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Welcome Beatriz Jurado Sánchez and Qian Li as Associate Editors!

The RSC Advances team are delighted to welcome Beatriz Jurado Sánchez and Qian Li as our newest Associate Editors!

Associate Professor Beatriz Jurado Sánchez, University of Alcalá, Spain

Research Areas: synthesis of tubular and Janus micromotors based on nanomaterials, the integration of micromotors into portable instrumentation, biosensing with micromotors integrating quantum dots, and the development of micromotor based environmental remediation approaches.

Beatriz Jurado Sánchez received her PhD in chemistry from the University of Cordoba in 2009. Then, in 2013, she was awarded the prestigious Marie Curie IOF fellowship to carry out research at the University of California, San Diego under the supervision of Prof Joseph Wang.

From 2017 to 2022, Beatriz was a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the the University of Alcalá. Since 2022, she has been an Associate Professor at the same university – she is currently supervising 9 PhD students, 5 Masters students and many undergraduate students!

Beatriz has co-authored over 82 scientific papers (H Index = 36), 5 book chapters and more than 20 communications in international conferences. Her research has been highlighted in the covers of top impact journals Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Chemical Science and Analytical Chemistry. She is currently an Assistant Editor at Microchimica Acta and has also served as reviewer for many international journals.

Check out Prof Juardo’s latest RSC publications!

Photoresponsive MoS2 and WS2 microflakes as mobile biocide agents
Víctor de la Asunción-Nadal, Javier Bujalance-Fernández, Beatriz Jurado-Sánchez and Alberto Escarpa
Nanoscale, 2023, Advance Article

Transition metal dichalcogenide micromotors with programmable photophoretic swarming motion
Víctor de la Asunción-Nadal, Daniel Rojas, Beatriz Jurado-Sánchez and Alberto Escarpa
J. Mater. Chem. A, 2023,11, 1239-1245

On-board smartphone micromotor-based fluorescence assays
Kaisong Yuan, Víctor de la Asunción-Nadal, Carmen Cuntín-Abal, Beatriz Jurado-Sánchez and Alberto Escarpa
Lab Chip, 2022,22, 928-935

Professor Qian Li, Shandong University, P. R. China

Research Areas: environmental functional materials, organic solid waste treatment and resource recovery, wastewater treatment and resource recovery, biomass conversion, catalytic oxidation, photothermal conversion, desalination, and green chemistry.

Qian Li is the Professor of School of Environmental Science and Engineering at Shandong University, P. R. China. Prof Li obtained her PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering from Shandong University in 2008 under the supervision of Prof Qinyan Yue and Prof Baoyu Gao. She was a postdoctoral researcher in the field of green chemistry at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University from 2008-2010, and a visiting scholar at Georgia Institute of Technology, USA from 2016-2017.

Her expertise and practical experience cover the areas of the development of environmental functional materials, low carbon and efficient management of environmental pollution and resource recovery, including but not limited to the resource of biomass solid waste, design of environmentally friendly materials and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), photothermal conversion processes, industrial water treatment, water and wastewater reclamation, soil improvement and remediation, etc. Her research involves preparations and applications of catalysts, adsorbent, nanomaterial, hydrogel, etc. from biomass-derived materials; AOPs including Fenton-like reactions, photocatalysis, etc. for organic pollutants degradation and resource recovery; recycling and reusing of the biosorbent and hydrogel as the templates for the preparation of hydrogen storage materials; design of biomaterial-based solar evaporators and their application in water purification; the use of biomass-derived materials to control soil nitrogen/phosphorus loss or to remediate soils contaminated with organic pollutants.

Qian has published over 120 research papers in the fields of environmental pollution control, chemical engineering, biomass resource engineering and materials engineering in a broad scope of journals such as Environmental Science & Technology, Water Research, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Chemical Engineering Journal, Bioresource Technology, RSC Advances, and so on.

Check out Prof Li’s latest RSC publications!

Adsorption behavior and mechanism of heavy metal ions by chicken feather protein-based semi-interpenetrating polymer networks super absorbent resin
Wenjia Kong, Qian Li, Jia Liu, Xiaodi Li, Liwei Zhao, Yuan Su, Qinyan Yue and Baoyu Gao
RSC Adv., 2016,6, 83234-83243

A wheat straw cellulose based semi-IPN hydrogel reactor for metal nanoparticles preparation and catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol
Jianzi Ding, Qian Li, Liwei Zhao, Xiaodi Li, Qinyan Yue and Baoyu Gao
RSC Adv., 2017,7, 17599-17611

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

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RSC Advances Welcomes Stephen Ojwach as a New Associate Editor

The RSC Advances team are delighted to welcome Professor Stephen Ojwach as our newest Associate Editor!

Professor Stephen Ojwach, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Research Areas: organometallic chemistry, homogeneous catalysis, coordination chemistry, ligand design, transition metal chemistry, and green chemistry.

Prof Ojwach obtained his PhD in Organometallic Chemistry and Homogeneous Catalysis from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa under the supervision of Professor James Darkwa. Currently a professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, he is also a visiting professor at a number of institutions: the University of Lethbridge, Canada, RWTH Aachen University and Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, and University of Strasbourg, France, among others.

Prof Ojwach has made exemplary contribution to the design and development of transition metal complexes as catalysts for various organic transformations, including, but not limited to, oligomerization, polymerization, carbonylation, and hydrogenation reactions. His research involves careful manipulation of ligand design to optimize the catalytic properties (Structure-Property-Activity-Relationship, SPAR) of complexes in given transformation. Kinetics, mechanistic and theoretical studies are undertaken to offer insights for rationale future catalyst designs.

