20th Blue Danube Symposium on Heterocycles in Chemistry

<h5>What is your research and educational background?</h5>I obtained my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Biochemistry at the Faculty of Science, Palacký University Olomouc, Czechia. I am currently finishing my PhD in Clinical Biochemistry and Medicinal Chemistry at the Faculty of Medicine, Palacký University Olomouc, Czechia. I have been working in the field of lipidomics since my Master's studies and my first research project revolved around optimization of untargeted lipidomics of dry blood spots and other microsampling devices. During my PhD, I am investigating various clinical applications of lipidomics in close collaboration with the clinicians at our University Hospital Olomouc in Czechia.<h5>What is your current research focus?</h5>At the moment, we are using lipidomics to answer all sorts of clinical research questions. I work in a university hospital where we are trying to translate lipidomics into clinical applications and optimise lipidomics-based tests to meet the needs of laboratory medicine. We are trying to bridge the gap between lipidomics and diagnostic laboratory testing by explaining to clinicians how we can use the information provided by lipidomics and select the relevant markers to answer their clinical questions or problems.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Avanti_Research_Ales_Kvasnicka_My_talk_at_the_Metabolomics_2024_conference_for_which_I_received_the_Avanti_Polar_Lipids_Travel_Award_a2eb2f95f2.jpg" alt="Avanti Research/Aleš Kvasnička: My talk at the Metabolomics 2024 conference, for which I received the Avanti Polar Lipids Travel Award." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Avanti_Research_Ales_Kvasnicka_My_talk_at_the_Metabolomics_2024_conference_for_which_I_received_the_Avanti_Polar_Lipids_Travel_Award_a2eb2f95f2.jpg 116w," sizes="100vw" width="761" height="1023"><h5>What initially attracted you to study lipidomics?</h5>It had to be the challenge in it. The challenge is to understand the new universe of tens of thousands of possible structures of all kinds of lipids and to decipher their role in human health and disease. When I first started reading publications and books on lipidomics, I could hardly comprehend how diverse and vast the world of lipids is. Even after completing my biochemistry degree and having an understanding of lipid biochemistry, I had much more to learn and I still learn new things about lipids every day. I believe that trying to understand the role of lipids in the human organism is a lifelong endeavour, and this makes it a challenge and the main driving force for me.<h5>What has your experience been while using Avanti products?</h5>We have very good experience with Avanti products. The most frequently bought consumable is definitely the SPLASH® LIPIDOMIX® which we have spiked as an internal standard to many thousands of samples already. We have also experience with some other mixtures such as SPLASH® II LIPIDOMIX®, EquiSPLASH® and the UltimateSPLASH™ ONE. Additionally, we have bought labelled and unlabeled fatty acids and various ceramide species for other applications. Currently, we are considering to order some unique lipids like long-chain polyunsaturated phosphatidylcholines that would need to be synthesized on request.<h5>What are your biggest motivators to keep up your work?</h5>The best part is seeing how our results can directly help patients in our hospital. I can see the untapped potential of lipidomics in clinical applications. We have only scratched the surface of the information that can be obtained from lipidomic profiling of clinical samples. This drives me forward as I see and believe that lipidomics will be used in modern laboratory medicine in the near future and we can already see some of the lipidomics-based tests reaching this stage.<h5>What are your long terms plans within the field?</h5>I would like to see several lipidomics-based tests used routinely in hospital laboratories, and we are trying to make that happen. However, I think this will be a collective effort of many laboratories, and we will only be able to realize the potential of clinical lipidomics through collaboration. By that, I mean in particular efforts to standardize and harmonize lipidomics through collaborative ring trials and frequent exchange of experiences. Personally, I would like to see more microsampling applications that provide a new way of communication between the clinical laboratory and the patient through home sampling. Finally, I would like to understand how we can apply epilipidomics and oxylipin analysis in routine laboratory medicine. These are all very challenging topics for the future.<h5>Are there any innovations in the field of lipidomics that excite you about their applications in the future?