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Introducing the RCE Emerging Investigators Series

27 Nov 2020

Since the first issue of Reaction Chemistry & Engineering in 2016, the journal has showcased two special issues dedicated to work carried out by researchers in the earlier stages of their research careers:

We hope the reaction engineering community has found these issues to be valuable, both in the high quality of the articles and in drawing attention to newer voices in the community. The journal editors and Editorial Board consider these issues in particular to have been highly successful.

In light of the disruption to research programmes worldwide in 2020 we have taken the opportunity to reassess the format of this initiative.

We are now excited to announce the launch of the Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Emerging Investigators Series.

What is changing?

In place of a dedicated journal issue, Emerging Investigators papers will be published throughout each year. We anticipate the following benefits to this change:

No fixed submission deadlines allowing more flexibility for authors
Continual exposure of exciting work from early-career members of the community
Greater emphasis and focus on individual authors and research groups

We hope for this to help address the immediate concern of disrupted research schedules, while also offering a better service to our authors and readers well into the future.

What is not changing?

While we will no longer dedicate a specific journal issue to our Emerging Investigators, all other aspects of this initiative will remain the same. This includes:

Eligibility criteria (see below)
A dedicated web page for published articles alongside our other collections
Rigour and speed in peer review
An overall objective to showcase the full diversity of cutting-edge research carried out by newer voices in the reaction engineering community worldwide.

The Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Emerging Investigators Series will also remain an invitation-only initiative, with nominations curated by our Editorial and Advisory Board members. We will however consider additional applications and nominations on their own merit.

What happens now?

The Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Editorial Office will contact nominated Emerging Investigators throughout the year.

Regarding eligibility, contributors must:

Publish research within the journal scope
Currently be an independent research leader
Have not been featured as an Emerging Investigator in a previous Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Emerging Investigators issue or series article.
Have either a) received their PhD no earlier than 01 January of the year 12 years prior to the year of submission, or b) have no more than 12 years of post-PhD research experience on 01 January in the year of submission when taking into account any career breaks.

(For example: for submission in 2021 an eligible contributor must have either a) a PhD awarded on or after 01 January 2009, or b) no more than 12 years of post-PhD research experience by 01 January 2021)

Authors previously featured as Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Emerging Investigators may with no restriction be co-authors on subsequent papers in the Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Emerging Investigators Series, but they may not be the sole eligible corresponding author, and will not be featured as Emerging Investigators more than once.

Contributors will be required to confirm their eligibility by sending their CV to the journal editors.

Footnote on our Outstanding Early-Career Paper Award

You may note that the eligibility criteria for the Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Emerging Investigators Series are the same as for the annual journal Outstanding Early-Career Paper Award.

All papers published as part of the Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Emerging Investigators Series will automatically be considered for this award, unless the featured author is a previous winner of this award.

Subsequent papers published in the journal by previously-featured Emerging Investigators will still qualify for consideration for the Outstanding Early-Career Paper Award if they meet the Award criteria, unless the featured author is a previous winner of this award. Their subsequent papers will however not be eligible for inclusion in the Emerging Investigators Series. For authors in this situation we repeat the following guidance:

To have your paper considered for the annual Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Outstanding Early-Career Paper Award, indicate when prompted upon submission of your revised manuscript if a corresponding author of the paper fulfils these criteria. Multiple eligible authors of a winning paper will share the prize fund equally. You can contact the editors at reactionchemeng-rsc@rsc.org if you have any queries.

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2019 RCE Outstanding Early-Career Paper Award Winner: Heidrun Gruber-Woelfler

09 Oct 2020

It is our great pleasure to announce Professor Heidrun Gruber-Woelfler (TU Graz, Austria) as the winner of the inaugural (2019) Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Outstanding Early-Career Paper Award.

This is in recognition of her leadership of the paper

Development of customized 3D printed stainless steel reactors with inline oxygen sensors for aerobic oxidation of Grignard reagents in continuous flow
by Manuel C. Maier, René Lebl, Philipp Sulzer, Josef Lechner, Torsten Mayr, Matej Zadravec, Eyke Slama, Stefan Pfanner, Christoph Schmölzer, Peter Pöchlauer, C. Oliver Kappe and Heidrun Gruber-Woelfler
React. Chem. Eng., 2019, 4, 393-401
DOI: 10.1039/C8RE00278A

Part of the special issue Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Emerging Investigators 2019

This paper is free to access until 31 December 2020.

