The German Catalysis Society and the German Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology have selected Piet W. N. M. van Leeuwen of the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse, France, as recipient of the 2019 Alwin Mittasch Prize.
The award recognizes a researcher for significant contributions that increase understanding of catalysis fundamentals and industrial application of catalysts.
The announcement of his win cited van Leeuwen’s “groundbreaking contributions to the molecular understanding of catalysis using organometallic complexes and their transfer into industrial hydroformylation.” That announcement further notes: “Piet van Leeuwen has worked at the forefront of homogeneous catalysis for his whole professional life. The spectrum of his research is broad and includes supramolecular and, more recently, nanostructured catalysis. He is strongly praised for his contribution on the molecular understanding of ligand effects in metal-catalyzed reactions [that] have led to a number of industrial applications. He was one of the major contributors to the bite-angle concept. The bite-angle has an important influence on the rate and the selectivity of catalytic reactions and thus a key to the optimization of catalytic reactions.”
He will receive the award, which includes a €10,000 prize, at the EuropaCat 2019 conference in Aachen, Germany, on August 23.