Sir John Meurig Thomas Catalysis Medal

Scientist wins outstanding achievement award in the field of Catalytic science

HARWELL, OXFORD -The UK Catalysis Hub have named Dr Uli Hintermair from the University of Bath as person of outstanding achievement in catalysis for multidisciplinary contributions to the development and applications of catalysts for sustainable chemistry at the UK Catalysis Hub Winter Conference on the 6th of December. Dr Uli Hintemair was selected from the nominations for top early career scientists working in the United Kingdom to win the Sir John Meurig Thomas Catalysis Medal for 2016.

Professor Richard Catlow, FRS catalyst by design theme leader said, “Uli has a very rounded and wide-ranging skill sets within the field of catalysis, he is equally comfortable as a process engineer, as an organometallic chemist and as a physical organic chemist. This is reflected in the breadth of his achievements in working on very fundamental mechanistic problems through to the commercial application of catalysts through a spin off company of which he is Chief Scientific Advisor.”

“His three most significant achievements to date are:

(i) His discovery of Ir-based water-splitting catalysts with Bob Crabtree. These are the best catalysts out there for water oxidation and he has taken this work from molecular organometallic species through to supported catalysts with extremely low loading that are commercially viable in a number of sectors.

(ii) His development of supercritical CO2 flow systems with Walter Leitner that led to new patented processes for sustainable manufacture of formic acid from CO2

(iii) His development of flow NMR spectroscopy for in operando mechanistic study of solution and gas phase catalysis which has led to close collaboration with Bruker and is now underpinned by a £1.2M project to develop a new and reaction monitoring facility at Bath.

This was the inaugural year for the new medal. Dr Uli Hintermair delivered a lecture on catalysts to the UK Catalysis Hub Winter conference attended by over 150 people. Speakers for the Catalysis Hub Winter conference included members of the Catalysis Hub and wider international catalysis community. The JMT medal was generously sponsored by BP, JM, Dow, Dr Reddys, Invista, Givaudan and Sasol.

UK catalysis Hub

The UK Catalysis Hub is Consortia of universities involved in Catalysis research lead by UCL, Bath, Cardiff, Queens University Belfast, and Manchester. The hub has a range of Projects around the UK

Aims

The UK Catalysis Hub aims to interact, network and build the UK catalysis and wider international catalysis community through collaborative projects, meetings, conferences and research outputs, including publications. The Hub endeavours to develop a broad scientific program, from fundamentals for tackling big challenges to allowing extensive collaboration to develop new catalysts, reactions and process. In turn, this provides fundamental understanding, benefiting industry, the economy and scientific understanding. The UK Catalysis Hub also aims to develop the next generation of students, through courses, conferences, PhD programs, summer schools and outreach activities.

For information, contact:

Corinne Anyika UK Catalysis Hub
Research Complex at Harwell
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Harwell Oxford
OXON
OX11 0FA
Tel: 01235 567870 ext: 7822 Email: c.anyika@ucl.ac.uk