Here we profile an upcoming researcher who has benefitted from Johnson Matthey's support in the past. David Nelson is a newly appointed Chancellor's Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow, UK. His research interests concern the development of useful transition metal catalysed processes for synthesis via a detailed understanding of mechanism, rate and selectivity...

Introduction This new volume of Springer's famous series Topics in Organometallic Chemistry, Volume 42, entitled “Organometallics as Catalysts in the Fine Chemical Industry”, presents the state-of-the-art in the industrial use of organometallic or coordination complexes as catalysts for the production of fine chemicals. A range of reactions is covered through an overview of chapters and...

Introduction A commemorative symposium was held at the University of Durham, UK, on 3rd–4th April 2013 to celebrate the career of Professor Dennis Albert Dowden (1914–2012). The meeting was organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Applied Catalysis Group (ACG) and the RSC Surface Reactivity and Catalysis Group (SURCAT) and sponsored by Johnson Matthey. The meeting was attended by...

Here another researcher whose work has benefited from the support of Johnson Matthey and Alfa Aesar, A Johnson Matthey Company, is profiled. Jean-Cyrille Hierso is a Full Professor and Member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF) at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, France. He is interested in metal and ligand chemistry, catalysis and nanomaterials. About the Researcher ...

Hexamethylenetetramine (hmta) was chosen as a model ligand. Each of the four nitrogen atoms has a pair of unshared electrons and behaves like an amine base, undergoing protonation and N-alkylation and being able to form coordination compounds with many inorganic elements. The ligand can be used as an outer coordination sphere modulator of the inner coordination sphere and as a crosslinking agent in dinuclear and multinuclear coordination compounds. It can also be used as a model for bioactive molecules to form a great number of complexes with different inorganic salts containing other molecules. Studies of hmta coordination compounds with different metal salts have therefore attracted much attention. The present review summarises the synthesis, preparation, structure analysis and applications of coordination compounds of hmta with different metal salts.

Introduction “Green Catalysts for Energy Transformation and Emission Control” is book 1184 in the ACS Symposium Series, which has been published since 1974 and is peer-reviewed, consisting of original research papers and review articles. The purpose of the series is to publish comprehensive books based on current scientific research presented at ACS sponsored symposia. The content of this...

Fast pyrolysis for liquids has been developed in recent decades as a fast and flexible method to provide high yields of liquid products. An overview of this promising field is given, with a comprehensive introduction as well as a practical guide to those thinking of applying bio-oils or fast pyrolysis liquids in various applications. It updates the literature with recent developments that have occurred since the reviews cited herein. Part I gave an introduction to the background, science, feedstocks, technology and products available for fast pyrolysis (1). Part II details some of the promising applications as well as pre-treatment and bio-oil upgrading options. The applications include use of bio-oil as an energy carrier, precursor to second generation biofuels, as a biorefinery concept and upgrading to fuels and chemicals.

John M. Woodley is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Originally from the UK, his research focuses on the relatively new field of bioreaction engineering, using chemical engineering to design and implement the next generation of chemical processes with enzymatic and microbial catalysts....

Mankind’s ability to harness the power of biocatalysis dates back many thousands of years as evidenced by records that described the production of beer by the Sumerians. Over the next few thousand years many other uses of biocatalysis were discovered, mainly for the production of food and drinks such as cheese and wine. Yet it took until the 20th century for mankind to utilise biocatalytic...

Introduction The book describes an overview of the various arylation methods under metal-catalysed conditions. There are nine chapters covering about 500 pages which are: ‘Cross-Coupling Arylations: Precedents and Rapid Historical Review of the Field’ ‘Amine, Phenol, Alcohol, and Thiol Arylation’ ‘Decarboxylative Coupling Techniques’ ‘C–H Bond Activation for Arylations’ ‘Conjugate...

Diego J. Ramón is a Professor in the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Alicante, Spain. His research focuses on the development of catalysts based on transition metal oxides impregnated on the surface of magnetite and their application to different reactions of general interest in Organic Chemistry. He has published over 100 papers. About the Researcher Name: Diego J....

