Oxidation of Alcohols with Molecular Oxygen on Solid Catalysts

Tamas Mallat received an M.S. degree in 1972 in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. in 1976 in technical chemistry, both from the Technical University of Budapest, Hungary. He was a postdoctoral associate under G. C. Bond at Brunel University, London, from 1978 to 1979. He continued his academic carrier as a scientist at the Organic Chemical Technology Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 1990, he moved to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, where he is currently a senior scientist. He was awarded a D.Sc. degree in 1994 by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His main scientific interest is heterogeneous catalytic oxidation and enantioselective hydrogenation in fine chemistry.

Alfons Baiker (born 1945) studied chemical engineering and received his Ph.D. at ETH Zurich in 1974. Afterward, he spent several years at various universities abroad. In 1980, he completed his habilitation thesis on ammonia synthesis kinetics at Stanford University, California, where he was also involved in teaching courses in kinetics and catalysis. After returning to ETH, he started his own research group, focusing on heterogeneous catalysis and reaction engineering. In 1989 he became associate professor and in 1990 full professor at the ETH. His main research interests are centered around catalyst design, mechanism and kinetics of catalytic surface processes, asymmetric hydrogenation, selective oxidation and environmental catalysis, in situ spectroscopy, and the application of supercritical fluids in catalysis. His goal is to further the scientific basis required for developing environmentally benign chemical processes which make optimal use of raw materials and energy.