Methanol—a colourless liquid that can be made from agricultural waste—has long been touted as a green alternative to fossil fuels. But it’s toxic and only has half the energy as the same volume of gasoline. Now, Chao-Jun Li and colleagues report they’ve created a potentially cheap way to use sunlight to convert methanol to ethanol, a more popular alternative fuel that’s less harmful and carries more energy.

Classified as: Green Chemistry, Chao-Jun Li, methanol, ethanol, fuel, Research, Faculty of Science, Department of Chemistry
Published on: 21 Feb 2019

McGill chemistry professors Hanadi Sleiman and Chao-Jun Li are among the six recipients of this year’s Killam Research Fellowships. The two-year fellowships, awarded to exceptional researchers working on groundbreaking projects of broad significance, are valued at $70,000 a year.
 
Classified as: Hanadi Sleiman, Chao-Jun Li, Department of Chemistry, Killam fellowships
Published on: 8 May 2018

A tiny bit of silver, combined with water and air, can convert aldehydes into acids efficiently -- instead of the classical methods using stoichiometric amounts of expensive or toxic metal oxidants, according to a new study by McGill University researchers.

Classified as: Research, Green Chemistry, catalyst, Chao-Jun Li, McGill News, oxidant, silver, solvent
Published on: 27 Mar 2015

Researchers from McGill University, RIKEN (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Wako, Japan) and the Institute for Molecular Science (Okazaki, Japan) have discovered a way to make the widely used chemical process of hydrogenation more environmentally friendly – and less expensive.

Classified as: Green Chemistry, catalyst, Chao-Jun Li, hydrogenation, Institute for Molecular Science, iron, Moores, nanoparticles, RIKEN
Category:
Published on: 27 Jun 2013
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