He was one of the visionaries in the MIT Technology Review, Innovators Under 35 Asia Pacific 2021.
“Despite considerable advances made in the area of chemical catalysis, much of it depends on the use of exorbitant and scarce noble metals (such as palladium and rhodium). Ming Joo Koh, an Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), mainly focuses on the research of sustainable catalysis. Considering the rapidly dwindling abundance of precious metals, this approach cannot continue much longer. More and more industries have begun an earnest search for sustainable and cost-effective alternatives that are not subject to devastating fluctuations caused by price speculation, a well-known attribute of the precious metal market. These issues have motivated Koh to develop catalysts derived from abundant base metals such as iron and nickel.
Since June 2018 at NUS, Koh has established a program on sustainable TM catalysis under three areas of research: iron catalysis (IC), nickel catalysis (NC), and single-atom catalysis (SAC). He finally delivered realistic and less costly catalyst systems including new homogeneous iron- and nickel-based catalysts, new protocols for promoting cross-coupling and alkene/alkyne functionalizations, and next-generation heterogeneous single-atom metal catalysts.
Koh’s sustainable approach is sensitive to and aligned with critical global concerns which will significantly enhance the way in which many important molecules are prepared in terms of cost savings, as well as vis-à-vis the amount of waste generated.” – cited from http://tr35.mittrasia.com/awards