</h5>There are too many actually and I am fascinated by how rapidly the field of lipidomics is advancing. I see it at conferences and publications where a large development can be seen every year. In the terms of clinical applications of lipidomics, there are already a few markers being tested for diagnostic or risk assessment applications in cancer and cardiovascular disease. However, one of the most admirable advancements that are in my opinion ahead of this time is the intraoperative mass spectrometry. The fact that we currently possess the technology to have handheld surgical knives or scanning devices (iKnife or MassSpec Pen) that surgeons can use to distinguish cancerous from normal tissue in real-time seems unreal. The fact that this technology is already in the hands of surgeons and being tested in operating rooms is astonishing.<h5>Where do you see the field in 10 years?</h5>In 10 years I believe (and I am willing to bet on it!) that we will have laboratory tests based on LC-MS lipidomics or selected lipidomics-based markers in routine practice. In addition, I expect major advances in processing software using artificial intelligence and machine learning for even more precise lipid identification from mass spectra and advanced data mining. Lipidomics will merge with several other omics and we can already see this happening today. However, I believe that we will be able to extract much more information from our data and integrate it together, leading to an even deeper understanding of the pathobiochemistry of disease at the systems level. In addition, since I love the technology of (not only) mass spectrometers, I am looking forward to the new analyzers, fragmentation mechanisms and imaging technologies that the manufacturers will develop and make available to us.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Avanti_Research_Ales_Kvasnicka_Me_next_to_our_favourite_Sciex_QTRAP_6500_bd177824bf.jpg" alt="Avanti Research/Aleš Kvasnička: Me next to our favourite Sciex QTRAP 6500+." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Avanti_Research_Ales_Kvasnicka_Me_next_to_our_favourite_Sciex_QTRAP_6500_bd177824bf.jpg 209w," sizes="100vw" width="1908" height="1431"><h5>What are some of your proudest moments you have had while doing your research?</h5>My scientific career is just starting, as I am finishing my PhD and am moving on to my next career step at Rikshospitalitet, Oslo, Norway, but there have been several highlights along the way. At the top of this list is definitely my first research article where we investigated lipidome changes caused by hyperuricemia and gout, which was published in Arthritis Research &amp; Therapy (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13075-023-03204-6">https://doi.org/10.1186/s13075...</a>). Next, my colleagues and I, who were also PhD students, received a doctoral grant ("Comprehensive metabolomic and lipidomic study of tauopathies in transgenic rat models and humans") from our university, which was also a great highlight. I had the opportunity to give oral presentations and promote my research at prestigious international conferences and seminars such as Metabolomics 2024, Lipidomics GRS/GRC 2024, Metabolomics GRS/GRC 2023 and EpiLipidNET meetings. I was also honoured to receive the Avanti Travel Award to attend the Metabolomics 2024. However, what makes me proud is the bigger picture and by that I mean networking and collaboration. I have the honour of being a member of the Early Career Members Network (EMN) Committee of the Metabolomics Society, I was elected as the Chair of the Task Group: Young Scientists of the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) and finally I am part of the Young Researchers and Investigators Committee of EpiLipidNET. These opportunities have allowed me to be directly involved in shaping the future of these societies and making the voices of young researchers more heard. Finally, I am proud to have successfully supervised 3 bachelor/master students, one of whom even won the Dean's Prize for her thesis.<h5>What advice would you give to people trying to get into lipidomics?</h5>Read papers, watch recordings of influential lipidomic scientists (there are many videos freely available on the internet) and become part of international societies. All these factors can help you to get on the track. From my personal experience, I can definitely recommend early career researchers to apply for an internship to some experienced research lab doing lipidomics. I have completed multiple internships during my PhD and each of them provided me with new skills, experience and connections.<h5>What major challenges do you currently face in your research and how do you plan to tackle them?