Sponsored by the Canadian Catalysis Foundation
The Catalysis Award is presented to an individual who, while residing in Canada, has made a distinguished contribution to the field of catalysis. This award is presented every two years.
View the Terms of Reference and list of Past Winners
The 2022 winner of the Catalysis Award is:
Michael Organ, MCIC
University of Ottawa
Dr. Organ received his Ph.D. in 1992 at the University of Guelph under the tutelage of Professor Gordon L. Lange. He then acted as an NSERC Postdoctoral Scholar in the laboratory of Professor Barry M. Trost at Stanford (1994). His independent career started at York University and he is now the Director of the Centre for Catalysis Research and Innovation (CCRI) at the University of Ottawa.
His group’s efforts in catalysis have led to the creation of a broadening series of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-based organometallic complexes that have shown unsurpassed reactivity and selectivity in a wide number of cross-coupling applications. This family of catalysts (coined “PEPPSI” after “pyridine-enhanced precatalyst preparation, stabilization, and initiation”) has been commercialized and is used widely in commercial manufacturing.
In 2016, Dr. Organ was awarded the Raymond U. Lemieux Award for Organic Chemistry by the Canadian Society for Chemistry. In 2017, he was awarded the Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis (EROS) 2017 “Best Reagent Award”. Dr. Organ received the NSERC John C. Polanyi Award in 2018, given to an individual or team whose research has led to a recent outstanding advance in any field of the natural sciences or engineering.