Juanita Van Wyk
Associate Professor
Chemistry
University of the Witwatersrand
South Africa
Biography
Juanita van Wyk is currently working as Associate Professor of chemistry at University of Witwatersrand.
Research Interest
research interests are primarily focused on the development of greener and more sustainable chemical transformation processes by investigating, (i) strategies of adapting existing catalyst technology, (ii) the preparation of new transition metal complexes which can be used as catalysts and (iii) the use of alternative solvent such as ionic liquids in catalytic processes. She is particularly interested in developing strategies for the preparation of recyclable catalysts as well as transition metal complexes which can use renewable resources such as carbon dioxide as raw material. The current research projects under development are thus directed toward the design, synthesis and characterization of transition metal complexes which can be immobilized in ionic liquids, evaluation and optimization of the catalytic performance of the synthesised complexes and the development of biphasic catalytic processes with ionic liquids. Target catalytic organic transformations are industrial processes such as olefin polymerization and hydroformylation as well as new processes for the preparation of biodegradable polymers such as polycarbonates and polylactides.