</h5>The translation of lipidomics into clinical applications is a winding road due to the lack of standardisation and many other factors, but mainly I think it's sometimes hard to bring clinicians and lipidomic scientists to mutual understanding and some level of compromise. We want to quantify as many lipids as possible in the sample and then want to mine as much information as possible from the data. This information can be quite overwhelming and providing clinicians with complex visualisations and (semi)quantitative values of higher hundreds of lipids can turn their interest off to even continue with lipidomics. So in this regard, we are having a lot of discussions with our clinicians and are working on these compromises.<h5>In what ways do you feel your research will be helpful to the public?</h5>I think I already answered this question in a way, but to elaborate further I will be happy and satisfied once my research will directly help to save people's lives and help their wellbeing. We can see it already in our laboratory, where some of my amazing colleagues developed metabolomics-based methods for diagnosis of inherited metabolic disorders (IMD). These methods are routinely used in our lab and have saved many lives of people suffering from IMD. I can see the same for lipidomics not only in the field of IMD but also in other fields such as cardiovascular disease where lipidomics can provide better risk stratification and identify patients at risk which would not be detected by conventional biochemical parameters. We are now trying to establish this method as a routine analysis in our lab and we have successfully analysed samples of more than 3000 CVD patients from our hospital. We are focusing on hyperuricemia and gout patients and how the lipidome is affected by these conditions and how does it respond to treatment. Additionally, we are now testing a lipidomics-based diagnostic model to classify patients with septic inflammation in knee joints compared to chronic inflammation by osteoarthritis. These are some of the projects which will hopefully soon help the patients (not only) in our hospital.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/Avanti_Research_Ales_Kvasnicka_Our_team_involved_in_the_development_of_diagnostic_methods_in_the_Laboratory_of_Inherited_Metabolic_Disorders_at_the_University_Hospital_Olomouc_b87d4d3faa.jpg" alt="Avanti Research/Aleš Kvasnička: Our team involved in the development of diagnostic methods in the Laboratory of Inherited Metabolic Disorders at the University Hospital Olomouc. From left: Dana Dobešová, David Friedecký, Eliška Ivanovová, Aleš Kvasnička (já), Jaroslava Friedecká a Barbora Piskláková." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_Avanti_Research_Ales_Kvasnicka_Our_team_involved_in_the_development_of_diagnostic_methods_in_the_Laboratory_of_Inherited_Metabolic_Disorders_at_the_University_Hospital_Olomouc_b87d4d3faa.jpg 208w," sizes="100vw" width="1979" height="1484"><h5>In what ways do you think Avanti could help you with your current research and research in the future?</h5>I must say that Avanti has a great and open approach to their customers. Every time, I am talking to some of their representatives there is a constructive discussion regarding their products. I have recently sent Avanti some of my ideas about potential standard mixtures and they offered me to test them and to possibly collaborate. For me it's always a pleasure to discuss the current needs and gaps in lipidomics with the Avanti representatives. I believe that Avanti has played and continues to play a major role in the rapid advancement of the field of lipidomics and I look forward to many new products in the future.<h5>Are they any people you would like to recognize for playing a big part in your success in the field? How did they help you achieve your goals?</h5>There are many names to be mentioned as I had a handful of great mentors during my scientific career so far. My lipidomics journey started on my first half-year internship in Tübingen, Germany in the laboratory of Prof. Michael Lämmerhofer. During this visit, I learned the workflow of untargeted SWATH lipidomics under the guidance of my good friend Bernhard Drotleff. This opened the first door for me into the world of lipidomics. Then I had a chance to visit the laboratory of Hiroshi Tsugawa in Japan, where I got my hands on the cutting-edge mass spectrometer ZenoTOF 7600 with EAD fragmentation technology and I helped to test and write tutorial for the MS-DIAL 5 software. Most recently I visited the lab of Prof. Maria Fedorova in Dresden where I familiarized myself with the analytical and computational workflows of oxidized lipid analysis also called epilipidomics. Maria led me to join the EpiLipidNET Cost Action and the YRI committee which provides an inspiring collaborative platform for (epi)lipidomics researchers. There are many more names to be mentioned but most importantly I would like to highlight my PhD supervisor and mentor Prof. David Friedecký. He provided a collaborative and supportive environment to work in, do research and grow. He offered me a lot of freedom to do what I want in my research and helped me in every step when I needed it. I must say that David is a boss with high demands, but also a lot of understanding and an inspirational aura.

