Nanomedicine has sparked a rapidly growing interest as it promises to solve a number of crucial issues associated with conventional therapeutic strategies. Over the past decades, remarkable progresses have been made in the development of engineered nanoparticles able to transport and deliver effective drugs to treat pathologies more effectively. However, although nanotechnology-based targeted delivery has shown promising results in preclinical models, the translation into clinic remains problematic. Among the possible reasons are uncontrolled release of the drug from nanocarriers and lack of specificity of targeted strategies. One alternative to this problem involves on-demand processes that allow for tailored drug release with spatial, temporal and dosage control. On-demand drug delivery has become feasible through the design of stimuli-responsive nanocarriers that react in a dynamic way in the targeted microenvironment through either enzymatic, pH or physical external stimuli such as temperature, light or ultrasounds for example. However, the difficulties to control endogenous triggers like pH and the lack of focusing and tissue-penetration depth of external stimuli limited the number of successful stories in that field. The NANOClick project proposes a different strategy based on new designed responsive-micelles that can be cleaved by a biorthogonal activation process. Such micelles are constructed with cleavable bioorthogonal linkers allowing their controlled decomposition inside targeted tissues in a stringently controlled fashion through a bioorthognal chemical stimulus. In such approach, both reactants, i.e. the nanoparticle and the bioorthogonal trigger, are inert individually but, when localized at the same site, react together to provoke the destruction of the nanomaterial and the liberation of its content. One main advantage of such approach is the possibility to apply complementary targeted strategies to both reactants in order to concentrate them in one precise location while limiting their concomitant presence in other areas of the body. Thus, this double targeting strategy could lead to an unprecedented level of selectivity for drug delivery that is of great interest in the context of personalized medicine.

The simultaneous recovery of CH4 and CO2, the main constituents of biogas, is of great interest and is fully in line with the issue of global warming linked to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Biogas obtained by anaerobic fermentation of agricultural waste is widely used in Europe to locally supply heat or electricity delivered to the grid. Also, when energy needs are lower, it becomes important to offer other outlets for biogas, such as the production of chemical compounds (methanol or hydrocarbons) which is considered as an alternative to the use of fossil carbon. However, the cost of the on-site process requires significant advances and breakthrough processes are sought after, among them the use of a non-thermal plasma (PNT) is of great interest. In a non-thermal plasma the gas is partially ionized, it is made up of ions, radicals, electrons and excited species. It is particularly suited to the operation of relatively small units and can therefore be perfectly combined with anaerobic digestion. It also has the advantage of operating at atmospheric pressure and room temperature in "on / off" mode. The synthesis of methanol under plasma discharge was demonstrated at the end of the 90s, therefore the proof of concept of the project exists. However, there are many challenges to be taken up in order to improve energy efficiency and increase the selectivity in high added value products, this last aspect requires coupling plasma and solid catalyst. Numerous studies have been carried out but the development of new catalysts and the understanding of the interactions between plasma and solid must be deepened. It is in fact expected that an optimal catalyst under plasma discharge is not the most efficient in conventional thermal catalysis since the presence of a solid in the plasma zone modifies the discharge and vice versa. Furthermore, the use of materials in powder form, conventionally used in catalysis, is poorly suited to plasma-catalysis coupling because the gas volume (in which the plasma is generated) is limited to the space between the catalyst grains. Therefore, we consider that the use of shaped materials is necessary in order to make the most of the plasma-catalysis coupling. This is also based on work which has shown the good stability of the discharge in foams or monoliths. In this project, the teams of IRCER in Limoges, PPrime and IC2MP in Poitiers propose to coordinate their research work in order to propose a route for the direct synthesis of methanol from methane and carbon dioxide using an original route coupling non-thermal plasma and geopolymer foams. In fact, geopolymer materials are promising candidate for this application due to their synthesis at low temperature with adaptable porosity and easy shaping. The present project aims at acquiring new insights into the coupling of plasma and a catalyst by using ceramic geopolymer foams possessing macro-porosity thought to favor the transformation of biogas into methanol. The ambitiousness of the project relies not only on the use of new shaped macro-porous catalyst but also on the development of numerical simulation for a better understanding of plasma-catalysis interaction. To reach such a target, an interdisciplinary approach will be used, mobilizing chemists and physicists. The simultaneous research efforts will be developed within three tasks (i) synthesis of new shaped catalytic geopolymer materials, (ii) evaluation of catalytic performances and kinetic data acquisition (iii) thorough analysis of the basic physical mechanisms involved at the plasma/catalyst interface.

Bio-based primary amines represent highly valuable compounds since they can be used as building blocks for various applications. During this project we are intending to design a series of well-defined homogeneous catalysts capable of performing the one-pot amination of bio-based polyols using the borrowing hydrogen methodology. The amination reaction will be performed using ammonia as nitrogen source. The use of the one-pot borrowing hydrogen strategy will provide water as only by-product, allowing this project to meet the requirement of a simple eco-compatible method. This project will be carried out at IC2MP (Institut de Chimie des Milieux et Matériaux de Poitiers).

Furfural is a strategic bio-based chemical platform (USD 814.6 million in 2019) with a market size expected to grow at an annual rate of 5.0% from 2020 to 2027, mostly boosted by the rising importance of bio-based chemicals as a consequence of increasing environmental concerns. Industrially, reactions performed on furfural are restricted to the reduction of the C=C and C=O bonds, thus restricting the portfolio of downstream chemicals that can be produced. In CATALFUR, we wish to study the catalytic =C-H functionalization of furfural to improve molecular diversity and complexity. In particular, the acid-catalyzed =C-H alkylation of furfural with alkyl alcohols has been selected as a reaction with a high potential of market as it couples two cheap and abundant chemicals in a 100% carbon economical fashion. However this reaction remains unsolved. The main scientific question addressed by CATALFUR is “how to improve the nucleophilicity of the pi cloud of the furanic ring of furfural?”

The project focuses on (1) the feedback between alteration and tectonic activity of active faults in the upper crust, which enhances the process of fault maturation of from chemical interactions, and (2) how this process impacts the hydromechanical properties of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). The main research hypothesis is that fault activity induces new fractures that enhance fluid-rock interactions and associated fault zone alteration. This feedback forcing would accelerate the maturation of active faults, by creating clay gouges that weaken the fault and decrease its core permeability over time. For EGS reservoirs, when located in active tectonic zones, tectonic stresses may accelerate alteration, which clogs the created fractures and may weaken them, increasing the risk of induced seismicity during production. Our focus is on granitoid rocks, a representative lithology of the upper crust, which is also the lithology of both the Rhine Valley geothermal reservoirs and that of the wall rocks of the Nojima fault responsible for the 1995 Nanbu-Kobe earthquake in Japan. Dynamic loading pulverizes granitoid rocks, which enhances their permeability. This facilitates laboratory alteration of centimetric samples, as demonstrated by preliminary experiments. We will use core samples from the GSJ Hirabayashi scientific borehole intersecting the Nojima fault to (1) obtain a continuous alteration profile through the fault by combining core and downhole geophysical data and (2) perform flow-through laboratory alteration experiments at various differential stresses to assess the intertwined effects of tectonic loading and fault alteration.