Dr. Marco Ranocchiari

Ranocchiari_Marco

Syncat Group Leader

Paul Scherrer Institut
Forschungsstrasse 111
5232 Villigen PSI
Suisse
Téléphone
+41 56 310 58 43

Research Bio

As the group leader of the Syncat group, I am actively working on the synthesis of single-site heterogeneous catalysts based on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) defined at the molecular level. Their application in selective catalytic transformation such as asymmetric hydrogenation, olefin metathesis, olefin hydroformylation, and stereoselective organocatalysis is being explored. A full use of various characterization techniques - such as infra-red, UV-Visible, X-ray photoelectron emission, X-ray Absorption, and NMR spectroscopies as well as X-ray diffraction techniques and electron microscopy to understand structure-performance relations – is employed. Several studies aimed at proving that MOFs are unique heterogeneous molecular catalysts are conducted showing that one can tune active sites and the environment around them at the atomic level to get unique selectivity in catalytic reactions. I am also heavily involved in the low-temperature gas-phase direct oxidation of methane to methanol mediated by copper zeolites and published several publications on the topic.

Curriculum Vitae

2019 - current Lecturer of the course "Industrial Chemistry" at ETH Zurich, Switzerland
2017 - current Co-founder and scientific advisor of novoMOF
2016 - current Group Leader at Energy and Environment Division - Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
2012 - 2018 Lecturer of the course "Catalysis" at ETH Zurich, Switzerland
2013 - 2015 Scientist in Department for Synchrotron Radiation and Nanotechnology, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
2010 - 2013 Postdoc in the van Bokhoven Group, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
2005 - 2009 Ph.D., ETH Zürich, Switzerland
2000 - 2005 B.Sc. and M.Sc., Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
  • Gäumann P, Ferri D, Sheptyakov D, van Bokhoven JA, Rzepka P, Ranocchiari M
    In situ neutron diffraction of Zn-MOF-74 reveals nanoconfinement-induced effects on adsorbed propene
    Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 2023; 127(33): 16636-16644. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c03225
    DORA PSI
  • Gäumann P, Rohrbach T, Artiglia L, Ongari D, Smit B, van Bokhoven JA, et al.
    Tandem hydroformylation‐aldol condensation reaction enabled by Zn‐MOF‐74
    Chemistry: A European Journal. 2023; 29(38): e202300939 (7 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202300939
    DORA PSI
  • Liu Q, Tripp J, Mitchell C, Rzepka P, Sadykov II, Beck A, et al.
    Influence of alloying and surface overcoating engineering on the electrochemical properties of carbon-supported PtCu nanocrystals
    Journal of Alloys and Compounds. 2023; 968: 172128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2023.172128
    DORA PSI
  • Semivrazhskaya OO, Salionov D, Clark AH, Casati NPM, Nachtegaal M, Ranocchiari M, et al.
    Deciphering the mechanism of crystallization of UiO-66 metal-organic framework
    Small. 2023; 19(52): 2305771 (11 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202305771
    DORA PSI
  • Cartagenova D, Bachmann S, Püntener K, Scalone M, Newton MA, Peixoto Esteves FA, et al.
    Highly selective Suzuki reaction catalysed by a molecular Pd-P-MOF catalyst under mild conditions: role of ligands and palladium speciation
    Catalysis Science and Technology. 2022; 12(3): 954-961. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1CY01351C
    DORA PSI
  • Cartagenova D, Peixoto Esteves FA, Fischer NT, van Bokhoven JA, Ranocchiari M
    Solvent-dependent textural properties of defective UiO-66 after acidic and basic treatment
    Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers. 2022; 9(1): 70-77. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1QI00226K
    DORA PSI
  • Dubray F, Paunović V, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Production of jet-fuel-range olefins via catalytic conversion of pentene and hexene over mesoporous Al-SBA-15 catalyst
    Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. 2022; 114: 409-417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiec.2022.07.030
    DORA PSI
  • Gäumann P, Cartagenova D, Ranocchiari M
    Phosphine-functionalized porous materials for catalytic organic synthesis
    European Journal of Organic Chemistry. 2022; 2022(48): e202201006 (15 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.202201006
    DORA PSI
  • Liu Q, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Catalyst overcoating engineering towards high-performance electrocatalysis
    Chemical Society Reviews. 2022; 51(1): 188-236. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1CS00270H
    DORA PSI
  • Liu Q, Rzepka P, Frey H, Tripp J, Beck A, Artiglia L, et al.
