Barta Group

Welcome to the website of the Barta Group!

Research Interests
Research in the Barta group is centered around sustainability and Green Chemistry with a special focus on the conversion of renewable resources and catalysis using earth-abundant metals. Two main research lines are being pursued:

1.) Synthesis and characterization of novel heterogeneous catalysis for the cleavage of crude lignocellulose resources, including lignocellulose pre-treatment and characterization

2.) New homogeneous catalytic methods for the atom-economic functionalization of the obtained building blocks.

A variety of research lines include reductive and hydrogen-neutral depolymerisation and defunctionalization of lignin to aromatic monomers. Similarly, reductive approaches using copper catalysts are used for the conversion of cellulose and derived platform chemicals to a variety of end products. Here, the central aim is to find new concepts that allow to deal with complexity and changed material inputs and to identify causes of and minimize side reactions which lead to decreased product yields. In addition, we are involved in developing new methods for iron-catalysed coupling of alcohols and amines as well as hydrogenation of carbonyl compounds including esters also in an asymmetric fashion.

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The Group

News

ERC Proof of Concept Grant awarded to Prof. Katalin Barta

Great news! Prof. Katalin Barta has been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) Grant worth €150,000. The prestigious ERC PoC grant allows researchers to explore the commercial and societal potential of their ongoing ERC funded discoveries and fudning can be used for example to explore business opportunities, prepare patent applications or verify the practical viability of scientific concepts.

The awarded project ‘PURE’ aims to explore cleaner and more sustainable catalytic pathways for the conversion of renewable resources to valuable building blocks that are of interest for industrial partners.

Congratulations to all past and present group members who have made great contributions!

https://erc.europa.eu/news/PoC-recipients-2019-second-round

Interview with Katalin Barta in ChemCatChem

Professor Katalin Barta was interviewed in celebration of her Netherlands’ Catalysis and Chemistry Conference Award 2019!
Read more here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cctc.201900930

First N3C Award for Katalin Barta

Katalin Barta received the first N3C Award for her outstanding achievements in the field of catalysis. The purpose of the N3C award is to recognize excellent work in catalysis and chemistry carried out by an early career PI. The award is intended to give the next generation of talented catalysis researchers working in the Netherlands an extra encouragement and bring them in the spotlight of catalysis communities in the Netherlands and abroad.
https://www.rug.nl/news/2019/03/first-n3c-award-for-katalin-barta-

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Twitter

Barta Lab @Barta_Lab

The latest paper of our group was also highlighted in @ACSCentSci
https://t.co/Ug6rcKmX5L

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Barta Lab @Barta_Lab

If you want to find out more about how to obtain bioactive molecules from lignin, see the latest paper of our group in @ACSCentSci
Congratulations to the authors!
@StratinghInst @univgroningen

https://t.co/iH5IULXOmW

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Barta Lab Retweeted · ChemCatChem @ChemCatChem

@StratinghInst @UZH_Chemistry @RWTH @fz_juelich Professor Barta @StratinghInst @univgroningen was interviewed in celebration of her Netherlands' Catalysis and Chemistry Conference Award 2019. Learn more about her and her work in #WomenOfCatalysis #N3C https://t.co/Lqe7ENLmQu https://t.co/SL5NJ8O4ar

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Barta Lab @Barta_Lab

The paper is now online in @RSC_Adv !
Two-step catalytic conversion of lignocellulose to alkanes - now published in RSC Advances https://t.co/GNOKndFeFC

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