Shiju Raveendran

Van' t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
E-mail:n.r.shiju@uva.nl

Abstract

Heterogeneous catalysts enable many chemical transformations of fossil as well as renewable resources into useful products. At Amsterdam, we try to develop solid catalysts for several types of reactions including CO₂activation, lower alkane activation and biomass conversion. In this talk, I will give an overview of our recent projects on the development of solid catalysts for commercially important reactions. One or two examples in which structural features of catalysts strongly influence their catalytic performance for lower alkane activation will be also discussed in detail.

Biography

Dr. Shiju Raveendran is an Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam and also a visiting Professor at the Max-Planck-Institut Für Eisenforschung GmbH, Dusseldorf. He obtained his PhD in catalysis from the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India after receiving a CSIR Research Fellowship. He then received a Royal Society post-doctoral fellowship to work at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, London. Thereafter he also worked as Research associate at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio and at the University of Huddersfield, UK before joining the University of Amsterdam as an Assistant Professor in 2009. In 2010, he won the Amsterdam Science Park Ideas Prize for the discovery of a new catalyst. DSM Fibre Intermediates B.V., one of the major chemical companies in Netherlands, recently bought one of his patents. He is a board member of Dutch Zeolite Association and also an editorial board member of FlatChem, a new journal devoted to 2D materials by Elsevier. He has obtained grants for CO₂conversion to chemicals, chemo-selective synthesis of amines and conversion of biomass derivatives to value-added products etc.