Pieter C. A. Bruijnincx

Pieter Bruijnincx obtained his MSc (2002) and PhD degree in Chemistry (2007) from Utrecht University (both cum laude). His doctoral studies focused on the development of bio-inspired oxidation catalysts. After a postdoctoral stay at the University of Warwick, he returned to Utrecht in 2009 to work as Assistant Professor on the development of catalysts and catalytic processes for the conversion of renewables for the production of bulk and fine chemicals. Emphasis is on recalcitrant feeds such as humins and lignin, for which a two-step conversion route to aromatics was developed. Examples of results obtained in platform molecule conversions include highly active homogeneous and heterogeneous telomerization catalysts and bimetallic catalysts for aqueous-phase reforming of renewable oxygenates, bifunctional catalysts for the selective hydrogenation of levulinic acid and the first examples of biomimetic iron-catalyzed oxidative cleavage reactions of lignin derivatives and fatty acids. Other topics include the synthesis of butadiene from bioethanol.