    Sintering behaviour of carbon-supported Pt nanoparticles and the effect of surface overcoating
    Materials Today Nano. 2022; 20: 100273 (11 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtnano.2022.100273
    DORA PSI
  • Saedy S, Newton MA, Zabilskiy M, Lee JH, Krumeich F, Ranocchiari M, et al.
    Copper-zinc oxide interface as a methanol-selective structure in Cu-ZnO catalyst during catalytic hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to methanol
    Catalysis Science and Technology. 2022; 12(8): 2703-2716. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2cy00224h
    DORA PSI
  • Salionov D, Semivrazhskaya OO, Casati NPM, Ranocchiari M, Bjelić S, Verel R, et al.
    Unraveling the molecular mechanism of MIL-53(Al) crystallization
    Nature Communications. 2022; 13(1): 3762 (9 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31294-4
    DORA PSI
  • Armstrong K, Barbarino S, Cao XE, Cassiola F, Catlow RA, Claeys M, et al.
    Thermal catalytic conversion: general discussion
    Faraday Discussions. 2021; 230: 124-151. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1fd90045e
    DORA PSI
  • Athar M, Rzepka P, Thoeny D, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Thermal degradation of defective high-surface-area UiO-66 in different gaseous environments
    RSC Advances. 2021; 11(61): 38849-38855. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1RA05411B
    DORA PSI
  • Cartagenova D, Bachmann S, Van Bokhoven JA, Püntener K, Ranocchiari M
    Heterogeneous metal-organic framework catalysts for Suzuki-Miyaura cross coupling in the pharma industry
    Chimia. 2021; 75(11): 972-978. https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2021.972
    DORA PSI
  • Ferreira Sanchez D, Ihli J, Zhang D, Rohrbach T, Zimmerman P, Lee J, et al.
    Spatio‐chemical heterogeneity of defect‐engineered metal‐organic framework crystals revealed by full‐field tomographic X‐ray absorption spectroscopy
    Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2021; 60(18): 10032-10039. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202013422
    DORA PSI
  • Linke J, Rohrbach T, Ranocchiari M, Schmidt TJ, Fabbri E
    Enlightening the journey of metal-organic framework (derived) catalysts during the oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline media via operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy
    Current Opinion in Electrochemistry. 2021; 30: 100845 (7 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coelec.2021.100845
    DORA PSI
  • Liu Q, Meissel H, Sadykov I, Jones S, Van Dijk N, Rzepka P, et al.
    On the stability of Pt‐based catalysts in HBr/Br2 solution
    Helvetica Chimica Acta. 2021; 104: e2100082 (10 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1002/hlca.202100082
    DORA PSI
  • Palagin D, Sushkevich VL, Knorpp AJ, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Mapping vibrational spectra to the structures of copper species in zeolites based on calculated stretching frequencies of adsorbed nitrogen and carbon monoxides
    Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 2021; 125(22): 12094-12106. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c01649
    DORA PSI
  • Rannochiari M
    Design of molecular heterogeneous catalysts with metal-organic frameworks
    In: Teoh WY, Urakawa A, Ng YH, Sit P, eds. Heterogeneous catalysts. Advanced design, characterization and applications. Volume 2. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH GmbH; 2021:147-160. https://doi.org/10.1002/9783527813599.ch8
    DORA PSI
  • Bauer G, Ongari D, Tiana D, Gäumann P, Rohrbach T, Pareras G, et al.