Conversations with Lipid Leaders - Aleš Kvasnička, MSc

The INTERMAT project, launched by CATRIN researchers in collaboration with commercial partners, aims to enhance the efficiency of crop cultivation in greenhouses and hydroponic systems, improve plant resilience, and boost the competitiveness of companies in the region. Supported by 63.7 million Czech koruna from the Johannes Amos Comenius Operational Programme under the Intersectoral Cooperation for ITI call, researchers will, over the next four years, focus on developing and testing new nanomaterials for plant monitoring and eco-friendly growth regulators.“In the past, Palacký University’s research centres have achieved numerous results with significant real-world application potential. This is why we have partnered with two innovative companies in the region to collaborate on designing new processes and materials, aiming to translate new technologies into practice. These technologies will enable intensive and efficient crop cultivation in greenhouses and hydroponic systems,” said Ivo Frébort, the project’s principal investigator from CATRIN.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/CATRIN_INTERMAT_podpori_efektivni_pestovani_plodin_d30f03a102.jpg" alt="CATRIN: INTERMAT to support efficient crop cultivation" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_CATRIN_INTERMAT_podpori_efektivni_pestovani_plodin_d30f03a102.jpg 245w," sizes="100vw" width="1200" height="734"> In addition to CATRIN, the project includes UP’s Faculty of Science, along with AGRO Haná and Geschur Medical as application partners. Together, they will build on previous research, particularly in materials science and the development of graphene-based materials pioneered by scientists at Palacký University.The project aims to enhance regional competitiveness, particularly in innovative plant production, biotechnology and biomedicine—key areas of application and innovation at both the regional and national levels. Among the anticipated benefits is a reduction in lighting costs for greenhouse farms while maintaining plant productivity. The project will also leverage one of CATRIN’s inventions—environmentally safe luminescent solar concentrators for harvesting sunlight.“As part of the project, we will develop innovative materials for cleaning, recycling and monitoring nutrient solutions used in hydroponic plant cultivation. Additionally, we will introduce new materials for monitoring the physiological state of hydroponically grown plants through biosensing, enabling early detection of potential pathogens,” explained Nuria De Diego from CATRIN.To reduce the use of chemicals in field cultivation, researchers will develop growth regulators designed for the gradual release of active substances. Another research team will focus on technical cannabis, working to increase its resistance to stress conditions with the help of new biostimulants. Additionally, to improve the economic viability of medical cannabis cultivation, experts will propose &nbsp; a method for evaluating bio-waste through the additional extraction of bioactive compounds.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/CATRIN_INTERMAT_podpori_efektivni_pestovani_plodin_2_29fdd0fb78.jpeg" alt="CATRIN: INTERMAT to support efficient crop cultivation" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_CATRIN_INTERMAT_podpori_efektivni_pestovani_plodin_2_29fdd0fb78.jpeg 208w," sizes="100vw" width="1600" height="1200">The INTERMAT project (Interdisciplinary Approaches for the Development and Application of New Materials in Industrial, Agricultural and Medical Fields) will run until the end of 2028.

