Professor Eric Monflier from the University of Artois, France, will present the Department of Chemistry seminar with a talk entitled, "Cyclodextrins and Transition Metal Catalysis: Recent results and future opportunities".

During these last years, cyclodextrins have contributed greatly to the development of homogeneous or heterogeneous catalytic processes.[1-3] These cyclic oligosaccharides allowed (i) to increase the rate and selectivity of numerous reactions catalyzed by water-soluble organometallic complexes, (ii) to design new water soluble ligands, (iii) to stabilize catalytically active noble metal nanoparticles, (iv) to favor the dispersion and activation of transition metal on support and, very recently, (v) to generate new reaction media such as supramolecular hydrogels or low melting mixtures. In this lecture, we will discuss the latest applications of cyclodextrins in these different fields.