    Metal-organic frameworks as kinetic modulators for branched selectivity in hydroformylation
    Nature Communications. 2020; 11(1): 1059 (8 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14828-6
    DORA PSI
  • Taddei M, Van Bokhoven JA, Ranocchiari M
    Influence of water in the synthesis of the zirconium-based metal-organic framework UiO-66: isolation and reactivity of [ZrCl(OH)2(DMF)2]Cl
    Inorganic Chemistry. 2020; 59(11): 7860-7868. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c00991
    DORA PSI
  • Mostrou S, Nagl A, Ranocchiari M, Föttinger K, van Bokhoven JA
    The catalytic and radical mechanism for ethanol oxidation to acetic acid
    Chemical Communications. 2019; 55(79): 11833-11836. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9CC05813C
    DORA PSI
  • Ravi M, Sushkevich VL, Knorpp AJ, Newton MA, Palagin D, Pinar AB, et al.
    Misconceptions and challenges in methane-to-methanol over transition-metal-exchanged zeolites
    Nature Catalysis. 2019; 2(6): 485-494. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-019-0273-z
    DORA PSI
  • Tomkins P, Mansouri A, Sushkevich VL, van der Wal LI, Bozbag SE, Krumeich F, et al.
    Increasing the activity of copper exchanged mordenite in the direct isothermal conversion of methane to methanol by Pt and Pd doping
    Chemical Science. 2019; 10(1): 167-171. https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SC02795A
    DORA PSI
  • Bozbag SE, Sot P, Nachtegaal M, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA, Mesters C
    Direct stepwise oxidation of methane to methanol over Cu-SiO2
    ACS Catalysis. 2018; 8(7): 5721-5731. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.8b01021
    DORA PSI
  • Bauer G, Ongari D, Xu X, Tiana D, Smit B, Ranocchiari M
    Metal–organic frameworks invert molecular reactivity: Lewis acidic phosphonium zwitterions catalyze the Aldol-Tishchenko reaction
    Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2017; 139(50): 18166-18169. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b10928
    DORA PSI
  • Palagin D, Knorpp AJ, Pinar AB, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Assessing the relative stability of copper oxide clusters as active sites of a CuMOR zeolite for methane to methanol conversion: size matters?
    Nanoscale. 2017; 9(3): 1144-1153. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6nr07723d
    DORA PSI
  • Park MB, Ahn SH, Mansouri A, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Comparative study of diverse copper zeolites for the conversion of methane into methanol
    ChemCatChem. 2017; 9(19): 3705-3713. https://doi.org/10.1002/cctc.201700768
    DORA PSI
  • Ravi M, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    The direct catalytic oxidation of methane to methanol - a critical assessment
    Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2017; 56(52): 16464-16483. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201702550
    DORA PSI
  • Sushkevich VL, Palagin D, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Response to comment on "Selective anaerobic oxidation of methane enables direct synthesis of methanol"
    Science. 2017; 358(6360): eaan6083 (3 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan6083
    DORA PSI
  • Sushkevich VL, Palagin D, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Selective anaerobic oxidation of methane enables direct synthesis of methanol
    Science. 2017; 356(6337): 523-527. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam9035
    DORA PSI
  • Taddei M, Casati N, Steitz DA, Dümbgen KC, van Bokhoven JA, Ranocchiari M
    In situ high-resolution powder X-ray diffraction study of UiO-66 under synthesis conditions in a continuous-flow microwave reactor
    CrystEngComm. 2017; 19(23): 3206-3214. https://doi.org/10.1039/c7ce00867h
    DORA PSI
  • Taddei M, Tiana D, Casati N, van Bokhoven JA, Smit B, Ranocchiari M
    Mixed-linker UiO-66: structure-property relationships revealed by a combination of high-resolution powder X-ray diffraction and density functional theory calculations
    Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 2017; 19(2): 1551-1559. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6cp07801j
    DORA PSI
  • Tomkins P, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Direct conversion of methane to methanol under mild conditions over Cu-zeolites and beyond
    Accounts of Chemical Research. 2017; 50(2): 418-425. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.6b00534
