People

Dr Gregory A Solan

Associate Professor in Inorganic Chemistry

School/Department: Chemistry, School of

Email: gas8@leicester.ac.uk

Profile

Greg Solan is Associate Professor of Inorganic Chemistry within the School of Chemistry at the University of Leicester. He gained his PhD degree at the University of Cambridge (King’s College) under the supervision of Dr M. J. Mays (1992) and BSc degree (First Class Honours) in Chemistry with European Studies from the University of Sussex. After postdoctoral research at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, University of Edinburgh and Imperial College London, he moved to his current position at the University of Leicester in 1999. He is an author of over 207 articles and 8 world patents (H-index 39). He has received several international awards including the ExxonMobil European Science and Engineering Award and guest/visiting professorships at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, the University of Lille and the Shanghai University of Electric Power.

Research

The Solan research group aims to design and develop inorganic compounds for use as molecular catalysts to promote various organic transformations including polymerisation, (de-)hydrogenation and C-H functionalisation. Both main group and transition metals are used in catalyst development with particular emphasis placed on earth abundant metals and their use in addressing sustainable challenges (e.g., CO2 to biofuels, high performance biodegradable polymers). The group also focuses on fundamental organometallic chemistry as well as various aspects of polymer chemistry.

Publications

Greg Solan has published 207 peer-reviewed papers in international journals (over 8500 citations, Scopus) and has a current h-index of 39 (WoS).

Top 10 selected Publications:

Supervision

Inorganic Chemistry, Organometallic Chemistry, Catalysis, Polymer Chemistry, Synthetic Chemistry.

Teaching

Chemistry BSc and MChem degree Modules: Introduction to Inorganic Chemistry (CH1202 UoL & DLI), Inorganic Chemistry (CH2202 UoL & DLI: Module Leader), Advanced Chemistry Practical (CH3271 UoL).

Awards

ExxonMobil European Science and Engineering Award (2001)
Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship (2016).
Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship (2017).
Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship (2018/19).
Tokyo Metropolitan University, Visiting position (2022/23).
Université de Lille, Visiting position (2022).
Shanghai University of Electric Power (SUEP), Visiting position (2023)

Conferences

In addition to Departmental talks in the UK, US, Europe and the Far East, Greg Solan has also given invited lectures including keynote/plenary lectures at international conferences such as the 2nd Yanqi Molecular Science Forum, Beijing, China (2019), the 10th International symposium on high tech polymer materials (HTPM-10), Beijing, China (2018), International Symposium on Catalysis and Fine Chemicals (C&FC2018), Bangkok, Thailand (2018) and the 10th International symposium on Engineering Plastics (Ep’2023), Ningbo, China (2023).

Interests

Music and Sport.

Qualifications

B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemistry with European Studies (1st class Hons) – University of Sussex.
Ph.D. in Organometallic Chemistry – University of Cambridge.

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