catalyst technologies for sustainable chemical processes (Green Chemistry). The focus is on the development and understanding of the mode of action of molecular catalysts, including detailed experimental and computer chemical studies of the mechanisms and structural-effect relationships in organometallic catalysis. Particular attention is paid to new material conversions and the use of new raw materials for catalytic synthesis as well as to the use of modern reaction media (supercritical fluids, ionic liquids, polyethylene glycol (PEG) and others) for catalytic processes. Multiphase catalysis and catalyst immobilization as well as the development of reactional concepts for continuous processes in molecular catalysis are also important research interests. The use of carbon dioxide, both as a raw material at the interface between chemistry and energy, as well as a green solvent and transport medium for continuous chemical processes, accompanied his scientific career. Selected awards Leitner received the Gerhard Hess Prize of the German Research Foundation in 1977, the Carl Zerbe Prize of the DGMK in 1998, the Otto Roelen Medal of DECHEMA in 2001, the Wöhler Prize for Sustainable Chemistry of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) in 2009, and together with Jürgen Klankermayer the European Sustainable Chemistry Award of the European Chemical Society in 2014. He has been a Member of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, Mülheim/Ruhr since 2002 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry since 2010. On 1 January 2018, Walter Leitner was appointed to the Editorial Board of the Journal Angewandte Chemie. In September 2019, Walter Leitner and researchers from Covestro AG (Christoph Gürtler and Berit Stange) were nominated for the German Future Prize with the project "CO2 – a raw material for sustainable plastics". In 2020 Walter Leitner was awarded the Georg Wittig-Victor Grignard Prize. Key publications Walter Leitner: Enantioselektive katalytische Transferhydrierung mit Formiaten. Dissertation, Regensburg, 1989. Walter Leitner: Rhodiumkatalysierte Hydrierung von Kohlendioxid zu Ameisensäure habilitation, Jena, 1995. References 1963 births Living people 21st-century German chemists 20th-century German chemists Academic staff of RWTH Aachen University University of Regensburg alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Academic staff of the University of Jena Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Max Planck Society people Academic journal editors Max Planck Institute directors