Please join us in congratulating Professor Gruber-Woelfler!

About the winner

Assoc. Prof. Heidrun Gruber-Woelfler studied technical chemistry at Graz University of Technology, Austria with a focus on chemical engineering. After her PhD dealing with organometallic catalysis, she did her Post-Doc in the area of continuous processes for the synthesis and purification of active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished her habilitation (venia docendi) in the field of Pharmaceutical Engineering in 2018.

Since 2007 she is the head of the research group “Continuous Processes” at the Institute of Process and Particle Engineering, Graz University of Technology and since July 2017 Deputy Director of the Center of Continuous Flow Synthesis and Processing (CCFlow) in Graz. Her current projects deal with heterogeneous (bio)catalysis for API synthesis, design and optimization of continuous processes, reactor design including additive manufacturing as well as real-time analyses.

An interview with Professor Gruber-Woelfler

Can you briefly summarise this paper?

In this paper our concept for the development of different customized 3D printed stainless steel reactors is presented. Starting with a 3D printed micro CSTR cascade as a tool to determine the reaction rate and in combination with computational fluid dynamics simulations, a split-and-recombine reactor was designed with novel 3D printed three-dimensional structures and adapted exactly to the requirements of aerobic oxidations of Grignard reagents.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

Although these are currently definitely challenging times, I am really excited about technologies such as additive manufacturing and computer aided design and optimization. In combination with a genius and interdisciplinary team, there are currently so many fascinating possibilities to improve and redesign traditional approaches.

Where do you see the field of reactor engineering in five years?

As already mentioned, the fields of continuous processing, computer aided design and optimization, additive manufacturing and real-time analyses will get even more important in chemical reactor engineering. Currently, modern reactor manufacturing is often compared with the LEGO® technology. However, 3D printing is even better because you have almost unlimited possibilities to design your own LEGO® bricks or the complete set-up.

How do you feel about Reaction Chemistry & Engineering as a place to publish research on this topic?

The journal of Reaction Chemistry & Engineering is definitely an open-minded place where the mentioned topics are published and shared with a large readership.

How do you like to spend your time when not doing research?

When not doing research or teaching, I try to spend maximum time with our kids outdoors.

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom for those beginning their research career?

Every single project as well as every phase in life has its ups and downs. Even if others tell you that your way might not be the direct one, keep your track and continue walking and you will soon enjoy the view from the top.

About the award

The aim of the Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Outstanding Early-Career Paper Award is to recognise a researcher in the earlier stages of their research career for their leadership in reporting original research published in the journal.

The journal Editorial Board award this prize annually, selecting the paper which they find to demonstrate the highest quality of research, as well as importance to the advancement of the field of reaction engineering, out of all qualifying papers published in the journal each year.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible for this award, the candidate must:

Be listed as a corresponding author on the paper
Currently be an independent research leader
Have either a) received their PhD on or after 1^st January of the year 12 years prior to the award year (2007 for prize year 2019) or b) spent no more than an equivalent amount of time in research when taking into account any career breaks.
Not be a previous winner of this award

Selection Process

In order to choose the winner of the 2019 Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Outstanding Early-Career Paper Award, a shortlist of articles that were published throughout the year were selected by the editorial office and then subsequently assessed by the journal’s Editorial Board members. The winner was selected based upon the significance, impact and quality of the research.

Prize

The winner of the Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Outstanding Early-Career Paper Award will receive an engraved plaque and a travel bursary of £500 to use towards a meeting (or meetings) of their choice.

To have your paper considered for the 2020 Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Outstanding Early-Career Paper Award, indicate when prompted upon submission of your revised manuscript if a corresponding author of the paper fulfils these criteria. Multiple eligible authors of a winning paper will share the prize fund equally. You can contact the editors at reactionchemeng-rsc@rsc.org if you have any queries.

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Outstanding Reviewers for Reaction Chemistry & Engineering in 2018

25 Mar 2019

Outstanding Reviewers for Reaction Chemistry & Engineering in 2018

We would like to highlight the Outstanding Reviewers for Reaction Chemistry & Engineering in 2018, as selected by the editorial team, for their significant contribution to the journal. The reviewers have been chosen based on the number, timeliness and quality of the reports completed over the last 12 months.