Prof Ojwach has published over 100 research articles in the fields of inorganic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, and catalysis in a broad scope of journals such as RSC Advances, Dalton Transactions, Organometallics, Molecular Catalysis, and Inorganic Chemistry.

Check out Prof Ojwach’s latest RSC publications!

Structural and ethylene oligomerization studies of chelating (imino)phenol Fe(ii), Co(ii) and Ni(ii) complexes: an experimental and theoretical approach
Makhosonke Ngcobo, Holliness Nose, Arumugam Jayamani and Stephen O. Ojwach
New J. Chem., 2022,46, 6219-6229

Carboxamide carbonyl-ruthenium(II) complexes: detailed structural and mechanistic studies in the transfer hydrogenation of ketones
Robert T. Kumah, Paranthaman Vijayan and Stephen O. Ojwach
New J. Chem., 2022,46, 3146-3155

Role of π-conjugation on the coordination behaviour, substitution kinetics, DNA/BSA interactions, and in vitro cytotoxicity of carboxamide palladium(II) complexes
Reinner O. Omondi, Nicole R. S. Sibuyi, Adewale O. Fadaka, Mervin Meyer, Deogratius Jaganyi and Stephen O. Ojwach.
Dalton Trans., 2021,50, 8127-8143

Prof Ojwach is looking forward to receiving your papers! Submit to RSC Advances today. Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

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RSC Advances 2021 Outstanding Student Paper Award webinars

We are delighted to announce a series of webinars to celebrate the winners of our 2021 Outstanding Student Paper Awards.

RSC Advances Outstanding Student Paper Awards 2021 – these awards recognise outstanding work published in the journal in 2021, for which a substantial component of the research was conducted by a student. We received over 900 nominations, which were shortlisted, and the winning papers were then selected by our Editorial Board and Associate Editors.

You can view the winning contributions and hear more about the winners in our collection.

In a series of webinars, some of the award winners will present their research and there will be an opportunity to ask the winners questions about their work.

Registration is free, so sign up now to support our winners and hear about the exciting research that helped them to win the award!

RSC Advances Outstanding Student Award webinar part 1 – Tuesday 22nd November at 16:00-17:00 GMT

During this first webinar, we will hear from the following winners
Analytical chemistry winner: Vanessa N. Ataide, São Paulo University, Brazil
Energy chemistry winner: Alexandra H. Teodor, University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA
Inorganic chemistry winner: Aayushi Arora, Doon University, India

[Registration link]

RSC Advances Outstanding Student Award webinar part 2 – Wednesday 30th November at 09:00-10:00 GMT

During this second webinar, we will hear from the following winners
Environmental chemistry winner: Yin Sim Ng, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
Food chemistry winner: Yao Lu, Renmin University of China, China
Catalysis chemistry winner: Jairus L. Lamola, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Organic chemistry winner: Ajaz Ahmed, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, India

[Registration link]

RSC Advances Outstanding Student Award webinar part 3Wednesday 30th November at 16:00-17:00 GMT

During this third and final webinar, we will hear from the following winners
Materials chemistry winner: Shyam K. Pahari, University of Massachusetts, USA
Computational and theoretical chemistry winner: Abhishek T. Sose, Virginia Tech, USA

[Registration link]

We hope to see you there!

 

 

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Welcome to our new Associate Editors: Shivani Bhardwaj Mishra and Chiharu Tokoro

The RSC Advances team are delighted to welcome Professor Shivani Bhardwaj Mishra and Professor Chiharu Tokoro as our new Associate Editors!

Professor Shivani Bhardwaj Mishra, University of South Africa

Research Areas: Sol-gel technology, nanomaterials, ceramics and water treatment.

Professor Shivani Bhardwaj Mishra is Founder and Director of Academy of Nanotechnology and Waste water Innovations [ANWWI]. She is serving as an Adjunct Professor at Hebei University of Science and Technology, China and as International Advisory Board member at TU Wien, Austria. This has boosted her academic career allowing her to expand her research expertise with joint projects, publications and knowledge exchange activities. Over twenty years of her academic experience accounts for teaching organic chemistry and research in the field of nanomaterials, nanocomposites and its various environmental and material applications. Besides, her core research interest is waste valorization to promote sustainability and circular economy growth. Her educational background involves a PhD in Chemistry from Jamia Millia Islamia, Master of Science [Organic Chemistry] and Bachelor of Science [Chemistry] from University of Madras, India.

For her outstanding profile and academic achievements, she was inducted as prestigious Fellow member of Royal Society of Chemistry in 2015 and is a member of American Chemical Society, USA, South African Chemical Society and many others. She is the recipient of many accolades and among these are, Distinguished Woman Scientist award from Department of Science and Technology, South Africa, Woman in Research Leadership Award from University of South Africa and recognised as Top 10 researchers at University of Johannesburg. She is Associate Editor for Frontiers for Green and sustainable chemistry and Guest Associate Editor for Medicinal and Pharmaceutical chemistry, editorial board member and reviewer for various journals. She has more than hundred publications in renowned journals.

Read Shivani’s recent RSC Advances publication: 

Mechanistic pathways for the degradation of SMX drug and floatation of degraded products using F-Pt co-doped TiO2 photocatalysts, M Jahdi, SB Mishra, EN Nxumalo, SD Mhlanga, AK Mishra, RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 27662-27675, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D0RA05009A

 

Professor Chiharu Tokoro, Waseda University

 

Research Areas: Mineral processing, resource recycling, environmental purification, powder technologies and chemical engineering.