Here another researcher whose work has benefited from the support of Johnson Matthey and Alfa Aesar, A Johnson Matthey company, is profiled. Piet van Leeuwen is a Professor and Group Leader at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), Spain. His interest ranges from fundamental aspects to applied catalysis utilising mainly late transition metals. About the Researcher ...

The characterisation of platinum group metals catalysts is commonly carried out by temperature-programmed reduction, the spectrum of which has been used as a “finger-print” of the reducibility of the catalyst. Recent literature suggests that the utility of temperature-programmed reduction can be further enhanced by combining it with other techniques, such as temperature-programmed desorption and thermogravimetry. Temperature-programmed reduction can be used to investigate phenomena such as metal-support interaction and bimetal formation qualitatively, and to assess quantitatively the stoichiometry of the catalytic precursor. It may also be used to assess metal distribution in a composite oxide supported precursar. An overview of the concepts and applications of temperature-programmed reduction is presented here, and a selection of recent reported methodologies and findings on supported platinum group metal catalysts are discussed.

“Handbook of Advanced Methods and Processes in Oxidation Catalysis”, edited by Daniel Duprez and Fabrizio Cavani, aims to give an overview of catalytic oxidation methods. It is divided in two parts, covering total and selective oxidation, and draws on the experience of a number of academic and industrial scientists. It is a broad and generally useful book which fulfils its aims, being intended for the technical parts of the chemical industry as well as the academic community. This book is particularly interesting in that it clearly describes the very diverse applications and importance of oxidation catalysis within the chemical industry. These applications are manifested in the production of speciality chemicals as well as large bulk chemical processes. It also shows the rapid growth and development of oxidation catalysis in recent years.

The first ten chapters on total oxidation regard hydrocarbon oxidation, soot, liquid phase techniques and five chapters on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including plasma processes and chlorinated VOCs. The remaining 18 chapters regard selective oxidations and include industrial perspectives of varying degrees of interest as well as reactor technologies and experimental tools and techniques. This breadth of scope makes it a great resource but also ensures that the reader will only be interested in the detail of some parts of the book.

Only the parts of the book which are mainly concerned with platinum group metal (pgm) catalysts have been reviewed as these are of most interest.

Introduction The use of biomass as a starting point for the manufacture of chemicals and fuels has been the subject of increasing research effort in recent years. A wide range of biomass sources are being investigated and reported in the literature, but with a particular focus on second generation biorenewables, which use non-food sources of biomass. Examples of such biomass sources...

Jérôme Waser is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. His research focuses on the development of new reactions based on catalysis and synthons with non-conventional reactivity. About the Researcher Name: Jérôme Waser Position: Associate Professor Department: Institute of Chemical...

In the twentieth century Dennis Albert Dowden, affectionately referred to as DAD by friends and colleagues, was an important figure in the development of an understanding of the structure of industrial heterogeneous catalysts, the species present and the processes taking place on them. He was born in Bristol, UK, and following education at the University of Bristol and a short period at Amherst College in the USA, in 1938 he joined Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) at Billingham in the North East of England. He worked there on catalysis, catalyst manufacture and catalytic processes for the next thirty-seven years. His major contribution was to bring a wide range of sciences and a rational approach into what had been until then regarded as “black art”, capable of only empirical analysis. His influence extended across ICI, which at that time operated many industrial catalytic processes, and academically he was influential worldwide and especially in the USA.

Introduction The Royal Society of Chemistry Faraday Discussions are a series of meetings focusing on rapidly developing areas of physical chemistry. Contrary to typical conferences, Faraday Discussions rely on the active participation of speakers and audience alike. Topics for each session are based on new research papers submitted specifically for the meeting. Audience participation is...

  Introduction The 7th International Gold Conference takes place every three years and in 2015 was hosted by the Cardiff Catalysis Institute at Cardiff City Hall, UK, from 26th to 29th July. Scientists from all over the world gathered to discuss the latest advances in gold chemistry. Over three days, the conference covered different aspects from homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis to...

This massive volume with a most appropriate title will lead the user to say: ‘I read, I understand modern trends, I will apply’. After perusing it, the reader is encouraged to give a quiz to their students or colleagues: what is the largest scale Heck reaction to date? Why is a reaction in water not a fully ‘green’ process? What are the problems of scale up flow reactions? How much...