Mission

Microwave heating has penetrated many different areas of chemical research in the last decade and is set to revolutionize the way chemists will carry out transformations in the future [1]. Today, the use of microwave heating in areas such as synthetic organic chemistry, inorganic synthesis, polymer synthesis, ceramics, material sciences, and in several different analytical and biochemical applications is growing at a very rapid rate. More and more researchers are taking advantage of the beneficial effects of carrying out chemical reactions utilizing the rapid energy transfer by in situ microwave dielectric heating. Microwaves generate rapid intense heating of polar substances with significant reductions in reaction times (minutes instead of hours), cleaner processes and in many cases better conversions. In fact, some reactions/processes that do not occur by classical heating or that occur in very low yields can be performed in high yields using high-temperature microwave processing. It therefore seems obvious that in a few years most chemical transformations requiring heat will be carried out in microwave reactors. In the field of synthetic organic chemistry for example many academic and industrial research groups are already using microwave chemistry as a forefront technology for rapid reaction optimization, for the efficient synthesis of new chemical entities, or for discovering and probing new chemical reactivity.

Regardless of the relatively large body of published work on microwave chemistry, the exact reasons why microwaves enhance chemical processes are still unknown. Several groups have published on the existence of so-called "specific or non-thermal microwave effects". These speculations are based on experimental results for certain chemical reactions that when carried out at the same measured temperature using either microwave or conventional heating lead to different results in terms of product distribution and yield. There is an urgent need to remove the "black box" stigmata of microwave chemistry and to provide a scientific rationalization for the observed effects. This is even more important, if one considers safety aspects once this technology moves from the small scale laboratory work to pilot or production scale instrumentation. Apart from the issue of "microwave effects", it is clear that for microwave-assisted synthesis to become a fully accepted technology in the future there is a need to develop larger scale techniques, that can ultimately routinely provide products on a multi kg (or even higher) scale. Both of these thematic areas are currently under investigation in the Graz microwave laboratories.

 

The Christian Doppler Laboratory for Microwave Chemistry (CDLMC) was established in July 2006 at the University of Graz, Austria. The primary aim of the laboratory is to perform basic and applied research in the area of microwave chemistry in consultation with industrial partners. This facilitates the efficient technology transfer from Universities to the private sector. Set up as a public-private partnership, the CDLMC is administered by the Christian Doppler Research Association (CDG) which provides matched funding to Austrian and international industrial contributors. Named after the Austrian physicist Christian Doppler (1803-1853) the CDG currently supports more than 50 laboratories in Austria.

 

The CDLMC occupies ca 200 square meters of laboratory and office space at the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Graz. Designed as a seven year project, the grant from the CDG provides funding for personnel (postdocs, PhD students, technicians), equipment, materials and travel costs. Current industrial partners are Anton Paar GmbH, piCHEM R&D, Lonza AG and Thales Nanotechnology Inc., with additional cooperations including other companies such as BASF AG.

 

[1] D. Adam, "Microwave Chemistry: Out of the Kitchen" Nature, 2003, 421, 571-572.