Gregor Kemper

Dr. Gregor Kemper is a Research Fellow and Group Leader of the 'Organometallic CO2 Chemistry' team at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research (MPI CEC) since 2024. Previously, he held a PostDoc position at RWTH Aachen University (2021–2022) and was part of the Molecular Catalysis group under Prof. Dr. Walter Leitner at MPI CEC in 2023. His work focuses on developing transition metal catalysts for CO2 utilization in sustainable chemical synthesis.

Education:

• B.Sc. in Chemistry, University of Konstanz (2008–2011)
• M.Sc. in Chemistry, University of Konstanz under Prof. Dr. S. Mecking (2012–2015)
• Ph.D. in Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry from RWTH Aachen University under Prof. Dr. Walter Leitner (2016–2020)

Research Interests: The group explores homogeneous transition metal catalysts to convert CO2 into fine chemicals and energy storage media. Key areas include:

• Design of palladium and manganese-based organometallic catalysts
• Mechanistic studies using NMR spectroscopy and DFT calculations
• Development of sustainable processes avoiding toxic or fossil raw materials
• Collaboration with computational chemistry teams to predict catalytic cycles
• Use of 3d-metals (e.g., manganese) for cost-effective and low-emission catalysts

Articles Overview: Recent publications highlight advancements in Pd-catalyzed aromatic carboxylation (2023) and Mn-catalyzed CO2 hydrogenation (2023), with foundational studies on CO2 insertion mechanisms (2020). These works bridge experimental synthesis and computational modeling to advance sustainable CO2 conversion technologies.

Scientific Awards: None explicitly mentioned in the provided texts.

Narrative on Advising & Grants:

• Advises seven PhD students (e.g., Himani Bisht, Angshuman Sarmah) and hosts guest researchers like Ines Blaha
• Labs: Coordinates with Carsten Hindemith (lab staff) and collaborates with Dr. Markus Hölscher’s computational catalysis group at RWTH Aachen
• Open Positions: Actively recruiting students, PhD candidates, and postdocs passionate about organometallic chemistry and sustainability

Labs & Teams: Leads the MPI CEC’s 'Organometallic CO2 Chemistry' group, embedded within the Molecular Catalysis department. Collaborates closely with RWTH Aachen University’s computational methods team.