Professor Chiharu Tokoro received her Dr. Eng from the University of Tokyo in 2003. She then went on to work at Waseda University where she has currently held the position of Professor since 2015. From 2021 she also became a Professor at Professor at the School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo.

Professor Chiharu Tokoro is currently on the Editorial Board for Elsevier’s Advanced Powder Technology. She has won the 2020 Waseda Research Award, was a finalist for the Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year 2021 in Engineering and Technology and won the Waseda University Best Paper award in 2021.

The Tokoro Lab is currently focusing their efforts into three research areas, developing recycling systems, using powder simulations to explore various powder processes and developing technologies for recovering metals from wastewater.

 

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

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RSC Advances welcomes two new Associate Editors: Shannon Biros and Giulia Fiorani

The RSC Advances team is excited to welcome Professor Shannon Biros, Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA and  Professor Giulia Fiorani, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy as our newest Associate Editors.

Shannon Biros, Professor of Chemistry, Grand Valley State University, USA

Research areas: x-ray crystallography, supramolecular chemistry, f-element coordination chemistry, actinide and lanthanide separation chemistry

Shannon M. Biros joined the faculty of GVSU as an Assistant Professor of Organic Chemistry in the fall of 2008.  She was a graduate of GVSU, receiving her BA in chemistry and BS in biomedical sciences in 2001. From there she moved to San Diego to pursue a PhD in chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute under the direction of Professor Julius Rebek, Jr. Following the completion of her thesis, Shannon spent a year at the University of California, Berkeley as a postdoctoral research associate in the laboratory of Professor Kenneth N. Raymond investigating the guest binding properties of a series of supramolecular metal-ligand clusters. She is currently in her thirteenth year as a faculty member at GVSU, and maintains an active research group of undergraduate students.

Browse a selection of Shannon’s RSC publications: 

Synthesis of diphenyl-(2-thienyl)phosphine, its chalcogenide derivatives and a series of novel complexes of lanthanide nitrates and triflates, Troy Luster, Hannah J. Van de Roovaart, Kyle J. Korman, Georgia G. Sands, Kylie M. Dunn, Anthony Spyker, Richard J. Staples, Shannon M. Biros and John E. Bender, Dalton Trans., 2022,51, 9103-9115, https://doi.org/10.1039/D2DT01570F

A complex with nitrogen single, double, and triple bonds to the same chromium atom: synthesis, structure, and reactivity, Evan P. Beaumier, Brennan S. Billow, Amrendra K. Singh, Shannon M. Biros and Aaron L. Odom, Chem. Sci., 2016,7, 2532-2536, https://doi.org/10.1039/C5SC04608D

Supramolecular ligands for the extraction of lanthanide and actinide ions, Eric J. Werner and Shannon M. Biros, Org. Chem. Front., 2019,6, 2067-2094, https://doi.org/10.1039/C9QO00242A

 

Giulia Fiorani, Associate Professor, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy

Research areas: Green chemistry, Organic synthesis, Heterogeneous catalysis (green chemistry), Organic chemistry, Sustainable synthesis, biodegradable/biocompatible polymers, degradation of polymers

Giulia Fiorani received her BSc and MSc in Chemical Sciences from the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. In 2010, she obtained her PhD in Chemical Sciences and Technologies from the same university, working on Ionic Liquids, under the supervision of Prof. Valeria Conte. From 2010 to 2012 Giulia was a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant at the University of Padua, working on hybrid polyoxometalates. She then moved to Ca’ Foscari University of Venice as a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant to work on linear organic carbonates. From March 2016 until October 2017, Giulia was a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant in polymer chemistry and polymerization catalysis under the supervision of Prof. Charlotte K. Williams, initially at Imperial College London and then at the University of Oxford. Since November 2017, Giulia has been a fixed-term Assistant Professor, and later a tenure-track Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

In May 2015, she was shortlisted among the ten highly commended scientists for the ISGC Young Researcher Award. She was the recipient of the 2017 Junior Prize for Research on “Organic Chemistry for Environment, Energy and Nanoscience” awarded by the Organic Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society and of the “Outstanding Young Researcher Award awardee” awarded by the International Scientific Committee of ICCDU XV, 5-7 July 2017, Shanghai (CN).

Giulia’s research interests focus on the development of novel synthetic and catalytic methodologies for the preparation of renewable-based molecules and materials. Bio-based synthons, including terpenes and lignocellulosic biomass derived platform chemicals, are employed as starting materials for the preparation of functional molecules and/or monomers for (co)-polymers synthesis. These transformations occur via sustainable catalytic processes, including direct CO2 activation, tandem and/or one-pot processes, and use of continuous flow to improve the overall selectivity of synthetic organic chemistry processes.

Browse a selection of Giulia’s RSC publications: 

Phosphonium salts and P-ylides, G. Fiorani, A. Perosa and M. Selva, From the book: Organophosphorus Chemistry: Volume 50, 2021, 50, 179-242, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/9781839163814-00179

Dimethyl carbonate: a versatile reagent for a sustainable valorization of renewables, G. Fiorani, A. Perosa and M. Selva, Green Chem., 2018,20, 288-322, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C7GC02118F

Submit your research or reviews to Professor Biros and Professor Fiorani, they will be delighted to receive them! See our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest HOT articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

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An Interview with Shirley Nakagaki, President of the Brazilian Chemical Society

We are delighted to announce that Shirley Nakagaki, one of our Editorial Board members, has been elected as president of the Brazilian Chemical Society.  

