Victor Mougel receives the Ruzicka Prize 2023
Victor Mougel, Professor at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences of ETH Zurich, has been awarded the Ruzicka Prize 2023 for his pioneering work on redox properties and catalytic applications of synthetic Iron-Sulfur Clusters.
"Waste" molecules such as CO2, NOx, and nitrates represent some of the most significant threats to maintaining a habitable Earth today. Paradoxically, these same molecules are also crucial for sustaining life on Earth, serving as the fundamental building blocks of life. Mougel’s group aims at finding – just like nature does – valorization and recycling strategies for these waste molecules by studying and mimicking the catalysts of nature: enzymes.
These waste molecules are highly oxidized and need to be reduced to be valorized. In enzymes, the electrons necessary for these reductions are transported by small entities called iron-sulfur clusters. Victor Mougel and his team try to replicate these entities and utilize them for catalytic purposes. They synthesized the first complete series of iron-sulfur cubane redox clusters across all oxidation states, revealing how their environment affects redox potential and reactivity. Furthermore, they demonstrated the clusters' effectiveness in developing highly efficient CO2 reduction catalysts and are continuing to deepen their fundamental understanding of these clusters' properties and their applications in catalysis.
Please find further information about the award winner and his research in this article and on the Ruzicka Prize Website.
Victor Mougel (*1985) comes from Pesmes, France, and studied at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon. In 2009, he joined Prof. Marinella Mazzanti’s lab in CEA-Grenoble for his PhD to research the synthesis, reactivity and magnetic properties of polynuclear uranium complexes. After being awarded the best PhD thesis prize of the University of Grenoble, he moved to ETH Zürich as an ETH fellow to investigate Surface Organometallic Chemistry and develop new well-defined alkene metathesis catalysts in the group of Prof. Christophe Copéret. After a three-year research interlude as a CNRS research scientist at the College de France in the Laboratory of Chemistry of Biological Processes, Mougel returned to ETH Zurich in 2018 as tenure-track Assistant Professor of Inorganic Chemistry.
The Ruzicka Prize, named after the ETH professor and Nobel laureate Leopold Ruzicka, is one of the most important awards for the promotion of young scientists in the field of chemistry in Switzerland. The prize is endowed with 10,000 CHF and is sponsored by dsm-firmenich.