Dr. Brian James

Dr. Brian R. James has an outstanding international reputation for his research on homogeneous catalysis, and bioinorganic and medicinal inorganic chemistry. His work, particularly on the use of complexes of rhodium (Rh) and ruthenium (Ru) to catalyse the hydrogenation, oxidation, and carbonylation of hydrocarbons, and decarbonylation of organic compounds, has attracted world-wide attention and has clearly established him as a leading scientist in the field of catalysis. Original work on Ru complexes has shown these to be important metalloenzyme models for some biological catalytic processes. Over his 50 year independent career to 2014, in which some 54 Ph.D. and 26 M.Sc. students have graduated, his group has published about 450 papers, and 8 patents mainly in the pulp and paper area; over 100 postdoctoral workers and visiting faculty have spent time with him at the Univ. of BC. The research has generated 30 National and International awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship (1983), the Jacob Biely Award (top UBC research prize) (1986), the CIC Catalysis Award (1990), a Canada Council Killam Fellowship (1993), the RSC Award in Chemistry of the Noble Metals and Their Compounds (1996), the E.W.R. Steacie Award (1997), the CIC Medal (2000), and the Rylander Award (2007).