Archive for the ‘Board News’ Category

Congratulations to Professor Javier Pérez-Ramírez: Winner of the RSC Sustainable Energy Award 2017

Catalysis Science & Technology is delighted to congratulate our Associate Editor and Board Member Professor Javier Pérez-Ramírez on winning the RSC Sustainable Energy Award 2017.

 

The RSC Prizes and awards celebrate the outstanding achievements by the members of the diverse chemical sciences community.

The Sustainable Energy Award is for the contributions of chemical sciences to sustainable energy. This includes development or understanding of materials and processes and the improvement of existing technologies through the application of the chemical sciences.

 

The 2017 Award to Professor Javier Pérez-Ramírez was awarded for his discovery of disruptive catalytic technologies for valorization of carbon dioxide and natural gas that can be applied at a practical scale and for the creation of stable single atom precious metal catalyst materials.

 

A full commemoration of the RSC 2017 Prizes and awards can be found here: www.rsc.org/news-events/articles/2017/may/awards-and-prizes-2017/

Read the themed collection: Celebrating the 2017 RSC Prize and Award Winners – showcasing articles authored by the winners from across the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journals portfolio – is currently free to access until 1st August 2017.

 

Submit your best sustainable energy catalytic sciences and technology to Professor Javier Pérez-Ramírez now: rsc.li/catalysis

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Advisory board member Professor Ian Fairlamb wins prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry Prize

A picture of Ian FairlambIan is Professor of Chemistry at the University of York. His research focuses on understanding how organic, carbon-containing compounds cooperate with transition metals. His work enables the development of sustainable and greener chemical reactions and syntheses that can produce valuable pharmaceutical and agrochemical compounds of benefit to humankind. The Corday-Morgan Prize recognises the most meritorious contributions to chemistry. He said: “I am delighted to receive this prestigious award.  I’m deeply indebted to the incredible efforts and talents of both past and present research group members.

To read more about Professor Ian Fairlamb and the 2016 Corday-Morgan Prize please click-through to the website.

Related content:

All 2016 Royal Society of Chemistry prize and award winners: http://rsc.li/awards-prizes-2016
Collection of articles published by prize and award winners: http://rsc.li/rscwinners2016-collection

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A new Catalysis, Science & Technology Associate Editor for 2016

Catalysis, Science & Technology would like to welcome Professor Christopher Williams to the journal as a new Associate Editor for 2016.

Professor Williams received a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Delaware in 1993 and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University in 1997. Following a post doctoral appointment in the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Department at Oxford University, he joined the faculty in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of South Carolina and is currently a Professor. His research interests are in the area of heterogeneous catalysis and surface science, with a particular emphases on studying solid-liquid catalytic interfaces with in-situ/operando spectroscopy and developing novel synthetic approaches to producing bimetallic catalysts for a variety of applications.

Read Professor Williams’ latest Catalysis Science & Technology article here:

Yunya Zhang, Weijian Diao, John R. Monnier and Christopher T. Williams
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2015, 5, 4123-4132. DOI: 10.1039/C5CY00353A

Professor Williams and the rest of the Editorial board would like to invite you to submit your best work to Catalysis, Science & Technology.

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Catalysis Science and Technology – One Day Symposium

Catalysis Science and Technology is delighted to announce that the journal is organising a one day Symposium on the subject of Sustainable Catalytic Conversions of Renewable Substrates (SuBiCat II) on 2nd March 2015, at St Andrews, UK.

The symposium is free of charge, but you are requested to register before 15th February 2015 at http://www.subicat.org/events/index.php.

There is an excellent list of speakers already confirmed, including:

  • Prof. Piet van Leeuwen , ICIQ, Tarrgona, Spain
  • Dr Pieter Bruijnincx, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
  • Prof. Ding Ma Peking University, China
  • Prof. Carsten Bolm, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
  • Prof. David Jackson, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
  • Dr Kristiina Hilden, University of Helsinki, Finland
  • Prof. Christian Bruneau, University of Rennes, France
  • Prof. John Irvine, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK
  • Prof. Dr. Pérez-Ramírez, Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, Zurich, Switzerland

Visit the website for further information and to register now.

