OCS/Merck-Banyu Lectureship Award

Our team recently demonstrated a strategy to separate H₂ from a gaseous mixture of H₂/CO/CO₂/CH₄ that can include an excess of CO and CO₂ relative to H₂ and simultaneously store it in N-heterocyclic compounds that act as liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs), which can be applied to produce H₂ by subsequent dehydrogenation. Our results demonstrate that LOHCs can potentially be used for H₂ purification in addition to their well-established use in H₂ storage. Moreover, this work demonstrates a new aspect of main group catalysis beyond its application as a simple alternative to well-established transition metal-catalyzed processes, i.e., the main group–catalyzed hydrogenation of unsaturated molecules (e.g., carbonyl compounds) under mixed gas conditions. Recent progress on our original triarylborane catalysis will also be mentioned in my lecture.