Patrícia Neves (PN) graduated from the University of Aveiro, Portugal, and obtained her PhD in Chemical Engineering from the same institution in 2011, followed by postdoctoral work up to 2018. Currently, she holds the position of Assistant Researcher at CICECO. She has been interested mainly in (i) Mo- and W-containing catalytic systems for epoxidation of olefins, oxidation of alcohols/aldehydes/sulfides, alcoholysis of epoxides, and acetalisation of aldehydes, for the production of useful chemicals, and additionally (ii) acid-catalysed conversion of platform chemicals derived from pentose/hexose-based carbohydrate biomass, for the production of bio-derived chemicals. She coauthored 56 papers published in SCI journals (h-index is 23) and she has been collaborating with national (Lisboa, Porto, Aveiro, Évora, Algarve) and international (Poland, Ukraine) research groups. PN is a PI of a project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030075) of three years “Bio-derived olefins conversion using reaction-induced self-separating catalysts “ (BiOle_AcidOxCat), started 26th July 2018. This project´s team includes two students with a MSc degree (two 20-months grants), co-supervised by PN, and a contracted investigator (30 months) to collaborate in various tasks. PN made new, important contributions in the field of applied catalysis for the epoxidation of olefins available in nature or as wastes of industries (unsaturated terpenes and fatty acids), to produce useful compounds as alternatives to (non-renewable) fossil fuel-derived products. For the first time, a dinuclear oxodiperoxo complex was studied as (bio-derived) olefin epoxidation catalysts and this publication was Editor’s choice. Her work deals mainly with homogeneous catalysis (e.g. using (a)chiral complexes, POMs, etc.), but also with heterogeneous catalysis (e.g. MOFs), and, more recently, with organic-inorganic hybrids where she discovered for the first time the reaction-induced self-separating (RI-SS) catalytic behavior of a molybdenum-based hybrid. The hybrid organic-inorganic Mo compound with RI-SS behaviour was a versatile RI-SS catalyst for the epoxidation of bio-derived olefins and the sulfoxidation of sulfides (this paper was Editor-in-Chief’s Featured Article). Very few RI-SS catalysts were reported until now and PN is determined to explore this wonder field between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, and understanding the relationships between the structure and activity. Amongst her most important contributions to catalysis with molybdenum compounds are assessments of catalyst stability and identification of the active species formed which had been poorly investigated in previous works reported by different research groups worldwide. Other contributions have been made in the valorisation of pentose/hexose-based carbohydrate biomass. PN uses advanced mass spectrometry techniques for the identification of products of the complex reaction mixtures obtained from biomass conversion, and also from the oligomerisation of olefins to sulfur-free fuels. PN has participated in catalytic studies involving furfuryl alcohol as substrate, characterization of the catalysts and GC×GC-ToFMS studies. She has also assisted MSc and PhD students in developing the catalytic studies for their theses.

Homogeneous and heterogeneous oxidation catalytic processes

Reaction-induced self-separating catalysts

Acid-base catalytic reactions

Valorization of biomass through catalytic processes

Doctor Anabela Tavares Aguiar Valente

Doctor Isabel Gonçalves

Doctor Martyn Pillinger

Doctor Margarida Antunes

Doctor Sofia Bruno

Doctor Ana Gomes 

Doctor Tatiana Amarante

MsC Martinique Nunes

MsC Diana Gomes