Our research group addresses the design, synthesis, and structural/mechanistic characterization of inorganic solids useful as catalysts for chemical reactions relevant to producing, converting, and using energy carriers, to sustainable petrochemical syntheses, and to the protection of the environment. Our approach exploits novel synthetic protocols to assemble active nanostructures and single-site catalysts within porous structures and spectroscopic and titration methods to probe their atomic connectivity and electronic properties. We assess their mechanism of function through kinetic and isotopic methods of analysis, in situ spectroscopy, and density functional theory to determine the identity and kinetic relevance of elementary steps at conditions of catalysis practice. The relevance of these fundamental inquiries is evident from many patents, some of which provide enabling features in the practice of alkane CO2 valorization, zeolite-mediated organic reactions, and syntheses of chemicals with smaller environmental footprints, as well as in efficient transformations of biogenic sources of carbon into chemicals and energy carriers.

Jaegers, N.R., Artsiusheuski, M., Danghyan, V., Shangguan, J., Lizandara Pueyo, C., and Iglesia, E., ACS Catalysis 15 (2025) 12610 (“Catalytic Hydrogenation Reactions on Lewis Acid-Base Pairs and Mechanistic and Thermodynamic Links to Dehdydrogenation Recations;). DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.5c03523.

Hu, W., Tate, G., and Iglesia, E. Journal of the American Chemical Society 147 (2025) 19185 (“Selectivity Control in CO2-H2 Reactions on Ru, Co, and Ni Nanoparticles through Tailoring of CO Concentration Gradients at Bed and Aggregate Scales”). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c04698.

Zhang, Z., Chen, S., Otto, T., and Iglesia, E. ACS Catalysis 15 (2024) 676 (“Elementary Steps, Site Requirements, and Support Effects in Methylcyclohexane Dehydrogenation Reactions on Dispersed Pd Nanoparticles”). DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.4c07240.

Liu, Y., Luo, C., Iglesia, E., and Liu, H. Journal of the American Chemical Society 146 (2024) 35185 (“Acid Catalysis Mediated by Aqueous Hydronium Ions Formed by Contacting Zeolite Crystals with Liquid Water”). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c11705.

Hwang, A., Getsoian, A., and Iglesia, E. ACS Catalysis 14 (2024) 16184 (“Kinetics, Mechanism, and Thermodynamics of Ceria-Zirconia Reduction”). DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.4c04771.

Hu, W., and Iglesia, E. Journal of the American Chemical Society 146 (2024) 22064 (“Dynamics of Elementary Steps on Metal Surfaces at High Coverages:The Prevalence and Kinetic Competence of Contiguous Bare-Atom Ensembles”). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c07788.

Jaegers, N., Danghyan, V., Shangguan, J., Lizandara-Pueyo, C., Deshlahra, P., and Iglesia, E. Journal of the American Chemical Society 146 (2024) 25710 (“Heterolytic C-H Activation Routes in Catalytic Dehydrogenation of Light Alkanes on Lewis Acid-Base Pairs at ZrO₂ Surfaces”). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c07766.

Hwang, A., Klaucke, J., Lizandara-Pueyo, C., Karpov, A., and Iglesia, E., ChemCatChem (Invited Article) 16 (2024) e202301369 (“Roles of Re and Cs promoters and organochlorine moderators in the synthesis of ethylene oxide processes on Ag-based catalysts”). DOI: 10.1002/cctc.202301369.