This makes Shirley the second ever female researcher to be president of this society in the forty-five years it has been active. To celebrate this achievement, we asked Shirley the following questions, and we hope you find her answers as motivating as we do!

  1. Can you explain your area of research for a non-specialist in the area?

My main interest lies in the study (preparation, characterization and application) of molecules called metalloporphyrins. The key application of these molecules in my research group is in the preparation of compounds known as catalysts (a kind of chemical that accelerates chemical reactions) for oxidation, sequential and esterification reactions. For example, an important oxidation reaction is one that results in an acid species (adipic acid) which is one of the reactants that produces polymeric fibres like nylon. These fibres are used in a range of materials from pantyhose to very sophisticated devices that are part of the International Space Station. In some cases, the catalytic species I study and develop are inspired by biological systems that act as catalysts, in a chemical model known as biomimetic chemistry. In particular, this means that my compounds that act as catalysts can react in a similar way to enzymes, a chemical component found in very efficient biological systems that accelerate reactions necessary to keep organisms alive. In some cases, the catalytic species I study and develop are inspired by biological systems in a chemical model known as biomimetic chemistry. This means my compounds act as catalysts, in a very similar way to enzymes.

  1. What work are you the proudest of?

Fortunately, I can say that I am proud of all my work developed in my 30-year career in the chemical sciences. I have been a supervisor to many chemistry students, supporting them through their undergraduate projects, master’s degree dissertations and PhD theses. These projects have resulted in different products such as patents and scientific papers. However, the education of new chemistry professionals, be it researchers or chemistry professors, is probably my most important job.

  1. What do you find motivating?

My motivation comes from different parts. Firstly, through being a professor, my motivation comes from my students in the classroom or in the lab. When they ask me about chemistry in general or particularly inorganic chemistry, I find motivation in trying to explain to them in the best way that they can solve whatever doubts they have. Another source of motivation comes from realizing every day, and at the end of every paper I read, that there are many things we still do not know and cannot explain in the light of science, particularly in the chemical sciences. The chemical knowledge is vast and fascinating. Everything around us, in some way, involves a chemical process that can or will be explained, either now or in some distant future, based on the advance of the scientific knowledge.

  1. How did your career path lead you to become elected as the president of the Brazilian Chemical Society?

When I was a chemistry undergraduate student in Sao Paulo University, Ribeirao Preto city campus (countryside part of the Sao Paulo State), I joined Professor Yassuko Iamamoto’s research group with a scholarship to work in the development of catalysts for oxidation reactions. Our first research results were presented in the annual meeting of the SBQ – (Brazilian Chemical Society) of which I became an associate in 1983. After that, every year I attended the annual meeting and presented the research results of my master’s degree or PhD studies. After I finished my graduate school, I joined Federal University of Paraná (a southern state in Brazil) and created my own research group. In the SBQ I joined as a director in the inorganic chemistry division, since I believed and continue to believe that I can contribute with my work to build a strong and big Brazilian chemical society that represents the strength of the chemical science in Brazilian universities as well as Brazilian research centres.

  1. What will your role entail and what are you aiming to achieve?

Firstly, I believe that my role as president of the SBQ is to contribute daily to the growth of our society and to foster the good work of the previous 21 presidents. In addition, I have a big responsibility to show young chemists, graduate and undergraduate students, the importance of our society as a civil organization. They are a voice to be heard in issues in which the chemical community can contribute to the greater society. We also hope that our voice can be one that includes, fosters, and promotes quality scientific discussion, being plural, diverse and inclusive.

  1. What are the biggest challenges facing the Brazilian Chemistry Community?

Regarding the chemical sciences, there are many challenges we face. For one, providing quality scientific education for young people in a country with continental figures and big social and income inequalities. We find a good, international level education in one part of the country and a complete lack of basic infrastructure in other parts. Regarding the scientific research, we face low and declining levels of investment, which affects the continuity of good research programs. We face many challenges to become the country we dream of.

  1. What are the most exciting areas in the Brazilian Chemistry Community?

We have many strong research areas in Brazil. These include using natural products to explore our big biodiversity, the preparation and use of new materials, and we have excellent researchers making contributions to the new and alternative energies. In addition, given our great natural resource reserve, we have brilliant researchers working on the extraction of new substances from our biodiverse biomes and developing new pharmacological alternatives from these results. Some of these natural findings are already being prepared in our universities. Our scientific community is very versatile and creative. Despite receiving little financial support, we have produced excellent results. This can be seen in the quality of our Brazilian researchers’ publications around the world. For example, I can quote the Brazilian Science Panorama 2015-2020 report from the Science, Technology and Innovation Observatory (CGEE- OCTI), which shows the Brazilian production of scientific research papers grew 32% in 2020 in comparison to 2015, while the global production only grew 27%. During these five years more than 11 million papers were indexed in Web of Science (WoS), of which 372 thousand are papers with at least one author linked to our Brazilian institutions, giving us the 13th position in global production, surpassing Russia (14th), Iran (15th), the Netherlands (16th) and Turkey (17th). In 2020, this participation reached 3.2% of global scientific research production. These figures are considering scientific papers as a whole, but according to WoS, chemistry is the second area of research in number of indexed papers, lagging only behind the engineering area. These are very relevant figures as it shows the strength of chemistry in Brazilian scientific research, which is concentrated mostly in public universities where our SBQ associates work.

