Purdue University School of Chemical Engineering GRADUATE SEMINAR SERIES Prof. Mahdi Abu-Omar Department of Chemistry Purdue University "Chemical Catalysis for Sustainable Energy and the Environment" Tuesday, September 11, 2012 9:00-10:15 a.m. FRNY G140 Reception at 8:30 a.m. in Henson Atrium Abstract. Transition metal catalysts have been an integral part of the success story of the petrochemical industry in the past century. Two of the grand challenges for this century are the utilization of renewable resources and environmental remediation. In this seminar, I will discuss two research projects, chlorite dismutation and biomass conversion. The heme enzyme chlorite dismutase transforms the inorganic oxyanion chlorite to dioxygen and innocuous chloride under ambient conditions and physiological pH. Isotope-labeling and computational studies revealed a tightly controlled rebound mechanism in which each chlorite molecule produces O2 and Cl- on a single metal site. Functional modeling of this enzyme will be presented including the discovery of a manganese water soluble porphyrin that generates catalytically chlorine dioxide from chlorite at neutral pH. Approximately 1.4 billion tons of lignocellulosic biomass is an annually renewable source of energy and feedstock in the U.S. alone. The major components of biomass are cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin- all polymeric and contain high percentage of oxygen. I will describe catalytic processes based on cheap and abundant materials that can be employed in tandem to unravel polymeric biomass into soluble components and their subsequent transformation into fuels or high value organics. Bio. Mahdi Abu-Omar is a professor of chemistry and a university faculty scholar at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Mahdi is a native of Jerusalem. He moved to the U.S. in 1988 to pursue higher education. He received a BS (summa cum laude), 1992, in chemistry from Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia and a Ph.D. in 1996 from Iowa State University working in the field of chemical kinetics and inorganic reaction mechanisms with Prof. James H. Espenson. After a postdoc in bioinorganic chemistry at Caltech with Prof. Harry B. Gray, Mahdi started his independent academic career at the University of California, Los Angeles, and moved to Purdue University in 2003. In addition to fundamental synthesis and mechanistic investigations, Mahdi's research interest includes the design and development of transition-metal catalysts for renewable energy and environmental applications. Dr. Abu-Omar has received several awards including JPP Young Investigator Award from the Society of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines (2010), the College of Science Interdisciplinary Award (2010) and the College of Engineering Team Excellence Award from Purdue University (2007), Faculty Early Career Development Award from NSF (1999-03), and a Beckman Young Investigator Award (1999-02). In 2008, Mahdi was named University Faculty Scholar by Purdue University. Dr. Abu-Omar has supervised 30 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.