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The modern chemical industry is still largely based on petrochemical feedstocks, whose limited availability and environmental impact pose major challenges for a sustainable future. In contrast, renewable resources such as biomass differ fundamentally in composition, functionality, and reactivity. Achieving a transition towards a sustainable chemical industry therefore requires not only new processes, but also the development of new catalyst concepts that are specifically tailored to these alternative feedstocks.

In this context, polyoxometalates (POMs) represent a highly attractive and versatile class of molecular catalysts. They are anionic molecular clusters composed of transition metals linked by oxo ligands, frequently centred around a p-block heteroelement. Their well-defined structures, combined with exceptional compositional and structural flexibility, allow systematic tuning of catalytic properties. This talk will highlight selected synthetic strategies for tailoring POMs, including variation of the heteroelement, partial substitution within the metal–oxide framework, immobilisation molecular POMs on solid supports. Through these methods, POMs can be designed to provide specific catalytic functions such as Brønsted acidity, redox activity, or bifunctional behaviour.

Building on these design principles, this contribution will present selected examples of POM-based catalysts and their application in sustainable chemical transformations. Case studies will include the conversion of biomass-derived sugars to lactic acid, the catalytic hydrogenation of lactic acid, and the use of supported POM catalysts in fixed-bed reactor systems for the direct conversion of COâ‚‚ and Hâ‚‚ to dimethyl ether. Together, these examples illustrate how molecular design, synthetic control, and catalyst immobilisation can be combined to develop tailored POM systems for renewable feedstocks, green chemical processes, and more practical catalytic technologies.