Research Continues on Bio Catalyst

Gary Succaw, MSU-Northern's Associate Professor of Chemistry, spent last summer working with Randy Maglinao in the Advanced Fuels Center (AFC) to investigate a solid-state, tungsten catalyst that could be recovered and reused. The resulting catalyst did work to oxidize the same alcohol we use in our undergraduate organic laboratory.

This semester, three MSU-Northern students will be working on another unexpected application of the catalyst for the synthesis of specialty chemicals from natural unsaturated oils. Randy and Gary expect that this catalyst could lead to new grants and patents for MSU-Northern.