  1. How does it feel being the 2nd woman to hold this position and how is this going to inspire a younger generation of female chemists?

I can see in our long line of SBQ female associates so many chemists that could be in my place. Women are about 50% of all SBQ associates. We have excellent scientists, chemical educators and researchers in our pool of associates. I am not the first female president; I am only the second one in this rough path opened by Prof. Vanderlan Bolzani. But, paraphrasing vice-president Kamala Harris, “I will make sure I will not be the last”. Hopefully, my work will serve as an example and inspiration so that women in SBQ can see that it is possible to be in my position and occupy this space, if we serve with dedication and love to the SBQ.

  1. You have been a member of the RSC Advances Editorial Board since September 2020. What would you say are the biggest strengths of the journal?

Being a member of the RSC Advances Editorial Board has been an interesting and significant experience, considering the size and relevance of the RSC to the world and to the SBQ. Through the years both societies have not only kept good relations but developed key partnerships of research. From my remote participation on the meetings (due to the new coronavirus pandemic) I gathered that the main interest of this journal is to deliver papers of unquestionable scientific quality through an open access journal. On this aspect, the journal invests greatly in its editorial board, giving them adequate support for their job. Moreover, I found it very positive the journal’s actions towards making it more inclusive and transparent.

  1. What do you hope to achieve in your career over the next 10 years?

What I hope to achieve in my career over the next 10 years is continuous progress both from scientific and educational standpoints. I hope to continue to investigate multifunctional catalytic solids aimed at sequential reactions as opposed to single process catalysts. I believe they are more adequate alternatives considering the reduction in cost, time and use of available resources during the preparation of reactions. Furthermore, shaping new generations of chemists has always been a career goal of mine, so I hope I can continue to give classes and participate in the education and formation of professionals in this area of science that is dear to my heart, Chemistry!

Please join me in extending our congratulations to Shirley for this achievement. We hope you continue to inspire the next generation of chemists!

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RSC Advances Outstanding Student Paper Awards 2021

We are delighted to announce our winners for the RSC Advances Outstanding Student Paper Awards 2021.

These awards recognise outstanding work published in the journal in 2021, for which a substantial component of the research was conducted by a student. We received over 900 nominations, which were shortlisted, and the winning papers were then selected by our Editorial Board and Associate Editors. Below, we highlighted the winner of each subject category, and highlight the research paper that won them the award.

Analytical chemistry

Vanessa N. Ataide, São Paulo University, Brazil

Vanessa is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Enhanced performance of pencil-drawn paper-based electrodes by laser-scribing treatment.

Vanessa graduated in Chemistry (2015) from Presbyterian Mackenzie University. She received her M.Sc. (2018) from the Institute of Chemistry of the University of São Paulo under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Thiago R. L. C. Paixão. She is currently a Ph.D. student with the same supervisor and in the same institution. Her research interests include electrochemical paper-based devices, carbon materials, fabrication of electrochemical sensors using low-cost techniques, and analytical applications involving clinical and environmental interest species. She receives financial support from São Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP (Grant Number: 2018/14462-0). She is currently doing an internship at Colorado State University under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Charles S. Henry, supported by FAPESP (Grant Number: 2021/10388-2). She is developing carbon-based low-cost electrochemical devices for the detection of Covid-19.

Biological & medicinal chemistry

Nova O. Dora, University of Kent, UK

Nova is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Supramolecular self-associating amphiphiles (SSAs) as nanoscale enhancers of cisplatin anticancer activity

Nova grew up in London and developed a strong interest in Science whilst at school. She went on to complete her undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Kent, Canterbury during which she completed her final year research project investigating mechanisms of drug resistance in cancer cell lines. This was an area of great interest and so Nova then stayed at the University of Kent to complete a Masters by Research investigating the potential of supramolecular self-associating amphiphiles (SSAs) as novel cancer treatments. After completing her masters program, Nova completed a PGCE in secondary education and is now a science teacher at a secondary school in West London. In her free time Nova likes to partake in sports such as netball and swimming and enjoys travelling and reading.

Catalysis

Jairus L. Lamola, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Jairus is recognised for his outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Evaluation of P-bridged biaryl phosphine ligands in palladium-catalysed Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions.

Jairus Lamola was born in Sebokeng, a small township in Gauteng Province, South Africa. He graduated with BSc in Chemistry and Biochemistry, and BSc Hons Chemistry degrees from the University of Johannesburg (South Africa) in 2015 and 2016, respectively. He then obtained a Master’s degree in Organic Chemistry, in 2018 under the supervision of Dr Edwin Mmutlane. He received the Faculty of Science Dean’s award for the best final-year BSc student in 2015 as well as the top third-year student awards in Chemistry and Biochemistry (2015).

He started PhD studies in Organic Chemistry in 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Chris Maumela and co-supervision of Prof. Cedric Holzapfel and Dr Paseka Moshapo. His doctoral research focuses on the design and development of novel P-bridged biaryl phosphine ligands for palladium-catalysed cross-coupling reactions. The PhD study has so far resulted in the publication of four research articles in international peer reviewed journals. Although he spends most of his time learning new aspects of life, he also enjoys cooking, storytelling, admiring nature and its biodiversity.

Computational and theoretical chemistry

Abhishek T. Sose, Virginia Tech, USA

Abhishek is recognised for his outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Modelling drug adsorption in metal–organic frameworks: the role of solvent.

