Lecture of the invited Professor of «Green Chemistry», Doctor, winner of the Descartes Award (2001) for work on catalysts based on vanadium and titanium, winner of the «Green Chemistry Award 2014» Michael North

Professor North has published over 160 original papers and holds six patents in the areas of catalysis using Earth abundant metals and carbon dioxide utilization. His research interests are centered on green organic chemistry, including the utilization of waste materials such as carbon dioxide as a chemical feedstock, the development of effective catalysts based around Earth abundant metals and the use of cyclic carbonates as green polar aprotic solvents. 

In 2001 he was awarded the Descartes Prize by the European Commission for his work on vanadium and titanium based catalysts.

His research focuses on using CO2 as a chemical feedstock, the cyclic carbonates that can be synthesised from CO2 as green polar aprotic solvents and on the use of asymmetric catalysis using sustainable metals. Prof. North was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry award for Green Chemistry in 2014.

In the lecture: «The latest achievements in the field of green chemistry. Application of carbon dioxide in organic chemistry» professor North told about what «green chemistry» was, about its basic principles, as well as the need to use and dispose of carbon dioxide. An important topic for this discussion were two main aspects:

1) use of mesoporous carbon to capture carbon dioxide;

2) electrochemical mineralization of carbon dioxide.

In addition the topic of synthesis, production and use of cyclic carbonates, which are organic compounds easily obtained from carbon dioxide, will be touched upon. Professor North also told about the achievements of his group over the past 10 years, in which he would disclose ways to produce commercially available catalysts for the reaction to obtain cyclic carbonates.