INTERMAT to support efficient crop cultivation

Dangerous bacteria and toxic heavy metals can be removed from water by using a filtration membrane developed by scientists from the Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute (CATRIN) at Palacký University Olomouc and the Centre for Energy and Environmental Technologies (CEET) at VSB – Technical University of Ostrava. It also eliminates combined pollution, which poses a serious environmental and health threat, in a single step, without the need for energy sources or chemicals commonly used for water disinfection. The membranes are easily renewable, making this technology a breakthrough solution for affordable and safe drinking water anywhere in the world.The scientists aimed to use commonly available and inexpensive filter membranes, onto which they applied the Nobel Prize-winning carbon material graphene with chemical traps for heavy metals and bacteria. In developing the technology, they were inspired by a process they recently used in the development of atomic antibiotics. They presented the new technology to the scientific world in the prestigious <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451929425003766?via%3Dihub">Chem</a> journal.“We have used graphene modified with carboxyl groups, which effectively capture heavy metals such as lead and cadmium. In the next layer of the membrane, we used a similar graphene material with manganese ions. These ions have a strong chemical bond with bacteria, which we have already proven in our research on atomic antibiotics,” said Radek Zbořil, author of the concept, who works at both CATRIN as well as CEET research centre.Filtration membranes developed by Czech scientists can also function on a semi-industrial scale, which allows them to be used in practice. “The technology achieves filtration efficiency of over 99.999 percent against a wide range of microorganisms in distilled, tap, and river water. In addition, the membranes have a high capacity for capturing heavy metals, thus meeting strict legislative limits. The entire process is very simple, which allows it to be used even in areas without access to electricity. The technology is inexpensive to maintain because the membranes can be easily and effectively regenerated for re-use,” explained David Panáček, the study’s first author, who now works at the Imperial College London.Thanks to its simple design and affordable materials, the new technology appears to be a cheap alternative to traditional water treatment methods, which are complex and demanding in terms of energy consumption. Moreover, this approach represents a completely new concept in water filtration and disinfection. Current technologies, such as ultrafiltration or nanofiltration, rely on small pores in membranes to capture bacteria, but they are very expensive.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/CATRIN_Revoluce_v_cisteni_vody_Membrana_odstrani_nebezpecne_bakterie_i_tezke_kovy_4015e8a773.jpg" alt="CATRIN: Revolution in water purification: Membrane removes dangerous bacteria and heavy metals" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_CATRIN_Revoluce_v_cisteni_vody_Membrana_odstrani_nebezpecne_bakterie_i_tezke_kovy_4015e8a773.jpg 234w," sizes="100vw" width="1024" height="683">“Our technology does not address pore size, but rather relies on the chemical properties of manganese ions, which bind strongly to bacteria. This technology allows us to effectively remove even problematic strains, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, known for its ability to form biofilms in pipes and filters. This has enormous potential for improving water disinfection in hospitals or food processing plants,” added Milan Kolář from the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at Palacký University, who participated in the research.Heavy metals enter surface waters from industrial production or mining, while bacteria often originate from inadequately treated wastewater, agricultural activities, and rainwater runoffs. Traditional methods for removing these contaminants are technologically demanding and financially costly. Chemical processes such as ozonation or chlorination are used to remove bacteria, while heavy metals are removed using multi-stage methods such as precipitation, flocculation, coagulation, and others.“Combining these demanding processes is very difficult, both technologically and economically. In developing countries, where there is a lack of funding and adequate infrastructure, combined pollution from heavy metals and bacteria is one of the biggest problems in terms of access to clean water. The aim of the research was to simplify the complex process of water treatment and develop inexpensive technology that can remove both types of pollution in a single step, which we have succeeded in doing,” added Zbořil.The technology could be used, for example, in wastewater treatment in industrial areas, securing drinking water in developing countries, or providing quick and effective solutions in crisis situations such as armed conflicts or natural disasters, where access to electricity is limited.

 Revolution in water purification: Membrane removes dangerous bacteria and heavy metals