Abhishek Tejrao Sose is currently a fourth-year Ph.D. student working under the supervision of Dr. Sanket Deshmukh in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Virginia Tech. His research is focused on the integration of the newly emerging field of artificial intelligence (AI) with Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations to accelerate the design of new hybrid materials including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), for biomedical and energy applications. A large part of his research also involves the development of accurate and transferable all-atom (AA) and coarse-grained (CG) models that are accelerated by optimization algorithms.

After finishing his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay in 2017, Abhishek decided to pursue his doctoral studies at Virginia Tech. Thus far, he has published four peer-reviewed journal articles (including three first-authored articles) as part of his Ph.D. experience and given 6 oral presentations and 5 poster presentations at national and international conferences. Recently he was awarded the ‘Best poster award’ at Macromolecules Innovation Institute (MII) Technical Conference & review 2022 at Virginia Tech for his work on investigating the molecular-level interactions between polymers and functionalized metal-organic frameworks. Moreover, his work on the development of forcefield interactions between MoS2 and water was featured as a supplementary cover for The Journal of Physical Chemistry C (JPCC). His latest work on the ‘Investigation of structure and dynamics of water confined between hybrid layered materials of graphene, boron nitride, and molybdenum disulfide’ was published in The Journal of Material Science as an invited article.

Energy chemistry

Alexandra H. Teodor, University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA

Alexandra is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Aqueous-soluble bipyridine cobalt(ii/iii) complexes act as direct redox mediators in photosystem I-based biophotovoltaic devices. 

Alexandra Heather Teodor was born in 1995. She received her B.S. in Biochemistry in 2016 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, focusing her studies on analytical and physical biochemistry. Alexandra then enrolled in the doctoral program of the joint University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Graduate School of Genome Science and Technology. She joined the laboratory of Dr. Barry Bruce to pursue her doctoral research in bio-hybrid electronic devices, furthering her interests in spectroscopy, physical, and electrochemical sciences. Alexandra graduated with her PhD in 2022, and accepted a job offer as a Space Photovoltaics Scientist for The Aerospace Corporation in California. She hopes to continue doing impactful work that will give back to the community.

Environmental chemistry 

Yin Sim Ng, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia

Yin Sim Ng is recognised for his outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in The enhancement of treatment capacity and the performance of phytoremediation system by fed batch and periodic harvesting

Yin Sim Ng was born and raised in Penang, Malaysia. He gained his Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.) in Chemical Engineering, from Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2014. During undergraduate studies, he secured JPA scholarship from Public Service Department of Malaysia. He thereafter successfully registered himself as a Graduate Engineer with Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM). His passion and interest in biology, environmentally consciousness and the exposure to the final year project drove him to take up graduate studies in research related to phytoremediation and green technology (sustainable water and wastewater treatment). He joined Associate Professor Dr. Derek Chan Juinn Chieh group specialised in biochemical process and biotechnology involving plant and cell in the same faculty.

His Masters’ research focussed on phytoremediation studies in evaluating the exact phytoremediation rate (inorganics removal such as ammonia, nitrate and phosphate) by axenic method, the performance in fish farm wastewater and enhancing their treatment capacity and efficiency. He succeeded in isolation of the axenic cultures of Hemianthus callitrichoides, Vesicularia montagnei (Christmas moss), Salvinia molesta, Spirodela polyrhiza, and Lemna sp. for his study and side projects. He also received travel bursary from the university to attend International Phytotechnologies Conference in Hangzhou, China that organised by International Phytotechnology Society (IPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISSCAS) in Autumn 2016. He obtained Master of Science (Chemical Engineering) in 2018. His doctorate studies concentrate on the role, mechanism, and mitigation of fouling from marine algae and their organics in the membrane distillation system. He obtained MyMaster Scholarship from Ministry of Education Malaysia and USM Fellowship from the university for his studies. So far, he has published 8 international journal papers and 1 conference proceedings (ISI and Scopus indexed). He was invited to perform 2 manuscript reviews in Journal of Hazardous Materials. He is also a member of Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and Microbiology Society, UK.

Food chemistry

Yao Lu, Renmin University of China, China

Yao Lu is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Promotion effects of flavonoids on browning induced by enzymatic oxidation of tyrosinase: structure–activity relationship

Yao Lu received her M.S degree from the Department of Chemistry, Renmin University of China in 2021, under the guidance of Prof. Rui-Min Han. Her research field is physical chemistry mainly concerning the interactions of flavonoids with tyrosinase. Her research interest is biochemical reaction mechanism in the perspective of optical spectroscopy.

Inorganic chemistry

Aayushi Arora & Preeti Oswal, Doon University, India

Aayushi & Preeti are recognised for their outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Catalytically active nanosized Pd9Te4 (telluropalladinite) and PdTe (kotulskite) alloys: first precursor-architecture controlled synthesis using palladium complexes of organotellurium compounds as single source precursors

Ms. Aayushi Arora who was born in Agra (INDIA) in the year 1993, studied at Doon University Dehradun (2017-2021) for Ph.D. under supervision of Dr. Arun Kumar. She has been the recipient of the highly prestigious Indo-U.S. Fellowship for Women in STEMM (WISTEMM). With this fellowship, she carried out research work in 2020 at Texas A&M University, U.S.A under supervision of Prof. John A. Gladysz. She has also been felicitated by the Hon’ble Governor of the State of Uttarakhand (INDIA) at Rajbhawan on Uttarakhand Foundation Day for her achievements as a young woman in science. Her research includes development and applications of new catalytic systems, designing fluorescent probes for sensing of metal ions and Werner’s complexes for hydrogen bond donor catalysis. She has contributed to publishing more than two dozen of publications including articles and book chapters. In a short span of time, her h-index is 8.

