Monica Is a group leader at ICIQ (Institut Català d’Investigació Química / Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia), Tarragona, Spain. Her group focuses on the ‘Development of new chemical transformations: From organometallic mechanistic studies to catalysis’. Prior to her current position, Monica conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, which followed awarding of her Ph.D. from the University of Valladolid, Spain – where she also earnt her B.Sc. and M.Sc. In 2018, Monica was selected as one of the ‘ Talented 12 ’ by Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society (ACS). She is also involved in outreach activities to increase the visibility of women in Science. You will hear the following terms used during the interview. I've included some descriptions here. NMR – Nuclear Magnetic Resonance subjects samples to a strong magnetic fields and measures the resonance pattern of the nuclei. It is widely used to study the structure and dynamics of organic molecules. Palladium – A chemical element with atomic number 46. It is a rare metal and over 50% of palladium supply is used in catalytic processes, most commonly catalytic converters attached to automobile exhausts. Cobalt A chemical element with atomic number 27. Most commonly produced as a by-product of Copper and Nickel production, the main use for colbalt is in Li-ion batteries, and the production of certain high-strength metal alloys. Transition metal – in chemistry, the term transition metal is defined in one of three ways: Many scientists describe a "transition metal" as any element in the d-block of the periodic table, which includes groups 3 to 12 on the periodic table. In practice, the f-block lanthanide and actinide series are also considered transition metals and are called "inner transition metals". The IUPAC definition defines a transition metal as "an element whose atom has a partially filled d sub-shell, or which can give rise to cations with an incomplete d sub-shell". The expanded IUPAC definition specifies which elements are included. As well as the elements of groups 4 to 11, scandium and yttrium are included Lanthanum and actinium, which are considered group 3 elements, are however classified as lanthanides and actinides respectively Nucleophile – A chemical species that forms bonds with electrophiles by donating an electron pair. Oxidant – A substance that has the ability to oxidize another substance. In chemical reactions this refers to the oxidant accepting electrons. Intermediate – A chemical entity that is formed during a reaction, but that is typically converted to another form when the reaction completes. During the discussion, Monica mentions a number of the publications that her groups have produced. Links to her publications are available from the group website. Monica is contactable on social media, and you can find her on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/monica-h-perez-temprano-3659ab3b/ The group website is https://www.iciq.org/research/research_group/dr-monica-h-perez-temprano/ On Twitter, the group is @Perez_Temprano Our theme music is "Wholesome" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Music from https://filmmusic.io License: CC BY ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ) Connect with me (Paul) at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulorange/ H.E.L. group can be found at www.helgroup.com online, on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/hel-group/ on Twitter, we're @hel_group, https://twitter.com/hel_group or search for us on Facebook
