| Mission |
The Dutch National Research School Combination - Catalysis Controlled by Chemical Design (NRSC-Catalysis) was founded in 1999 as a highly innovative research program. It is one of the six top research schools selected in 1998 by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and supported financially by the Netherlands Ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences in the Research "In-depth" Strategy. It brought together scientists from various key disciplines at eight Dutch universities. The program aims to achieve fundamental progress in the field of catalysis. It is a long-term effort to extend the boundaries of our knowledge. The NRSC-Catalysis program is committed to fundamental research for the long term, with a horizon that extends beyond the scope of industry. That is why there was no direct participation of industry in the program. Only the chemists with the highest rating in the latest review of Dutch research were invited to participate in the NRSC-Catalysis program. In so doing, the program brought together scientists from different fields of chemistry, with expertise in homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, as well as spectroscopy. At a later stage, bioinspired catalysis was integrated in the program, and electrocatalysis has now also been incorporated. The approaches are both experimental and computational. Much emphasis is placed on the detailed understanding of the mechanism of chemical transformations and catalyst synthesis by way of theoretical analysis and computer modeling. The incorporation of spectroscopy expertise into the program made it possible to view catalytic reactions as they happen. New chemistry has been developed at the interface of supramolecular chemistry, biochemistry, and inorganic chemistry. This has resulted in the design of complex biomimicking catalytic systems, with motion-controlled drug release and information transfer. "Towards integration of different catalytic components and the design and study of complex c |