Preeti Oswal was born in Himachal Pradesh, India in 1995. After receiving B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemistry in year 2017, she became the recipient of a highly prestigious and national-level DST-INSPIRE fellowship from Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India for pursuing Ph.D. research for five years. For last 04 and half years, she has been a Ph.D. scholar at Department of Chemistry, Doon University Dehradun (INDIA) under supervision of Dr. Arun Kumar. She is working on designing novel organochalcogen and organophosphorous compounds which she uses as building blocks for catalysts and electrolysts. Her research experience includes homogeneous, heterogenous and nano-catalysis of various organic reactions such as Suzuki coupling, C-O coupling, aldehyde to amide transformation, allylation of aldehydes and Sonogashira coupling. She has also fabricated Pd6P at nanoscale and explored its electrocatalytic application in hydrogen evolution reaction. At a very young age and in a short span of time, she has contributed to publishing more than 20 articles in the journals of high repute, and 4 book chapters.

Materials chemistry

Shyam K. Pahari, University of Massachusetts, USA

Shyam is recognised for his outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Designing high energy density flow batteries by tuning active-material thermodynamics

Shyam Pahari is a doctoral candidate in inorganic chemistry at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, studying energy materials in the lab of Prof. Patrick Cappillino. His dissertation research focuses on designing high energy-density active materials for non-aqueous redox flow batteries by examining the effect of molecular structure on thermodynamic properties of electrolytes. In particular, he investigates the interplay between solvation free energy and lattice enthalpy in determining active material solubility utilizing experimental and computational approaches.

Shyam is a first-generation college student and holds Master’s in Science from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. Prior to joining UMass Dartmouth, he briefly worked as a high school chemistry teacher.

Nanoscience

Mina Shawky Adly, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA

Mina is recognised for his outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Efficient removal of heavy metals from polluted water with high selectivity for Hg(ii) and Pb(ii) by a 2-imino-4-thiobiuret chemically modified MIL-125 metal–organic framework

Mina Fanous is currently a lecturer of physical chemistry at Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University. He earned his Bachelor of Science at Mansoura University, in 2012, and his master degree in Physical Chemistry from the same university. He received a joint supervision grant from the Ministry of Higher Education from 2019 to 2020. He has worked under the supervision of professor Samy El-Shall at the College of Humanities and Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA. In his thesis, he pioneered metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for different applications in adsorption and catalysis. He has obtained Ph.D. degree in surface chemistry and catalysis
in 2021 from Mansoura Univesity. Recently, Mina’s research focuses on the synthesis of new MOFs and their applications related to the environment and energy such as heavy metals removal, solar steam generation, and supercapacitors. He supervises research activities in the same field and teaches surface chemistry to bachelor students in different programs at the faculty of science as well as catalysis to students at the faculty of education. He has been involved in a collaborative research project financed by STDF in Egypt. He has seven publications
in high impacted journals, one in JACS journal.

Organic chemistry

Ajaz Ahmed, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, India

Ajaz is recognised for his outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in Conversion of N-acyl amidines to amidoximes: a convenient synthetic approach to molnupiravir (EIDD-2801) from ribose

Ajaz Ahmed was born and brought up in the Poonch District of Jammu & Kashmir. He received B.Sc. from Govt Gandhi Memorial Science College Jammu, India, and M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry from Bundelkhand University Jhansi, U. P. India. Following this, he joined Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM) Jammu, a laboratory under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Jammu, Govt of India in August 2017 as Junior Research Fellow (JRF) after qualifying National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by CSIR. He has cracked various national level exams like, CSIR-NET-JRF Dec.-2016, CSIR-NET-JRF-June 2017, GATE-2016, GATE-2019, and GATE-2020 conducted by IIT. He has recently submitted his thesis entitled “N-Glycosylation as a Tool Box for the Generation of Medicinally Important Nucleosides and Disaccharide Mimetics” to Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) for Ph.D degree under the supervision of Dr. Debaraj Mukherjee, Principal  scientist in Natural Product and Medicinal Chemistry Division. His area of research is glycoscience which includes nucleoside chemistry, oligosaccharide synthesis, total synthesis of biologically active compounds, development of novel methods for glycosylation. and affordable routes for active phramacetical ingredients (API). He has 11 published papers in different reputed journals of organic chemistry and 2 review articles to his credits and also filed three patents related to API synthesis.

Physical chemistry

Rosaria Cercola, University of York, UK

Rosaria is recognised for her outstanding contribution in the research advance presented in A “one pot” mass spectrometry technique for characterizing solution- and gas-phase photochemical reactions by electrospray mass spectrometry

Rosaria Cercola joined Caroline Dessent’s group at the University of York in 2015 as a PhD student, where she explored the gas-phase photochemistry of biological and pharmaceutical molecules.

She also developed a passion for science communication and outreach throughout her journey. She is now the Editorial Assistant at Science in School, the European journal for science teachers funded and supported by EIROforum.

Outside of work, Rosaria is the founder of “PhD and then what?” where she addresses themes like life abroad, PhD journey and post PhD careers.

 

Please welcome us in congratulating all of our winners!

 

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Announcement: RSC Advances is now indexed in PubMed Central

We are pleased to announce that RSC Advances is now indexed in PubMed Central. This will enhance the visibility and discoverability of any relevant published articles. Volume 8 to volume 11 are fully indexed, and volume 12 has been fully indexed to date.

