Dr Matthew Quesne

Matthew undertook a PhD at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology under the supervision of Dr Sam de Visser, in the fields of bio-mimetic and homogenous catalysis. He focused on modelling the catalytic activity of synthetic complexes of transition metal dependent homogeneous catalysts. Over the four years spent at Manchester he worked with dozens of different experimental groups and provided the in silico components to many joint computational/experimental studies. He joined the research group headed by Dr Tomasz Borowski at the Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry Polish Academy of Science in Krakow (Poland) in November 2014, where he spent two years using MD, QM/MM and cluster model techniques to model enzyme catalysed reaction mechanisms.

In 2016, he moved to Cardiff to work in Prof. Catlow’s group where he studied CO2 activation on a variety of transition metal carbides. This work formed a small part of a much larger EPSRC project that aimed to bring together several groups from across the UK in a multi-disciplinary fashion in order to develop integrated techniques for utilising CO2 as a feedstock for the production of fuels and fine chemicals. Matthew started his current position with the UK Catalysis Hub in 2019 and is focused on the intersections of the modelling of heterogeneously, homogenously and biocatalytically catalysed reaction mechanisms. Major current projects include: (1) the direct conversion of methane to methanol by Au/ZSM-5, (2) CO2 hydrogenation by Ru-pincer catalysts and the effect of primary/secondary coordination sphere mutations on the activity of dioxygenases.

Matthew Quesne