An international team of scientists, including experts from CATRIN at Palacký University, has developed a new type of plasmonic photocatalyst capable of converting biomass into key raw materials for bioplastic production with high efficiency and selectivity using solar energy. The research results, which represent a significant step towards more sustainable chemical manufacturing, have been published in the prestigious journal Nature Catalysis.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/CATRIN_A_new_generation_of_solar_catalyst_converts_biomass_into_raw_materials_for_bioplastics_e4dc54875b.jpg" alt="CATRIN: A new generation of solar catalyst converts biomass into raw materials for bioplastics" srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_CATRIN_A_new_generation_of_solar_catalyst_converts_biomass_into_raw_materials_for_bioplastics_e4dc54875b.jpg 156w," sizes="100vw" width="1280" height="1280">Biomass—organic material of plant or animal origin—is among the most promising renewable resources for the production of high value-added chemicals and materials. The research focused on the molecule 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), which is derived from sugars contained in plant biomass and is regarded as one of the key intermediates in modern biorefineries. Through controlled oxidation, HMF can be converted into 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a compound that serves as a fundamental building block for biopolymers, such as PEF plastic, an environmentally friendly alternative to the widely used PET.However, current industrial methods for producing this compound are technologically demanding. They often require strongly alkaline conditions, elevated temperatures, or increased pressure. Despite this, they suffer from low selectivity, leading to the formation of unwanted by-products and higher energy consumption. As a result, contemporary research is seeking new approaches that would allow this chemical transformation to be driven by light energy under milder and more environmentally friendly conditions.The newly developed catalyst is based on a combination of nanostructured titanium nitride and extremely small nanoparticles of a ruthenium–platinum alloy. Titanium nitride acts as a material that very efficiently absorbs light, particularly its infrared component, converting it into energy-rich electrons and local heat. These effects subsequently promote the activation of molecular oxygen on the surface of the catalytically active nanoparticles, where the chemical reaction itself takes place.“The key aspect is that the individual components of the catalyst work together in perfect synergy. This allows us to control the oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural with great precision and achieve an almost complete conversion to the target product without the use of strong chemical additives or extreme reaction conditions. Compared with existing technologies, the process is significantly more selective, more energy-efficient, and produces substantially less waste,” said one of the corresponding authors of the study, Štěpán Kment from Palacký University.The authors emphasise that this approach enables oxygen activation in a fundamentally different way than conventional catalytic systems. As a result, the reaction can be carried out in an aqueous environment without the addition of alkaline agents, while avoiding non-selective reactions that would otherwise lead to material losses. The outcome is a highly efficient and precisely controlled process suitable for future applications.According to the researchers, this plasmonic catalytic platform represents a previously unexplored concept in the field of biomass conversion. “It opens up new opportunities for future biorefineries that could use solar energy and renewable feedstocks to produce plastics, solvents, and other chemical products with a significantly lower carbon footprint than current industrial technologies,” concluded Kment.The research involved scientists from CATRIN at Palacký University, the Centre for Energy and Environmental Technologies, and the national supercomputing centre IT4Innovations at VSB–TUO, in collaboration with partners from China, Italy, and the United States.<blockquote><h4>The original article</h4><h4><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41929-025-01454-y?fbclid=IwY2xjawOwzklleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETBWZE9nUVBUR3ViTWs5ekptc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHjMHx-lfljleJ5Hkgyj1B4u4IGXGChlp8YGVMWbdTjlmqC-beTiKrxofdB6H_aem_eS2PaVl3Ja6Hl0xfXYkHyw#Sec7">Near-infrared plasmonic activation of molecular oxygen for selective oxidation of biomass derivatives</a></h4>Manpreet Kaur, Sourav Rej, Jan Navrátil, Eva Yazmin Santiago, Michal Otyepka, Stefano Livraghi, Lorenzo Mino, Štěpán Kment, Zhikang Xu, Haibo Zhu, Paolo Fornasiero, Alexander O. Govorov, Piotr Błoński &amp; Alberto NaldoniNat Catal 8, 1370–1381 (2025)<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-025-01454-y">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-025-01454-y</a><h6>licensed under <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC-BY 4.0</a></h6></blockquote>Selected sections from the article follow. Formats and hyperlinks were adapted from the original.<h4>Abstract</h4>Upgrading biomass feedstock into higher-value chemicals is central to improve the sustainability of the chemical industry and to reduce its dependence on fossil raw materials. Heterogeneous photocatalysts are promising for the oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a biomass-derived molecular platform for biopolymers, but their FDCA selectivity is negligible without the aid of a base. Here we present a plasmonic photocatalyst integrating TiN nanocubes and bimetallic RuPt nanoparticles that in base-free conditions exhibits complete HMF conversion and selective FDCA formation due to an unconventional mechanism of molecular oxygen activation. This unique reactivity is enhanced by both photothermal heating and hot electrons, whose contribution is confirmed by kinetic isotopic effect experiments. Density functional theory calculations support a scenario in which the activated nanoparticle–oxygen complex facilitates the rate-determining step and enables an improved FDCA selectivity. Our results demonstrate the potential of plasmonic photocatalysts in the catalytic transformation of biomass.

A new generation of solar catalyst converts biomass into raw materials for bioplastics

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