Unifying Systems in Catalysis (UniSysCat) approved

“We are delighted about the cluster´s approval and the possibility to conduct innovative research,” says Matthias Driess, Professor of Chemistry at Technische Universität Berlin and one of UniSysCat’s three spokespersons. “We will work in five interdisciplinary research areas on the elucidation and evolution of catalytic networks. The aim is to fundamentally understand how reactants, intermediates, and reaction products come into customized contact with the various catalysts involved,” explains Arne Thomas, also cluster spokesperson and Professor of Chemistry at Technische Universität Berlin.

The UniSysCat Cluster of Excellence, proposed by Technische Universität Berlin, will play a key role in Germany and can build on ten years of outstanding work by UniCat, the previous cluster of the Excellence Initiative. "Individual catalytic reactions are already well understood in many cases. The challenge now is to decipher reaction networks in chemical and biological catalysis in space and time so that they can then be controlled, predicted and modified", explains Peter Hildebrandt, Professor of Physical Chemistry and third spokesperson for UniSysCat.

UniSysCat acknowledges all involved research groups and partner institutions for their great engagement and the excellent research contributions enabling the proposal to fund UniSysCat. Furthermore we are grateful for the work of all referees and the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the review and funding of UniSysCat.