A Career in Catalysis: Enrique Iglesia

Enrique Iglesia is an internationally recognized leader in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. His trademark approach places a premium on kinetic and mechanistic descriptions of catalytic sequences, complemented by synthetic methods to prepare catalytic centers uniform in composition and by computational chemistry methods to adjudicate among competing hypotheses, with the aim of describing the function of catalytic active sites at the level of elementary steps in reaction mechanisms. Enrique began his independent career in industry, spending 11 years at the Exxon Corporate Research Laboratories. In 1993, he moved to academia to become a full professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley where he founded the Berkeley incarnation of the Laboratory for the Science and Applications of Catalysis (LSAC). In that time, he has coauthored >350 publications (with an h-index of >120) and >50 patents and has advised ∼30 Ph.D. students and ∼100 postdoctoral and visiting scholars, more than 30 of whom continue his legacy of teaching and scholarship in their own academic appointments around the world. Enrique is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors, and the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences, and has received numerous awards from the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the Catalysis Societies of North America and Europe. In this Account, we discuss major research themes that have underpinned Enrique’s career, using examples that illustrate how his research has led to significant conceptual advances in our understanding of reactions facilitated by metals and metal oxides, of the consequences of acid strength and confinement in microporous solids, of the relevance of describing surfaces under realistic coverages for catalysis, and in disentangling the chemistry of active sites that mediate catalysis from the specific influences of the environments within which reactions proceed. These insights have allowed for the development of more precise and unifying descriptions of chemical reactivity and selectivity, including field-defining mechanistic interpretations and practical developments in the conversion of C₁ molecules, acid-base and redox catalysis, hydrocarbon and oxygenate chain growth chemistries, NO_x abatement, and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis across supported metals, carbides, and oxides. His work unifies some of the most enduring concepts in physical, organic, solid-state, and theoretical chemistry into surface catalysis, through deep knowledge about the fundamentals of catalysis and their translation into practical solutions. His research group chooses to study catalytic systems that are technologically relevant and often occur in complex environments, irrespective of whether such topics are in vogue at the time of inquiry, guided by an approach that seeks fundamental knowledge that can be recycled, one day, to develop solutions to problems that we cannot yet envision from our current vantage point. This constancy of purpose, intense focus, and dedication has allowed Enrique to become a leader in science and of scientists, including those who once trained under his guidance and continue to learn alongside him and to receive mentorship, in work and in life, well beyond their time in LSAC.