    DORA PSI
  • Vilhanová B, van Bokhoven JA, Ranocchiari M
    Gold particles supported on amino-functionalized silica catalyze transfer hydrogenation of N-heterocyclic compounds
    Advanced Synthesis and Catalysis. 2017; 359(4): 677-686. https://doi.org/10.1002/adsc.201601147
    DORA PSI
  • Vilhanová B, Václavík J, Artiglia L, Ranocchiari M, Togni A, van Bokhoven JA
    Subnanometer gold clusters on amino-functionalized silica: an efficient catalyst for the synthesis of 1,3-diynes by oxidative alkyne coupling
    ACS Catalysis. 2017; 7(5): 3414-3418. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.7b00691
    DORA PSI
  • Beloqui Redondo A, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Synthesis of sub-nanometer gold particles on modified silica
    Dalton Transactions. 2016; 45(7): 2983-2988. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5dt04957a
    DORA PSI
  • Bozbag SE, Alayon EMC, Pecháček J, Nachtegaal M, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Methane to methanol over copper mordenite: yield improvement through multiple cycles and different synthesis techniques
    Catalysis Science and Technology. 2016; 6(13): 5011-5022. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6cy00041j
    DORA PSI
  • Meyer K, Bashir S, Llorca J, Idriss H, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Photocatalyzed hydrogen evolution from water by a composite catalyst of NH2-MIL-125(Ti) and surface nickel(II) species
    Chemistry: A European Journal. 2016; 22(39): 13894-13899. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201601988
    DORA PSI
  • Taddei M, Dümbgen KC, van Bokhoven JA, Ranocchiari M
    Aging of the reaction mixture as a tool to modulate the crystallite size of UiO-66 into the low nanometer range
    Chemical Communications. 2016; 52(38): 6411-6414. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6cc02517j
    DORA PSI
  • Taddei M, Steitz DA, van Bokhoven JA, Ranocchiari M
    Continuous-flow microwave synthesis of metal-organic frameworks: a highly efficient method for large-scale production
    Chemistry: A European Journal. 2016; 22(10): 3245-3249. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201505139
    DORA PSI
  • Todaro M, Buscarino G, Sciortino L, Alessi A, Messina F, Taddei M, et al.
    Decomposition process of carboxylate MOF HKUST-1 unveiled at the atomic scale level
    Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 2016; 120(23): 12879-12889. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b03237
    DORA PSI
  • Tomkins P, Mansouri A, Bozbag SE, Krumeich F, Park MB, Alayon EMC, et al.
    Isothermal cyclic conversion of methane into methanol over copper-exchanged zeolite at low temperature
    Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 2016; 55(18): 5467-5471. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201511065
    DORA PSI
  • Vilhanová B, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Enantioselective hydrogenation of olefins enhanced by metal-organic framework additives
    ChemCatChem. 2016; 8(2): 308-312. https://doi.org/10.1002/cctc.201500907
    DORA PSI
  • Alayon EMC, Nachtegaal M, Bodi A, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Bis(µ-oxo) versus mono(µ-oxo)dicopper cores in a zeolite for converting methane to methanol: an in situ XAS and DFT investigation
    Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 2015; 17(12): 7681-7693. https://doi.org/10.1039/c4cp03226h
    DORA PSI
  • Beloqui Redondo A, Morel FL, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Functionalized Ruthenium-Phosphine Metal-Organic Framework for Continuous Vapor-Phase Dehydrogenation of Formic Acid
    ACS Catalysis. 2015; 5(12): 7099-7103. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.5b01987
    DORA PSI
  • Meyer K, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Metal organic frameworks for photo-catalytic water splitting
    Energy and Environmental Science. 2015; 8(7): 1923-1937. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ee00161g
    DORA PSI
  • Morel FL, Pin S, Huthwelker T, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Phosphine and phosphine oxide groups in metal-organic frameworks detected by P K-edge XAS
    Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 2015; 17(5): 3326-3331. https://doi.org/10.1039/c4cp05151c
    DORA PSI
  • Schütrumpf A, Kirpi E, Bulut A, Morel FL, Ranocchiari M, Lork E, et al.
