Time：10:00AM,  May 10th 
    Place：F310, School of Mechanical Engineering
    Speaker：Prof. Adam Lee,  European Bioenergy Research Institute, Aston University   
    Host：Pro. SHANGGUAN Wenfeng, JIANG Zhi

    Abstract：
    The quest for sustainable technologies to meet the food, energy and material challenges of this century is a key driver for the design of next-generation catalysts and industrial chemical processes. Chemoselective oxidations and hydrogenations of alcohols and carbonyls respectively, and (base)acid catalysed (trans)esterifications, underpin chemical synthesis and play a key role in biomass valorisation for the production of biofuels and bio-derived chemicals. Here we highlight how advances in inorganic synthetic protocols afford the rational design of mesoporous and hierarchical macroporous-mesoporous architectures for aerobic selective alcohol oxidations, and the transformation of bio-derived feedstocks for the sustainable production of biodiesel and chemical intermediates for the polymer, fragrance, flavourings and pharmaceutical sectors. Recent development in hierarchical semiconductor photocatalysts are also highlighted.

    Speaker Biography:
    Adam Lee is Professor of Sustainable Chemistry and an EPSRC Leadership Fellow in the European Bioenergy Research Institute, Aston University. He holds a BA and PhD from the University of Cambridge, and has held Chair appointments at Cardiff, Warwick and Monash universities. His research addresses the rational design of nanoengineered materials for clean catalytic technologies, and the development of in-situ methods providing molecular insight into surface reactions, for which he was awarded the 2012 Beilby Medal and Prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has published >160 peer-reviewed articles (H-index 40).

    Web Page: http://www.aston.ac.uk/eas/staff/a-z/professor-adam-lee/