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New Associate Editor for Catalysis Science & Technology

DingMa Professor Ding Ma has become Catalysis Science & Technology‘s newest Associate Editor.

Professor Ma is currently Professor at Peking University in China. He is handling papers already so submit your best work to him now.

His research focuses on heterogeneous catalysis, particularly when applied to energy innovation, for example methane and syngas conversion. He also works on developing new reaction routes for sustainable chemistry and in situ spectroscopic methods which can be used to study reaction mechanisms.

Professor Ma hopes that his expertise will contribute to the excellence of CS&T, and make this flagship catalysis journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry the best place for scientists in the catalytic community to publish their work and researchers to read exciting results.

On behalf of Professor Ma and the rest of our Editorial Board, we would like to invite you to submit your best work to Catalysis Science & Technology.

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European Federation of Catalysis Societies Young Researcher’s Award

We would like to congratulate Professor Javier Perez-Ramirez, associate editor of Catalysis Science & Technology, who won this year’s EFCATS (European Federation of Catalysis Societies) Young Researcher’s Award. This award recognizes his many contributions to the field of heterogeneous catalysis, especially his research on the rational design of hierarchical zeolites for catalytic applications and the development of novel catalysts for chlorine production. The award will be presented on the 5th September at the EuropaCat meeting in Lyon, France.


Javier Perez-RamirezJavier Pérez-Ramírez has been the Chair of Catalysis Engineering at the Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zurich since January 2010. Born and raised in Benidorm, Spain, Javier studied chemical engineering at the University of Alicante and later earned his PhD degree at the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands in 2002. After spending some time in industry (2002-2005), holding several positions at Norsk Hydro and Yara International in Porsgrunn (Norway) where he was responsible of core projects related to catalyst development within fertilizer production, he was appointed ICREA research professor at ICIQ in Tarragona, Spain where he remained until his move to Zurich in 2010. The goal of this research is the discovery of energy-efficient chemical transformations that minimize byproducts, separation of waste and eliminate precious metals.

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Happy birthday Piet van Leeuwen

We blogged last week that Piet van Leeuwen was celebrating his 70th birthday with a symposium titled ‘Giving Wings to Homogenous Catalysts’. We can now report that not only did Piet enjoy the lectures he also liked his Catalysis Science & Technology birthday present, many happy returns.

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Interview with Piet van Leeuwen

Piet van Leeuwen is Editor-in-Chief of Catalysis Science & Technology and a Group Leader at ICIQ in Tarragona, Spain. Piet worked with Shell Amsterdam for twenty six years heading the section for basic research in homogeneous catalysis. He also initiated and led the homogeneous catalysis group at the University of Amsterdam as a Professor of Homogeneous Catalysis from 1989 until 2007. He held a chair of Industrial Homogeneous Catalysis at the Technical University of Eindhoven from 2001 till 2006, where he was also director of the National Research School Combination on Catalysis. Piet has authored 350 refereed articles and reviews, many book chapters, edited several books, and is author of a textbook on homogeneous catalysis. He has been at the ICIQ since 2004. 

 Why did you choose to work in the area of catalysis?
Originally, I chose to work for Shell. In this environment doing organometallic chemistry and coordination chemistry I learned that in the long term the new fundamental knowledge we were uncovering might be useful in catalysis. This idea appealed to me, and it still does. It is nice to combine exciting chemistry with future applications in sight.
.

What projects are you working on at the moment?
We are working on nanoparticles – bringing together homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, bimetallic catalysis, and supramolecular catalysis!

