat@itc.uni-stuttgart.de

CRC1333 – Project B05

Copper hydrides are widely used catalyst in different reactions such as CO2 hydrogenation, hydrosilylation, and hydroboration. For that purpose, we are trying to synthesize a mononuclear Cu-H complexes in Lewis acidic mesoporous materials such as covalent organic frameworks (COFs) or mesoporous metal oxides and investigate the effect of confinement on activity and selectivity for gas-phase CO2 hydrogenation.

PhD Students

Hoang-Huy Nguyen (M.Sc.)

Hoang-Huy Nguyen (M.Sc.)

Immobilized Ruthenium Hydride Complexes for CO2 Reduction under Confinement Effects.

Michael Benz (M.Sc.)

Michael Benz (M.Sc.)

Office: Pfaffenwaldring 55, 1.840
Phone: +49 711 685 64306
Email: michael.benz@itc.uni-stuttgart.de 

Heterogeneous flow-reactor testing on the reduction of CO2 to Methanol with special focus on spillover and interactions of the reducible metal oxide supports. Investigations on isolated intermediates by molecular models of hydrogen spillover and reduction tests with CO2 in batch reactions.

Erik Wimmer (M.Sc.)

Erik Wimmer (M.Sc.)

Office: Pfaffenwaldring 55, 1.840
Phone: +49 711 685 64309
Email: erik.wimmer@itc.uni-stuttgart.de 

CRC1333 – Project B08 – Probing Confinement Enhanced Precatalyst Association in Pd Catalyzed Enyne Cycloisomerizations by Advanced NMR Spectroscopy

We are investigating and synthesizing platinum and palladium hydrides for enhanced catalytic reactions, particularly (enantio-)selective enyne cycloisomerization. This investigation aims to enhance reactions through innovative catalyst immobilization, fostering deeper mechanistic understanding.

Osman Bunjaku (M.Sc.)

Osman Bunjaku (M.Sc.)

Office: Pfaffenwaldring 55, 1.840
Phone: +49 711 60048
Email: osman.bunjaku@itc.uni-stuttgart.de 

Surface chemistry on catalysts is a complex process in which many parameters influence the kinetics and selectivity. By using hydride complexes, we aim to model hydrogen spillover from known catalyst systems to gain a deeper understanding and improve these systems.

Mustafa Turan (M.Sc.)

Mustafa Turan (M.Sc.)

PhD Student

Office: Pfaffenwaldring 55, 7.563
Phone:
+49 711 64306
Email:
mustafa.turan@itc.uni-stuttgart.de

Turning lignin into fuel. Studying the mechanisms of hydrodeoxygenation with the help of hydrogen-spillover.

Zeki Beydeda (M.Sc.)

Zeki Beydeda (M.Sc.)

PhD Student

Office: Pfaffenwaldring 55, 1.840
Phone: +49 711 60067
Email: zeki.beydeda@itc.uni-stuttgart.de

The Oxo-process is one of the most prominent homogeneously catalyzed reactions on an industrial scale, with production capacities exceeding 10 Mio tons per year. Currently applied catalysts employ either less expensive Co based catalysts with a poor reactivity or highly reactive but very expensive Rh based catalysts.

In contrast, we are synthesizing and investigating supported Platinum-Tin based catalysts for the hydroformylation reaction. We aim to increase the reactivity of these catalysts and gain insights in the mechanistic details surrounding the Pt-Sn system.

Noah Schellander (M. Sc.)

Noah Schellander (M. Sc.)

PhD Student

Office: Pfaffenwaldring 55, 7.563
Phone: +49 711 60058
Email: noah.schellander@itc.uni-stuttgart.de

Manganese oxide (MnO2) and manganese-based materials are promising oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts due to their abundance, structural versatility and catalytic activity.

We investigate how proton-electron transfer (PET) reactions, induced by controlled reduction with hydrogen donors, influence the oxidation state and activity of Mn centers. By comparing chemically reduced states to those formed during electrocatalysis, we aim to identify active sites and establish correlations between Mn valence states and OER performance.

Students

Hannes Beyertt (B.Sc.)

Hannes Beyertt (B.Sc.)

Research Assistent

Alumni

Sara Noack (B.Sc.)

Sara Noack (B.Sc.)

Research Assistent

Ferdinand  Ertmann (B.Sc.)

Ferdinand Ertmann (B.Sc.)

Master thesis

Felix Göttler (BA)

Felix Göttler (BA)

Bachelor Thesis

Mirjana Kugler (BA)

Mirjana Kugler (BA)

Bachelor Thesis

Dr. Sarah Maier (PhD)

Dr. Sarah Maier (PhD)

Office: Pfaffenwaldring 55, 1.840
Phone: +49 711 685 64069
Email: sarah.maier[{at}]itc.uni-stuttgart.de

Cu-catalyzed atom transfer radical addition reactions (ATRA) enable the versatile functionalization of alkenes and the simple synthesis of functionalized lactones and lactams. However, their disadvantage is that they often require high catalyst loadings, which makes them unsuitable for industrial processes. Polymerization reactions are a special case in which tailor-made polymers can be produced with low catalyst loading.
Since the redox process between Cu(I) and Cu(II) is reversible, it is possible to regenerate deactivated catalysts after the reaction if they can be separated intact and cleanly from the reaction mixture. This is made possible by immobilized catalysts, which are therefore an important tool for making ATRA reactions more sustainable and efficient