Premios GEQO 2021

Dr. Eduardo Peris

Eduardo Peris graduated in Chemistry in 1988 in the University of Valencia. He received his Ph.D. Degree in Chemistry (1991) in the Universidad de Valencia, which he performed under the supervision of Prof. Pascual Lahuerta. In 1994 he joined Prof. Robert Crabtree’s group at Yale University, where he stayed for two years, working on a research project regarding the determination of hydrogen bonding to metal hydrides (dihydrogen bond). In October 1995 he moved to the Universitat Jaume I (Castellón-Spain) where he is Professor of Inorganic Chemistry. Over the last 10 years, Eduardo Peris directed special attention to the design of heterobimetallic catalysts for tandem catalytic reactions, in which each metal mediated a mechanistically distinct reaction. Most recently, Eduardo Peris developed poly-NHC-based supramolecular systems for the recognition of small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and for the study of homogeneously catalysed processes in confined spaces. This includes the preparation of molecular squares, rectangles and related two-and three-dimensional assemblies for the recognition of organic substrates (guests) and for catalysis. Eduardo Peris has authored or co-authored 210 articles in international chemistry journals, which received >14.000 citations. He has co-authored more than ten book chapters or monographies, and directed 18 Doctoral Theses. In the period 2007-2010 Eduardo Peris was member of the Advisory Board of ACS-Organometallics. In 2012 he was awarded the ‘Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry ’ (RSEQ) award in the field of Inorganic Chemistry Research. In 2019, he obtained the Humboldt Research Award. From 2014 to 2018 he served as President of the Spanish Organometallic Chemistry Division (GEQO), from the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ).

Dra. Cristina Tejel

Cristina Tejel was born in Zaragoza (1959). She studied chemistry at the University of Zaragoza and obtained her Ph.D. degree in 1986 under the supervision of Luis A. Oro and M. Teresa Pinillos developing systems with extended metal-metal interactions in the solid state. After a postdoctoral stay at the CNRS (Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination) in Toulouse (Francia) working on superconductivity with Patrick Cassoux, she gained a permanent position at Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón (ICMA) in 1991 and was promoted to Scientific Researcher (CSIC) in 2003. Since 2005 she has led the research group ‘Inorganic Molecular Architecture and Applications’ in the ICMA and currently at the ISQCH.

Her beginnings in research led her to develop synthetic methods for 1D-systems and linear metal chains with electronic delocalization as a basis for electronic devices. Further, she has been interested in searching for highly reactive species, an activity that expanded into multiple projects. They include the preparation of systems able to activate C-Cl and C-H bonds, organoimido complexes and clusters of late transition metals in low oxidation states, reporting the first compounds with a multiple Rh=N bond, as well as the first tri-coordinated Rh(0) and Rh(-I) complexes. Focus of special interest have been activation of oxygen for transfer to organic substrates and the functionalization of alkenes via radical type transformations (based on non-innocent ligands). Concerning homogeneous catalysis, she reported the fastest catalyst for the dimerization of aldehydes, and more recently, she has found ideal platforms to activate P-H bonds to give unusual terminal hydrido/phosphanido complexes. A direct consequence of these studies has been the understanding and development of new catalytic cycles for hydrophosphanation of olefins.

Her published production is over 90 papers and book chapters with continuous contributions to high-impact journals. She has been an invited-speaker in both national and international conferences/congresses.

Dr. Noel Nebra

Noel Nebra was born in Pravia (Asturias, España) in 1981.  He studied BSc in Chemistry at the University of Oviedo and completed his Ph.D. in 2009 at the IUQOEM (University of Oviedo) mentored by Prof. J. Gimeno and Dr. V. Cadierno (FPU Predoctoral Grant), where he investigated catalytic applications of allyl Ru complexes.  Dr. Nebra was then funded with a FPU Postdoctoral Grant and an IEF Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Grant to work with Profs. D. Bourissou and B. Martin-Vaca at LHFA (Toulouse, France. Dec 2009−Feb 2013).  Based on a ligand design strategy, he discovered unprecedented 2-indenediide Pd complexes and studied their unusual reactivity rules at the ligand backbone.  Afterwards, Dr. Nebra secured an ICIQ-IPMP Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Grant to work with Prof. V. Grushin at ICIQ (Tarragona, Spain. April 2013−Sept 2014).  He thus achieved the synthesis, identification and characterization of Cu(III)CF₃ complexes, some of them enabling the oxidative trifluoromethylation of arylboronic acids.

Since October 2014, Dr. Nebra holds a CNRS tenured scientist position at “Laboratoire Hétérochimie Fondamentale et Appliquée” (LHFA, Toulouse, France), and develops his own research dealing with high-valent metal species [mainly Ni(III) and Ni(IV)] bearing perfluorinated ligands (F itself and CF₃-groups).  He is author of 31 research articles, 4 reviews and 3 book chapters, this work having a number of citations (>1000) that results in a steadily growing h-index of 20.  During his career path, he has received several distinctions, including the Best Thesis Award in Chemistry (University of Oviedo) and the Young Investigator ICT Award 2020.