BSE, Princeton PhD, University of California at Berkeley Phi Beta Kappa Fellowship National Science Foundation Graduate Student Fellowship Dow Outstanding Teaching Assistant, UC Berkeley multifunctional materials and catalysts; molecularly structured surfaces; energy

Curriculum Vitae (PDF, 27K)

Research Group Website

Catalytic materials are central to most industrial processes. Our research focuses on developing novel routes to the design and synthesis of catalysts, adsorbents, and other functional materials via modification of existing surfaces with organic and organometallic molecules. Surface and grafted molecules engage in cooperativities between acid, base, and redox functionalities that are difficult to engineer with traditional homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysts. (Reference 2) Our directed syntheses exploit organic and organometallic synthetic tools that allow essentially any arbitrary structure to be made. The resulting catalytic structures may otherwise appear infrequently, are unstable, or unable to be characterized. Increasing the diversity of structures available for heterogeneous materials promises to increase the diversity of chemical transformations possible.

These atomically precise materials are also physical models that compliment existing methods of characterization, theory, and simulation. This in turn enables controlled development of catalyst structure-functional relationships and enables directed discovery. Effective and well-understood catalysis is an end goal and a means by which materials structure can be probed. We explore the benefits of atomic structuring of solid materials for chemical reaction classes including selective atom transfer reactions such as hydrogenations, low-temperature activation of molecular oxygen and nitrogen, and novel catalytic systems for energy carrier production.

A long-term goal is to design specific geometric and electronic interactions between individual functional sites on a surface and to create a molecular architectonics that systemizes this approach. The resulting surface networks can be used to mimic and elucidate the mechanisms of complex biological systems for regulated and selective reaction networks.

Recent Publications

J. M. Notestein, L. Andrini, V. Kalchenko, F. Requejo, A. Katz, E. Iglesia, “Structural assessment and catalytic consequences of the oxygen coordination environment in grafted Ti-calixarenes,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, in press.

J. M. Notestein, A. Katz, “Enhancing heterogeneous catalysis through cooperative hybrid organic-inorganic interfaces,” Chem. Eur. J. 2006, 12, 3954-3965.

J. M. Notestein, A. Katz, E. Iglesia, “Energetics of small molecule and water complexation in hydrophobic calixarene cavities,” Langmuir 2006, 22, 4004-4014.

J. M. Notestein, E. Iglesia, A. Katz, “Grafted metallocalixarenes as single-site surface organometallic catalysts,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 16478-16486.

A. Katz, P. DaCosta, A. C. P Lam, J. M. Notestein, “The first single-step immobilization of a calix[4]arene onto the surface of silca,” Chem. Mater. 2002, 14, 3364-3368.

Prof. Justin Notestein
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Northwestern University
2145 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208-3120

fax: 847/491-3728
E-mail Professor Notestein