We would like to say a big thank you to those individuals listed here as well as to all of the reviewers that have supported the journal. Each Outstanding Reviewer will receive a certificate to give recognition for their significant contribution.

Professor Marcus Baumann, University College Dublin ORCiD: 0000-0002-6996-5893

Professor Geoffrey Bond, Brunel University

Professor Richard Bourne, University of Leeds ORCiD: 0000-0001-7107-6297

Professor Rajamani Gounder, Purdue University ORCiD: 0000-0003-1347-534X

Professor Heidrun Gruber-Woelfler, Graz University of Technology ORCiD: 0000-0002-6917-4442

Professor Ryan Hartman, New York University ORCiD: 0000-0002-5364-9933

Professor C. Oliver Kappe, University of Graz ORCiD: 0000-0003-2983-6007

Dr Matthew O’Brien, Keele University ORCiD: 0000-0002-1943-2351

Professor Victor Sans, University of Nottingham ORCiD: 0000-0001-7045-5244

Dr Kehua Yin, GlaxoSmithKline ORCiD: 0000-0003-2391-5329

We would also like to thank the Reaction Chemistry & Engineering board and the reaction engineering community for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers.

If you would like to become a reviewer for our journal, just email us with details of your research interests and an up-to-date CV or résumé. You can find more details in our author and reviewer resource centre

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Outstanding Reviewers for Reaction Chemistry & Engineering in 2017

22 Mar 2018

We would like to highlight the Outstanding Reviewers for RCE in 2017, as selected by the editorial team, for their significant contribution to the journal. The reviewers have been chosen based on the number, timeliness and quality of the reports completed over the last 12 months.

Dr Marcus Baumann, University College Dublin, ORCID: 0000-0002-6996-5893
Dr Stefano Di Stefano, Università di Roma La Sapienza, ORCID: 0000-0002-6742-0988
Dr Dimitrios Gerogiorgis, University of Edinburgh, ORCID: 0000-0002-2210-6784
Dr Heidrun Gruber-Woelfler, Graz University of Technology, ORCID: 0000-0002-6917-4442
Dr Ryan Hartman, New York University, ORCID: 0000-0002-5364-9933
Dr Istvan Mandity, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, ORCID: 0000-0003-2865-6143
Dr Dennis J. Miller, Michigan State University, ORCID: 0000-0001-8909-5015
Dr Timothy Noel, Eindhoven University of Technology, ORCID: 0000-0002-3107-6927
Professor László Poppe, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, ORCID: 0000-0002-9957-1203
Dr Artem Vityuk, BASF Corporation, ORCID: 0000-0003-3234-5380

We would also like to thank the RCE boards and the reaction engineering community for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers.

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Celebrating International Women’s Day in RCE

08 Mar 2017

As part of International Women’s Day, we would like to take the opportunity to celebrate research led by women and published in Reaction Chemistry & Engineering. With a big thank you to these researchers, and to all women that have contributed to work published in the journal, we encourage you to read their excellent work!

Professor Donna Blackmond, Scripps Research Institute, USA and Editorial Board member for Reaction Chemistry & Engineering

In situ FTIR spectroscopic monitoring of electrochemically controlled organic reactions in a recycle reactor
Alexander G. O’Brien, Oana R. Luca, Phil S. Baran and Donna G. Blackmond
React. Chem. Eng., 2016, 1, 90-95
DOI: 10.1039/C5RE00050E

An electrochemical reactor coupled with a recycle loop through a transmission FTIR cell allows continuous monitoring of reaction progress.

Professor King Kuok (Mimi) Hii, Imperial College London, USA and Advisory Board member for Reaction Chemistry & Engineering

Catalysis in flow: O₂ effect on the catalytic activity of Ru(OH)_x/γ-Al₂O₃ during the aerobic oxidation of an alcohol
John B. Brazier, Klaus Hellgardt and King Kuok (Mimi) Hii
React. Chem. Eng., 2017, 2, 60-67
DOI: 10.1039/C6RE00208K

Different roles of O₂ in the Ru-catalysed aerobic oxidation of alcohols have been delineated.