Some articles that have recently been indexed in PubMed Central are highlighted below:

Sugar-based cationic magnetic core–shell silica nanoparticles for nucleic acid extraction
Tammar Hussein Ali, Amar Mousa Mandal, Thorsten Heidelberg and Rusnah Syahila Duali Hussen
RSC Adv., 2022, 12, 13566-13579

Facile and wide-range size tuning of conjugated polymer nanoparticles for biomedical applications as a fluorescent probe
Noriko Nakamura, Nobuaki Tanaka and Seiichi Ohta
RSC Adv., 2022, 12, 11606-11611

Thiazolidinedione derivatives as novel GPR120 agonists for the treatment of type 2 diabetes
Xuekun Wang, Guoxia Ji, Xinyu Han, Huiran Hao, Wenjing Liu, Qidi Xue, Qinghua Guo, Shiben Wang, Kang Lei and Yadi Liu
RSC Adv., 2022, 12, 5732-5742

Effect of ligand groups on photoexcited charge carrier dynamics at the perovskite/TiO2 interface
Landon Johnson and Dmitri Kilin
RSC Adv., 2022, 12, 78-87

RSC Advances Royal Society of Chemistry

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

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Welcome to our new Associate Editor: P. Sujatha Devi

We are delighted to welcome Dr P. Sujatha Devi to the RSC Advances team!

Dr. P. Sujatha Devi received her Ph.D in Chemistry from the Inorganic and Physical Chemistry department,  Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1991. Dr. Devi has made outstanding research contributions in frontier and diverse areas of solid state chemistry, spanning from material synthesis, surface functionalization and characterization through to application and device development.  Dr. Devi’s main research contributions are essentially in the synthesis, processing and study of the properties of functional materials, alongside assessment of their structure-property correlations.

Her contributions in processing and characterization of functional nanomaterials for applications ranging from fuel cell, dye sensitized solar cell, chemical and biosensors and drug delivery are noteworthy.

She is currently Chief Scientist and was heading the Chemical Sciences and Technology Division at CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India prior to taking up this position.

She was Editor of the Taylor & Francis Journal Transactions of the Indian Ceramic Society from 2015 to 2018. She is also very active in contributing to the enhancement of science in the society through being a member of the Executive Council of the major scientific societies in India, CRSI and MRSI.

P. Sujatha was elected as a Fellow of the RSC in 2017, and was featured in the cross journal themed collection Celebrating Excellence in Research: 100 Women of Chemistry.

Browse a selection of P. Sujatha’s RSC publications: 

Redistribution of native defects and photoconductivity in ZnO under pressure
Partha Pratim Das, Sudeshna Samanta, Lin Wang, Jaeyong Kim, Thomas Vogt, P. Sujatha Devi and Yongjae Lee
RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 4303-4313
DOI: 10.1039/C8RA10219H

Water soluble blue-emitting AuAg alloy nanoparticles and fluorescent solid platforms for removal of dyes from water
Srikrishna Pramanik, Arindam Saha and Parukuttyamma Sujatha Devi
RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 33946-33954
DOI: 10.1039/C4RA14176H

Frequency dependent energy storage and dielectric performance of Ba–Zr Co-doped BiFeO3 loaded PVDF based mechanical energy harvesters: effect of corona poling
Abhishek Sasmal, Shrabanee Sen and P. Sujatha Devi
Soft Matter, 2020, 16, 8492-8505
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM01031F

Role of suppressed oxygen vacancies in the BiFeO3 nanofiller to improve the polar phase and multifunctional performance of poly(vinylidene fluoride)
Abhishek Sasmal, Shrabanee Sen and P. Sujatha Devi
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2019, 21, 5974-5988
DOI: 10.1039/C8CP07281G

Submit your research or reviews to P. Sujatha, she will be delighted to receive them! See our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest HOT articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

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Welcome to our new Associate Editor: Xi Chen

We are delighted to welcome Dr Xi Chen to the RSC Advances team!

Xi Chen received her Bachelor (2010) and Master (2012) degrees in Chemistry from Wuhan University in China. She then obtained her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Singapore (NUS) under the supervision of Prof. Ning Yan in 2016, where she stayed as a postdoc. She joined the China-UK Low Carbon College at Shanghai Jiao Tong University as Assistant Professor in 2018 and promoted to Associate Professor in 2020. Her research focuses on the chemical transformations of various waste streams including biomass, plastics and CO2 into high-value chemicals, materials and fuels.

Browse a selection of Xi’s RSC publications: 

Conversion of chitin and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine into a N-containing furan derivative in ionic liquids
Xi Chen, Yi Liu, Francesca M. Kerton and Ning Yan
RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 20073-20080
DOI: 10.1039/C5RA00382B

Haber-independent, diversity-oriented synthesis of nitrogen compounds from biorenewable chitin
Thuy Trang Pham, Xi Chen, Tilo Söhnel, Ning Yan and Jonathan Sperry
Green Chem., 2020, 22, 1978-1984
DOI: 10.1039/C5RA00382B

Room temperature, near-quantitative conversion of glucose into formic acid
Can Wang, Xi Chen, Man Qi, Jianeng Wu, Gökalp Gözaydın, Ning Yan, Heng Zhong and Fangming Jin
Green Chem., 2019, 21, 6089-6096
DOI: 10.1039/C9GC02201E

Submit your research or reviews to Xi, she will be delighted to receive them! See our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest HOT articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

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