Robert K. Grasselli Award for Javier Pérez-Ramírez
Javier Pérez-Ramírez, Professor for Catalysis Engineering at the Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering / D-CHAB, is the first recipient for the Robert K. Grasselli Award – a prestigious EFCATS award in the field of oxidation catalysis.
The Robert K. Grasselli Award for Catalysis honors outstanding theoretical and experimental contributions in the field of oxidation catalysis. Robert K. Grasselli (1930-2018) was a highly accomplished and innovative industrial chemist, renowned for his seminal contributions to the design, development, and commercial exploitation of novel solid catalysis. Inventor of 175 U.S. patents, he was instrumental in developing a fundamentally new catalytic method of producing the polymer precursor, acrylonitrile. The process was so effective that, after its adoption worldwide, a 50-fold increase of acrylonitrile production was achieved.
Now, Prof. Javier Pérez-Ramírez is the very first recipient for the prestigious Robert K. Grasselli Award, recognizing him as a world expert in halogen chemistry. His discoveries span diverse reaction types including hydrogen halide oxidations, halogenations, oxyhalogenations, hydrodehalogenations, and halocarbon couplings. According to the nominators and evaluators:
These have generated almost unlimited opportunities for innovation in the direct functionalization of natural gas involving halides” and “led to better ways to make many key building blocks for the manufacture of chemicals, polymers, and fuels."Quote of the nominators and evaluators