Aerobic oxidations in flow: opportunities for the fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries
Asterios Gavriilidis, Achilleas Constantinou, Klaus Hellgardt, King Kuok (Mimi) Hii, Graham J. Hutchings, Gemma L. Brett, Simon Kuhn and Stephen P. Marsden
React. Chem. Eng., 2016, 1, 595-612
DOI: 10.1039/C6RE00155F

This collaborative review (between teams of chemists and chemical engineers) describes the current scientific and operational hurdles that prevent the utilisation of aerobic oxidation reactions for the production of speciality chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

Dr Laura Torrente Murciano, University of Cambridge, UK

Synthesis of narrow sized silver nanoparticles in the absence of capping ligands in helical
microreactors
Ke-Jun Wu, Geoffroy Michet De Varine Bohan and Laura Torrente-Murciano
React. Chem. Eng., 2017, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C6RE00202A
From themed collection Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Emerging Investigators

Microtubular helical reactors generate secondary flows promoting the synthesis of mono-sized silver nanoparticles in the absence of capping ligands.

Professor Neda Nazemifard, University of Alberta, Canada

Application of microfluidics to control product selectivity during non-catalytic oxidation of
naphthenic-aromatic hydrocarbons
M. N. Siddiquee, A. de Klerk and N. Nazemifard
React. Chem. Eng., 2016, 1, 418-435
DOI: 10.1039/C6RE00010J

Liquid phase oxidation of naphthenic-aromatic hydrocarbons in slug-flow reactor shows high selectivity, arising from the ability to control local oxygen availability in miniaturized reactors.

Professor Ying Zheng, University of Edinburgh, UK

The catalytic activity and chemical structure of nano MoS₂ synthesized in a controlled environment
H. P. Zhang, H. F. Lin, Y. Zheng, Y. F. Hu and A. MacLennan
React. Chem. Eng., 2016, 1, 165-175
DOI: 10.1039/C5RE00046G
From themed collection Celebrating 175 years of the Royal Society of Chemistry

The redox synthesis mechanism is, for the first time, revealed in a novel hydrothermal preparation of nano MoS₂ with MoO₃ as precursors. The S-to-Mo ratio plays a key role in influencing the morphology and activity of catalyst MoS₂.

Professor Sonja Herres-Pawlis, RWTH Aachen, Germany

Decay kinetics of sensitive bioinorganic species in a SuperFocus mixer at ambient conditions
Daniela Schurr, Florian Strassl, Patricia Liebhäuser, Günter Rinke, Roland Dittmeyer and Sonja Herres-Pawlis
React. Chem. Eng., 2016, 1, 485-493
DOI: 10.1039/C6RE00119J

For the first time the formation and decay of the thermally very sensitive bis(μ-oxo)dicopper species was monitored at ambient temperature in a continuous flow setup and the rate constant of the decay was measured.

Professor Regina Palkovits, RWTH Aachen, Germany

Methanation of residual syngas after LPG synthesis: identifying the main effects on catalytic performance with Plackett–Burman screening design
Florian Krebs, Vitaliy Bliznuk, Joon Hyun Baik, Regina Palkovits and Kalin Simeonov
React. Chem. Eng., 2016, 1, 477-484
DOI: 10.1039/C6RE00071A

Seven factors in catalyst development were selected and rated towards their impact on methanation as a downstream process.

Professor Zhenan Bao, Stanford University, USA

Development of a reactor with carbon catalysts for modular-scale, low-cost electrochemical generation of H₂O₂Zhihua Chen, Shucheng Chen, Samira Siahrostami, Pongkarn Chakthranont, Christopher Hahn, Dennis Nordlund, Sokaras Dimosthenis, Jens K. Nørskov, Zhenan Bao and Thomas F. Jaramillo
React. Chem. Eng., 2017, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C6RE00195E
From themed collection Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Emerging Investigators

Small-scale reactors for H₂O₂ production that can couple to renewable energy sources would be of great benefit for decentralized water purification.

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Outstanding Reviewers for Reaction Chemistry & Engineering in 2016

23 Feb 2017

Following the success of Peer Review Week in September 2016 (dedicated to reviewer recognition) during which we published a list of our top reviewers, we are delighted to announce that we will continue to recognise the contribution that our reviewers make to the journal by announcing our Outstanding Reviewers each year.

We would like to highlight the Outstanding Reviewers for Reaction Chemistry & Engineering in 2016, as selected by the editorial team, for their significant contribution to the journal. The reviewers have been chosen based on the number, timeliness and quality of the reports completed over the last 12 months.

