Professor Paolo Melchiorre FRSC

Winner: 2021 Organic Division open award:
Pedler Award

Institut Català d'Investigació Química, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats

For the development of asymmetric photocatalytic methodologies based on excited state intermediates.

Celebrate Professor Paolo Melchiorre

#RSCPrizes

Follow your passion and instincts instead of scientific trends. You will have time for pragmatism later.

Professor Melchiorre is developing sustainable methods to synthesise chiral molecules with precise control over their 3D shape. This involves identifying unconventional reactivity concepts to implement novel chemical transformations. Specifically, he uses the energy of visible light to trigger chemical processes that cannot be realised otherwise. He likes the idea of using light excitation to reveal new properties of organic molecules and to understand how to use these new properties in organic chemistry.

Read winner biography

Paolo Melchiorre was born in Camerino, Italy. He studied chemistry at the University of Bologna (Alma Mater Studiorum, Italy), where he received his PhD in 2003, working in asymmetric catalysis under the direction of Achille Umani-Ronchi and the supervision of Pier Giorgio Cozzi. In 2002, Paolo worked with Karl Anker Jørgensen at the Center for Catalysis, Århus University, Denmark. From 2003, he worked as a postdoctoral associate with Giuseppe Bartoli at the Industrial Chemistry Faculty at the University of. In October 2007, he was promoted to Assistant Professor.

In September 2009, Paolo joined the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) in Tarragona (Spain) as an ICREA (Catalan Institution of Research and Advanced Studies) Professor and ICIQ Group Leader.

Paolo’s scientific interests are the discovery and mechanistic elucidation of new asymmetric organocatalytic and photochemical processes. He aims to develop environmentally friendly catalytic methods for making chiral molecules sustainably. He has authored more than 125 publications and delivered around 200 lectures and seminars nationally and internationally.

His awards include the Italian Chemical Society’s 2007 G Ciamician Medal, a JSPS Fellowship under the FY2013 Program for Research in Japan, the 2016 Prize for Scientific Excellence from the Royal Spanish Chemical Society, and the Italian Chemical Society’s 2019 G Modena Medal. He was also nominated Liebig Lecturer by the German Chemical Society in 2008. He was awarded an ERC Starting Grant in 2011 and an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2016.

Paolo is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). In 2019, he became an Associate Editor of Chemical Science.

Q+A

Who or what has inspired you?

My father was a chemist, and I remember the odours he sometimes brought home with him from the lab (I know now that it was ether). It is the same odour I found as a young chemist during my first experiences in an organic chemistry lab.

What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?

To young chemists considering an independent academic career, I would say to identify and focus on a scientific problem that you consider important and really want to tackle. Follow your passion and instincts instead of scientific trends. You will have time for pragmatism later.

To everyone considering a career in chemistry: do it with passion, knowing that your efforts can help make the world a more sustainable and better place.

What has been a highlight for you (either personally or in your career)?

Not letting my passion and drive for science interfere with family life.

What does good research culture look like/mean to you?

Being a chemist (and a scientist in general) is beautiful because we dedicate our efforts to understanding nature. But this also comes with a strong ethical responsibility: we are continuing the work of so many scientists who came before us, and we need to respect their legacy. Curiosity for the truth and ethical integrity are essential aspects of being a scientist.

What is your favourite element?

Carbon because it is at the basis of the chemistry of life. And iron, which is the title of my favourite chapter in Primo Levi’s masterpiece The Periodic Table. Every page of that book captures the essence of being a chemist.