Leon Schumacher is awarded with best thesis prize
In his PhD thesis, Leon focused on the development of transient spectroscopic methods for mechanistic understanding of catalytic reactions, including CO2-assisted selective oxidation. The prize is sponsored by the Freunde der TU Darmstadt.
In his dissertation under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Christian Hess, Leon Schumacher focused on the development and application of transient spectroscopic methods for the mechanistic investigation of catalytic reactions. For the first time, he was able to directly identify both active centers and intermediates during (CO2-assisted) selective oxidations. Selective oxidations are of great economic importance, but the currently used commercial processes are often not sustainable. Therefore, Leon Schumacher researched new approaches that enable more energy-efficient processes and the use of CO2 as an oxidizing agent. The results of his dissertation have been published in renowned international journals, including the Journal of the American Chemical Society, ACS Catalysis, Journal of Catalysis, and Communications Chemistry.