    Tetrahedral tetraphosphonic acids. New building blocks in supramolecular chemistry
    Crystal Growth and Design. 2015; 15(10): 4925-4931. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.5b00811
    DORA PSI
  • Taddei M, Dau PV, Cohen SM, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA, Costantino F, et al.
    Efficient microwave assisted synthesis of metal-organic framework UiO-66: optimization and scale up
    Dalton Transactions. 2015; 44(31): 14019-14026. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5dt01838b
    DORA PSI
  • Morel FL, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Synthesis and characterization of phosphine-functionalized metal-organic frameworks based on MOF-5 and MIL-101 topologies
    Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research. 2014; 53(22): 9120-9127. https://doi.org/10.1021/ie403549v
    DORA PSI
  • Xu X, Rummelt SM, Morel FL, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Selective catalytic behavior of a phosphine-tagged metal-organic framework organocatalyst
    Chemistry: A European Journal. 2014; 20(47): 15467-15472. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201404498
    DORA PSI
  • Xu X, van Bokhoven JA, Ranocchiari M
    Tuning regioisomer reactivity in catalysis using bifunctional metal-organic frameworks with mixed linkers
    ChemCatChem. 2014; 6(7): 1887-1891. https://doi.org/10.1002/cctc.201402164
    DORA PSI
  • Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Synthesis and reactivity of Zn-biphenyl metal-organic frameworks, introducing a diphenylphosphino functional group
    Chimia. 2013; 67(6): 397-402. https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2013.397
    DORA PSI
  • Sá J, Szlachetko J, Kleymenov E, Lothschütz C, Nachtegaal M, Ranocchiari M, et al.
    Fine tuning of gold electronic structure by IRMOF post-synthetic modification
    RSC Advances. 2013; 3(30): 12043-12048. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ra40970h
    DORA PSI
  • Tuci G, Rossin A, Xu X, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA, Luconi L, et al.
    "Click" on MOFs: a versatile tool for the multimodal derivatization of N3-decorated metal organic frameworks
    Chemistry of Materials. 2013; 25(11): 2297-2308. https://doi.org/10.1021/cm400899a
    DORA PSI
  • Václavík J, Servalli M, Lothschütz C, Szlachetko J, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    AuI catalysis on a coordination polymer: a solid porous ligand with free phosphine sites
    ChemCatChem. 2013; 5(3): 692-696. https://doi.org/10.1002/cctc.201200844
    DORA PSI
  • Alayon EM, Nachtegaal M, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Catalytic conversion of methane to methanol over Cu-mordenite
    Chemical Communications. 2012; 48(3): 404-406. https://doi.org/10.1039/c1cc15840f
    DORA PSI
  • Alayon EMC, Nachtegaal M, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Catalytic conversion of methane to methanol using Cu-zeolites
    Chimia. 2012; 66(9): 668-674. https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2012.668
    DORA PSI
  • Ranocchiari M, Lothschütz C, Grolimund D, van Bokhoven JA
    Single-atom active sites on metal-organic frameworks
    In: Proceedings of the Royal Society A. mathematical, physical and engineering sciences. Vol. 468. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. London: Royal Society; 2012:1985-1999. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2012.0078
    DORA PSI
  • Rummelt SM, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Synthesis of water-soluble phosphine oxides by Pd/C-catalyzed P-C coupling in water
    Organic Letters. 2012; 14(8): 2188-2190. https://doi.org/10.1021/ol300582y
    DORA PSI
  • Servalli M, Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Fast and high yield post-synthetic modification of metal-organic frameworks by vapor diffusion
    Chemical Communications. 2012; 48(13): 1904-1906. https://doi.org/10.1039/c2cc17461h
    DORA PSI
  • Ranocchiari M, van Bokhoven JA
    Catalysis by metal-organic frameworks: fundamentals and opportunities
    Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 2011; 13(14): 6388-6396. https://doi.org/10.1039/c0cp02394a
    DORA PSI