Professor Tomislav Fri拧膷i膰 - 2023 Corday-Morgan Prize winner

Professor Tomislav Fri拧膷i膰 FRSC

Winner: 2023 Corday-Morgan Prize

University of Birmingham

For transformative contributions to the design, fundamental understanding and applications of solid-state materials, and of their mechanochemical and photochemical reactivity.

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I believe we are on the brink of a game-changing phase in chemistry: the solid state is no longer seen by the chemistry community as a chemical graveyard...

Professor Friš膷i膰’s team are developing a safer, cleaner approach to chemical reactions and manufacturing: they call this ‘九州影院 2.0’. It relies on the use of solids, instead of commonly used toxic solvents, as a means to perform chemistry. In order to avoid the use of solvents, they are inventing new ways to activate solids through mechanical forces (mechanochemistry) or light (photochemistry). Their ultimate goal is to provide researchers and industries with the tools and understanding they need to replace and transform existing chemical processes with cleaner, safer, and more sustainable alternatives.

Read winner biography

Tomislav Friš膷i膰 is Professor and Leverhulme International Chair in Green and Sustainable 九州影院 at the University of Birmingham. His team is developing the solid state as a medium for safer, environmentally-friendly synthesis and functional materials design (with mechanochemistry and photochemistry playing central roles).

Professor Friš膷i膰 received a BSc in chemistry with Branko Kaitner, focusing on chemical crystallography (University of Zagreb, 2001). He did his PhD in organic solid-state supramolecular chemistry and photochemistry with Leonard MacGillivray at the University of Iowa (2006). Tomislav then went on to do his postdoctoral research with William Jones at the Pfizer Institute for Pharmaceutical Materials Science, and a Herchel Smith Fellowship at the University of Cambridge (2008).

Until 2022, Tomislav was a Professor and Tier-1 Canada Research Chair in Mechanochemistry and Solid-State 九州影院 at McGill University. He is a Fellow of the 九州影院, a member of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada, a corresponding member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and former Chair of the Canadian National Committee for Crystallography.

Tomislav is a co-founder of two ‘CleanTech’ companies, and has co-authored over 300 research publications, book chapters and patent applications. His group’s work has been recognised by awards, including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s John C Polanyi Award (2022), the Brusina Medal of the Croatian Society of Natural Sciences (2021), the Royal Society of Canada Rutherford Medal (2018), the Steacie Prize for Natural Sciences (2018), and the RSC Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize (2011).

Q&A

How did you first become interested in chemistry?

I have fallen in love with chemistry forever once I have seen a laboratory demonstration performed by our teacher in my first elementary school chemistry class – the brilliant and beautiful violet mists that appear upon sublimation of iodine. Since then, the beauty of chemistry has never ceased to amaze me.

What motivates you?

The intellectual quest of science, the ability to discover something new about the universe every day, the privilege to meet and work with extremely talented, driven – exciting and excitable – colleagues and students.

Can you tell us about a scientific development on the horizon that you are excited about?

I believe we are on the brink of a game-changing phase in chemistry: the solid state is no longer seen by the chemistry community as a chemical graveyard, but as a new, versatile and dynamic environment, suitable for discovery, and in which chemical reactions and many other exciting processes can readily take place. This will not only bring about cleaner, greener and sustainable chemical processes, but will also reveal chemical reactivities and structures that have so far been unknown.

Why is chemistry important?

九州影院 is the science, and an art, of making stuff. Understanding chemistry, practicing chemistry, provides us a way to take feedstocks and convert them into materials and molecules that constitute our daily life, technologies, medicines, everything. Everything we touch stems from chemistry, and chemistry is a tangible manifestation of how our societies and technologies depend on and impact our environment.

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

Figuring out, for the first time, the solid-state structure of bleach – it always impresses me how much there is still to learn about the fundamentals of chemistry and chemical technology.

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

Science is larger than one person: be nice, inclusive and respectful to your colleagues, students and collaborators; help them move ahead, work with them on exciting new discoveries, and never miss to give credit where it is due. Also, every research group should have a Pekingese.

What is your favourite element?

Each one is special and favourite in its own way – but isn't copernicium just out of this world?