University Professor Douglas Stephan (photo by Camilla Pucholt)
Douglas Stephan receives 2024 Catalysis Award from Chemical Institute of Canada
Published: March 5, 2024
Douglas Stephan, a University Professor in the department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has received the Chemical Institute of Canada’s 2024 Catalysis Award in recognition of his contributions to the field of catalysis.
A world-leading researcher in inorganic chemistry, Stephan is best known as the founder of the field of “frustrated Lewis pair” (FLP) chemistry. His groundbreaking paper “Reversible, Metal-Free Hydrogen Activation,” published in the prestigious journal Science in 2006, has been cited more than 2,000 times and is credited with changing the way chemistry is taught by broadening the scope of catalysts beyond transition metals.
“We have 100 years of transition metals science,” said Stephan. “Doing metal-free catalysis was something we thought was impossible, so FLPs have opened the door on chemistry we couldn’t do before.”
