Catalysis Science & Technology Blog

The second UK Catalysis Conference will take place at Holywell Park, Loughborough over 6th – 8th January 2016.  Abstract submission is now open and the deadline is 14th September 2015.  The template can be downloaded from the website and submitted here.

The conference will cover the following areas;

• Organo/Biocatalysis – Integration of Bio- and Chemo-/Hetero- Catalysis, Cascade Processes & Engineering Biocatalysts for Sustainable Chemical Production.

• RSC Surface Reactivity & Catalysis Group/Applied Catalysis Group Environmental, Fine Chemicals, Petrochemicals, Green synthesis, In-situ & Operando Methods.

• IChemE Catalysis Specialist Interest Group – Kinetics, Modelling, Reaction Engineering, Combined Reaction and Separation & Intensified Processes.

• RSC Dalton Division – All aspects of Homogeneous Catalysis will be considered, especially those concerned with New Reactions,  New Reactor Concepts, Bio-derived Feed-Stocks, Asymmetric Synthesis, Tandem & Cascade Reactions.

Confirmed Plenary Speakers include;

• Prof. John Blacker (University of Leeds)   “Why Does Industry Struggle to Adopt Academics’ Catalysts?”

• Prof. Enrico Tronconi (LCCP Milano, Italy) “Recent Advances in Fundamental Understanding of Automotive NH3-SCR Reactions”

• Dr. King Kuok (Mimi) Hii (Imperial College London) “Catalysis in Flow”

• Prof. Bert Sels (KU Leuven, Belgium)

The meeting will provide an opportunity for Catalytic scientists and Engineers from across the UK’s academic and industrial communities to interact and network over the whole spectrum of Catalysis ranging from Organocatalysis, Biocatalysis, Homogenous catalysis and Heterogeneous catalysis.  More information about the conference can be found here.

The 17th International Symposium on Relations between Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Catalysis (ISHHC17) was held at Utrecht University between 12th-15th July, 2015. The opening ceremony took place in the Dom church in the city centre, with plenary lectures given by Professor Robert Schlögl (Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Germany) and Professor Jan van Hest (Radboud University, the Netherlands).

Catalysis Science & Technology and PCCP were proud to sponsor two poster prizes during the event. These were awarded to Amanda E. Anderson (Christopher J. Baddeley and Paul A. Wright) of EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, University of St. Andrews (UK) for her poster, ‘Immobilization of Nanoparticles in Metal Organic Frameworks for Tandem Catalysis’; and to Pim Huat Phua (Boon Ying Tay, Cun Wang, Ludger Paul Stubbs) of Institute of Chemical and Engineering Science (A*STAR) (Singapore), for his poster, ‘Hydrogenation of Levulinic acid to γ-valerolactone: Homogeneous vs Heterogeneous Catalysis’.

The 4th FineCat Symposium was held at the palazzo Steri on 8th-9th April 2015 with lectures given by Irina Beletskaya, Manfred Reetz and Oliver Kappe.

In partnership with Catalysis Science and Technology, three poster prizes were awarded. The first prize went to Francesco Parrino, a post-doc research fellow at the “Schiavello-Grillone” research Group of the University of Palermo, for his poster concerning the catalytic photoisomerization of trans-caffeic acid to cis-caffeic acid.

The 4th FineCat Symposium will be taking place from 8th–9th April 2015 in Palermo, Palazzo Steri.  The event is jointly organised by the Institute of Nanostructured Materials of Italy’s Research Council (CNR) and by Palermo’s University DEIM Department and aims to provide an opportunity for contact between academic and industrial researchers, manufacturers and users of solid catalysts for the efficient and selective production of fine chemicals.

Confirmed plenary speakers include:

• Manfred Reetz, External emeritus group leader of the Mülheim Max-Planck-Institute, Hans-Meerwein-Research-Professor, Marburg University, Germany
• Pedro J. Maireles Torres, Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Malaga, Spain
• Oliver Kappe, Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, Austria
• Rodrigo de Souza, Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The deadline for abstracts in 31st December 2014. For further information and to register, visit the website now!

The third FineCat – Symposium on heterogeneous catalysis for fine chemicals was held in Palermo, Italy, on April 2-3, 2014 in the splendid venue of the Steri Palace. The Symposium ended late in the evening of April 3rd with a spectacular social dinner at the Tasca d’Almerita estate, following the guided tour of the 1,000 years old Steri Palace the day before.

The scientific program featured 12 symposia and 11 poster presentations that highlighted practically relevant chemical innovation in fields as diverse as flow catalysis, catalysis with metal “Lego” nanoparticles, photocatalysis and biomass catalytic valorization. Fine chemicals — polyfunctional molecules with specific properties imparting them high added value — have traditionally been synthesized via selective homogeneous synthetic methods. All this is now changing as newly developed heterogeneous catalysis emerges as a convenient industrial tool capable to make the fine chemicals industry not only environmentally, but also economically, more sustainable. Delegates from Slovenia, Thailand, Canada, UK, Italy and Germany showed once again the truly international nature of this Symposium series inaugurated in 2012.

A Catalysis Science & Technology post prize was awarded to Maria Luisa Testa for her poster concerning he use of acid hybrid silicas in esterification reactions, awarding one year’s personal e-subscription to Catalysis Science & Technology. The Prize was offered by RSC Publishing, partnering with the organizers since the very first FineCat symposium.

Read more about the conference here.

The 3rd FineCat Symposium will be held on 2-3 April 2014 in the Steri Palace, hall of Palermo’s University Rectorate, with plenary lectures from David Cole-Hamilton, Serge Kaliaguine, Paolo Fornasiero and Jose Antonio Lopez-Sanchez.

The conference is jointly organised by the Institute of Nanostructured Materials of Italy’s Research Council (CNR) and by Palermo’s University DEIM Department  and was born out of the 2011 Catalysis Science & Technology themed issue of “Heterogeneous catalysis for fine chemicals” dedicated to Prof. Michele Rossi. It aims to provide opportunities for contact between academic and industrial researchers, manufacturers and users of solid catalysts for the efficient and selective production of fine chemicals.

The dealine for oral and poster abstracts is 3rd February 2014. Register now!