You have worked in both industry and academia – how do these areas fit together in the field of catalysis and is the relationship changing?
Catalysis research has always been strongly linked to industry. Many catalysis research themes find their roots in industry and until two decades ago most inventions of new catalytic reactions stemmed from industrial research laboratories. There are no industrial research labs left that do long term research and this has shifted to universities aided by all sort of financial schemes. In the last two decades we have witnessed an enormous growth of catalysis within the realm of organic synthesis, which has enriched the life of catalysis scientists enormously. Many leading experts are pursuing vigorously applications of their systems and industry indeed has installed a large number of these. I am not writing a plea for “applied research”; curiosity driven research and serendipity remain indispensable ingredients for future inventions. 

What role do you see for catalysis in our future?
Catalysis is here to stay! I don´t believe in mature sciences. Before we have completed our wish-list for today’s conversions a whole range of new feedstocks will be available requiring new clean, sustainable conversions. Many multistep syntheses can be improved with the aid of clever catalytic steps. A stronger integration of catalysis research and
process engineering, also

for fine chemicals, can bring about important savings.

Welcome to the Catalysis Science & Technology Editorial Board! What excites you most about your new position of co-Editor-in-Chief?
Actually I was a little bit scared in the beginning, as it seemed risky to start a new journal! The RSC team did a fantastic job in starting up the journal. The web has changed the publishers´ way of doing this enormously. The next target, of course, is to get good marks in the polls, but we will get there!

What is your earliest recollection of chemistry and science?
Making ink with tannins and iron salts bought in the pharmacy. I also experimented with soldering!

What achievement are you most proud of?
I am proud of the many people who worked with me who did good things!I have a patent on a non-toxic soldering resin, the first use of dendrimers in catalysis, the bite angle story, mechanistic stories, “the” book, SPOs in catalysis, …..

What advice would you give to a young scientist?
Take a year’s sabbatical after your PhD defence as later you won’t have time for this! I took only half a year and it was easy to convince my two youngest children to take a year off after their Master.

What is your favourite place to be?
There are many exotic places where we can stay only for a short time. I am happy sitting on my terrace with a book and a drink, or another terrace eating tapas with friends! (This sounds more like Spain than the Netherlands!)
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What would you do if you weren’t a scientist?
First I wanted to be a cook like my father, who started working in a kitchen as a teenager. Later when leaving primary school I made an appointment with the local plumber to start with him in September. My father was furious and told the plumber and me “no way”! I still would like to do both but being an organometallic chemist sounds like a good compromise!

Piet's cover of issue 3, 2011 Catal. Sci. & Technol.

More info on Piet’s own research can be found in some of his recent research articles:

SPOs as new ligands in Rh(III) catalyzed enantioselective transfer hydrogenation
Pascal M. Castro, Henrik Gulyás, Jordi Benet-Buchholz, Carles Bo, Zoraida Freixa and Piet W. N. M. van Leeuwen
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2011, 1, 401-407  DOI: 10.1039/C0CY00022A, Paper

Zn(II) Robson macrocycles as templates for chelating diphosphines
Sergio Ponsico, Henrik Gulyas, Marta Martínez-Belmonte, Eduardo C. Escudero-Adán, Zoraida Freixa and Piet W. N. M. van Leeuwen
Dalton Trans., 2011, 40, 10686-10697 DOI: 10.1039/C1DT10905G, Paper

An approach to bimetallic catalysts by ligand design
Josep M. López-Valbuena, Eduardo C. Escudero-Adan, Jordi Benet-Buchholz, Zoraida Freixa and Piet W. N. M. van Leeuwen
Dalton Trans., 2010, 39, 8560-8574 DOI: 10.1039/C0DT00011F, Paper

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Interview: Cynthia Friend, co-Editor-in-Chief of Catalysis Science & Technology

Professor Cynthia Friend talks about her passion for catalysis and her work in meeting the challenges of energy production…

Why did you choose to work in the area of catalysis?
Catalysis fascinated me because it is based on kinetic control of reaction product distributions. Initially, I was attracted to the challenge of using reaction mechanisms to understand how to use kinetics to obtain desired products. Heterogeneous catalysis was particularly interesting to me because of the added complexity of interfaces, emerging tools for studying interfaces, and the parallels with homogeneous catalysis and coordination chemistry. The importance of catalysis in meeting the challenges in energy production and in the development of green chemical processes have led to a surge of interest in catalysis and an amplification of my interest in the field.

