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The advance in the design of new catalysts
will play a vital role in the Chemistry of the 21st century
according to Avelino Corma, an international referent in this field.
On the occasion of the celebration in 2011 of the International Year of Chemistry
Avelino Corma, the most cited Spaniard researcher
in the international scientific literature,
has been awarded the Spanish Decade Gold Medal
of Research and Innovation in Chemistry for 2001-2010.
During his appointment as an Honoris Causa Doctor
at Universitat Jaume I in Castelló in 2009,
he announced the importance of catalysis.
-We could say that catalysis will play a vital role
in the Chemistry of the 21st century,
concerned with the sustainability and the synthesis of molecules
and materials with new chemical, biochemical and physical properties.
[Avelino Corma. Director of the Institute of Chemical Technology.]
We must understand that if we are capable of designing
better catalysts, we will achieve a higher speed and selectivity
in the chemical process, a lower energy consumption
and a higher use of raw materials,
producing at the same time a lower amount of waste.
-But, what is a catalyst?
-A catalyst is a material that increases the chemical reaction rate
and directs it towards the formation of the target product,
avoiding the formation of other unwanted reaction products.
Therefore, the lower formation of reaction sub-products,
the more selective the catalyst will be.
-The scientist, born in Moncofa and one of the most prolific
patents author in Spain with about 150 registrations,
directs the Institute of Chemical Technology,
joint centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
and the Universitat Politècnica de València.
In its laboratories, they advance in the development
of molecular nanoreactors capable of favouring the catalytic phenomenon.
-However, in spite of the achieved advances,
we are aware that our catalyst models are still limited
when they are compared with the enzymes.
One of these limitations comes from the lower flexibility
of the inorganic systems that prevent a dynamic adaptation
from the catalytic centre to the reagent molecule,
as happens with the enzymes.
Nevertheless, we have the advantages over the biological catalysts
of the greatest thermal and chemical stability of our materials
and the possibility of generating a large amount and variety
of catalytic centres, which allow us to carry out
certain activities in cascade, in large cascade, that did not exist until now
in the field of Chemistry.