Dr Duncan Browne, Cardiff University

Dr Antimo Gioiello, Universita degli Studi di Perugia

Professor Christian Goldsmith, Auburn University

Dr Ryan Hartman, New York University

Professor Christian Oliver Kappe, Universitat Graz

Dr Amy Mueller, MIT

Dr Antonio Perazzo, Università di Napoli Federico II

Professor Bert Weckhuysen, Universiteit Utrecht

Dr Charlotte Wiles, Chemtrix

Dr Jun Yue, University of Groningen

We would also like to thank the Reaction Chemistry & Engineering board and the reaction engineering community for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers.

If you would like to become a reviewer for our journal, just email us with details of your research interests and an up-to-date CV or résumé. You can find more details in our author and reviewer resource centre.

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Royal Society of Chemistry and ACS Publications commit to ORCID integration

29 Nov 2016

Yesterday, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Chemical Society Publications Division, ACS Publications, both signed the ORCID Open Letter committing to unambiguous identification of all authors that publish in our journals.

The official press release can be found here: http://rsc.li/orcid

In brief, this partnership with ORCID will resolve ambiguity in researcher identification caused by name changes, cultural differences in name presentation, and the inconsistent use of name abbreviations, thereby ensuring their contributions are appropriately recognized and credited.

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Batch and flow: united at last

17 Oct 2016

Batch and flow chemistry can finally be carried out together on the same system!

Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Editorial Board member Steve Ley and colleague Daniel Fitzpatrick at the University of Cambridge have developed an automated reactor that can carry out both batch and flow processes, allowing for greater automation of multi-step synthesis.

Read the full story in Chemistry World.

This article is free to access until 25 November 2016

D E Fitzpatrick and S V Ley, React. Chem. Eng., 2016, DOI: 10.1039/C6RE00160B

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Top 10 Reviewers for Reaction Chemistry & Engineering

23 Sep 2016

In celebration of Peer Review Week, with the theme of Recognition for Review, we would like to highlight the top 10 reviewers for Reaction Chemistry & Engineering in 2016, as selected by the editor for their significant contribution to the journal.

Top 10 Reviewers for Reaction Chemistry & Engineering:
– Professor Ian Baxendale – University of Durham, UK
– Dr Duncan Browne – Cardiff University, UK
– Professor Klaus Jensen – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
– Dr Darren Bradshaw – University of Southampton, UK
– Professor Saif Khan – National University of Singapore, Singapore
– Dr Jun Yue – University of Groningen, Netherlands
– Dr Paul Watts – Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa
– Dr Christian Goldsmith – Auburn University, USA
– Dr Qingjie Ge – Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, China
– Dr Bert Weckhuysen – Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Netherlands

We would like to say a massive thank you to these reviewers as well as the Reaction Chemistry & Engineering board and all of the chemistry and engineering communities for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers.

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Connections in flow

05 Jul 2016

Chemistry World has spoken to Reaction Chemistry & Engineering Editorial Board Chair Professor Klavs Jensen about his work in the field of flow chemistry and continuous processing, culminating in the recent construction of an on-demand continuous flow pharmaceutical production platform with colleagues from MIT.

This achievement was made possible because of close collaboration between chemists and chemical engineers. As a journal, Reaction Chemistry & Engineering seeks to foster clear communication and knowledge sharing between the two disciplines that may lead to future endeavours such as this.

‘It makes sense to form a journal that allows the community from both sides to interact. So we want chemical engineers to publish papers that are interesting to the chemists and chemists to publish papers that have some engineering content and so will also be interesting to the engineers’, explains Professor Jensen, discussing his hopes for the journal. ‘We’d like to have something in between, that actually highlights from both sides what is the contribution in terms of understanding and developing new reactions, being able to optimize those, and understanding the kinetics. But also what does it take to run those – and so we bring together the two disciplines.’

Professor Jensen is convinced that a new journal is needed to do this: ‘Existing journals have reviewers that determine what is published, and they’ve developed their own communities. So it’s much harder to take an existing journal and change the course than it is to redefine, to really set a new goal and create a journal that satisfies the needs from both sides.’

To keep up with the latest research at the interface of chemistry and chemical engineering sign up to the Reaction Chemistry & Engineering TOC alerts or RSS feed, and follow us on Twitter.

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