Using Biomimicry to Design Greener Chemistry: Biomass Organic Platforms, (Bio)Catalyst Entrapment and NaturIL gels.
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Using Biomimicry to Design Greener Chemistry: Biomass Organic Platforms, (Bio)Catalyst Entrapment and NaturIL gels.
Fri, 31/07/2026 - 11:00 to 12:00
Location:
Speaker:
Dr Andrew Marr
Affiliation:
Queen’s University Belfast
Synopsis:
Andrew Marr (QUB) will visit Heriot-Watt University in July to deliver an ad hoc research seminar, kindly organised by Dave. The seminar is likely to be of broad interest across ICS and the wider school. Please forward the invitation and abstract below to any collaborators who may also wish to attend. The seminar is open to all.
Nature provides great inspiration for a more resilient and circular chemical industry in better balance with our natural environment. This lecture will look at some of our nature-inspired research focused on chemistry that impacts the environment positively. Bioinspired biocatalytic and molecular chemocatalytic approaches will be used to transform organic chemicals in a greener way using tools of ionic liquids and gels to manipulate the local environment around the active site, protect good reactivity, and assist separation and recycling. Biomass to organic chemicals, catalytic oxidation of organic contaminants in water and enzyme entrapment in gels will be discussed.
Biography:
Andrew Marr completed a PhD at the University of St Andrews in 1998 on industrial organometallic catalysis under Prof. David Cole-Hamilton. After PDRA positions on bioorganometallic chemistry with Prof. Martin Schröder, and ligand synthesis with Prof. Paul Pringle, he was appointed to a McClay Fellowship (2001) followed by a faculty position in Chemistry (2004) in Queen’s University Belfast. He is Reader in Green & Sustainable Chemistry, a Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland, and an Associate Editor of ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.
Selected Publications
NaturIL Gels: Gels Formed from the Synergy of Alginates and Bioderived Ions. Tunable Gels from Seaweed, P.A. Bailie, P.J. Walsh, A.C. Marr, P.C. Marr, ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2026, 14, 7, 3522− 3534.
1,3-Propanediol, an Exemplary Bio-Renewable Organic Platform Chemical, A.C. Marr, Adv. Synth. Catal. 2024, 366, 4835–4845.
Supramolecular Ionic Liquid Gels for Enzyme Entrapment, H.T. Imam, K. Hill, A. Reid, S. Mix, P.C. Marr, A.C. Marr, ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2023, 11, 6829–6837.
Enzyme entrapment, biocatalyst immobilization without covalent attachment, H.T. Imam, P. C. Marr, A.C. Marr, Green Chem. 2021, 23, 4980–5005.
Designing Materials for Aqueous Catalysis: Ionic Liquid Gel and Silica Sphere Entrapped Iron-TAML Catalysts for Oxidative Degradation of Dyes. P. McNeice, A. Reid, H.T. Imam, C. McDonagh, J.D. Walby, T.J. Collins, A.C. Marr, P.C. Marr, Environ. Sci. Technol. 2020, 54, 14026–14035.
Basic Ionic Liquid Gels for Catalysis: Application to the Hydrogen Borrowing Mediated Dehydration of 1,3-Propanediol. K. M. Bothwell, F. Lorenzini, E., Mathers, P. C. Marr, A. C. Marr. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2019, 7, 2686–2690.