What projects are you working on at the moment?
My laboratory is working on major projects: Fundamental studies of coinage metal catalysts, with an emphasis on the use of Au-based catalysis as a route to energy-efficient complex oxidative transformations; and, photochemical and chemical processes on metal oxides and sulfides for solar energy conversion. In both of
these projects we study model systems using surface chemistry

What achievement are you most proud of?
In science, I am most proud of helping to develop the careers of young scientists in my lab and to watch them branch out into many areas.

What would you say is the biggest challenge in your field of catalysis at the moment?
The biggest challenge is to understand how to control materials properties at the molecular and mesoscale level to promote specific reactions efficiently. Energy-efficient production of clean-burning fuels is of broad importance and a major challenge.

Welcome to the Catalysis Science & Technology Editorial Board! What excites you most about your new position of co-Editor-in-Chief?
The opportunity to help shape a new RSC journal in this important field is an exciting venture. We have the opportunity to showcase important work across the diverse range of catalysis— heterogeneous, homogeneous and biological. I am excited about the possibility of integrating concepts across these fields.

The first articles for Catalysis Science & Technology are now appearing online, which is very exciting, have any of the articles particularly caught your eye?
I have found two articles to be particularly interesting:
1.  “Dynamic atomic scale in situ electron microscopy in the development of an efficient heterogeneous catalytic process for pharmaceutical NSAIDS” by P.L. Gai, etal. DOI: 10.1039/c0cy00063a.
This article shows how new and emerging tools using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are providing new insights into the structure and associated function of complex metal oxide catalysts.
2. “Rapid synthesis of nanostructured Cu–TiO2–SiO2 composites for CO2 photoreduction by evaporation driven self-­assembly” by P. Biswas etal., DOI: 10.1039/c0cy00091d.
This article also used TEM and also investigated composite oxides with Cu as a possible catalyst for CO2 reduction to CO.

What advice would you give to a young scientist?
My advice is to follow your instincts and to enjoy yourself in the process of pursuing your work. To be a successful scientist, you need to be creative, patient and  persistent.

What would you do if you weren’t a scientist?
This is a difficult question because it is hard for me to imagine doing anything else—I truly love my work. I do have other interests that I might pursue more vigorously if I were not a scientist. I enjoy writing and I also am very involved in sports. At a younger age and in a different era, I might have become a professional golfer. I still play competitively and love enjoying the outdoors.

Read other Catalysis Science & Technology articles by signing up for FREE ACCESS.

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Axel Knop-Gericke joins the Catalysis Science & Technology Editorial Board

I am very please to announce that Dr Axel Knop-Gericke has joined the Catalysis Science & Technology Editorial Board.

Based at the Fritz-Haber-Institut of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Axel’s research interests focus on the application of surface science methods to give a greater understanding of catalyst surfaces.   Three approaches have been developed to allow the study of these surfaces under the high pressures typically used in catalysed systems: Soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy using synchtron radiation in the 1-10 mbar range; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy using synchrotron raditaion in the mbar range with differential pumping of the analyser; and a single-crytsal microreactor for conversion studies in the 1-100 mbar range.    

Axel joins the World Class Editorial Board:

Cynthia Friend, Piet van Leeuwen, Editors-in-chief

Paul Chirik, Paul Kamer, Noritaka Mizuno, Associate editors

Kuiling Ding, Deryn Fogg, Stan Golunski, David Jackson, Hans de Vries, members

More details about the Editorial Board can be found on the journal website.

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