Audrey Moores

Associate Professor

Post-doctoral Fellow (2006-2007, Yale University)
Ph.D. (Chemistry, 2005, Ecole Polytechnique)
M.Sc. (Chemistry, 2002, Ecole Polytechnique)
B.Sc in Chemistry (2001, Ecole Polytechnique)

Affiliation

Co-associate director of the FQRNT "Centre en la Chimie Verte et la Catalyse"
Program Committee member of the NSERC-CREATE in "Green Chemistry"
Associate Editor, RSC Advances, Royal Chemical Society

Awards

CNC-IUPAC travel award, 2016
Outside Quebec Exchange Professorship, 2014, awarded by FRQNT, in support for a 2 month visit at Princeton University, Princeton NJ, USA
Canada Research Chair in Green Chemistry, Renewal, Tier II, 2012-2017.
Science Communication Fellowships for Green Chemistry, 2011, awarded by Environmental Health News and Advancing Green Chemistry.
Canada Research Chair in Green Chemistry, Tier II, 2007-2012
Best PhD Thesis Award, Ecole Polytechnique, 2005

Contact Information

Office: 310
Phone: (514)398-4654
Email: Audrey.Moores [at] mcgill.ca
Lab: 400
Lab Phone: 514-398-6696
Web Page:

Research Themes

• Materials Chemistry 
• Synthesis/Catalysis

Research Description

Research Interests: Nanoparticles and Catalysis for Green Chemistry

Our group focuses on synthesising, characterizing and studying novel, and simple catalysts, based on metal nanoparticles, ionic liquids and/or cellulose nanocrystals in order to propose innovative and recyclable catalysts for organic reactions.

Axis 1 - Magnetic Nanoparticles as Green Catalysts: We use iron oxides, reduced iron and mixed iron/transition metal nanoparticles as simple, stabilizer-free and non-functionalized magnetic nanocatalysts for green organic synthesis. We study reactions of coupling, hydrogenation, C-H activiation and oxidation. We recently demonstratated that iron-iron oxide core-shell nanoparticles are active in the hydrogenation of olefins in ethanol and in the presence of water

Axis 2 - Functionalized Ionic Liquids as Improved Stabilizers of Nanocatalysts.: We synthesized a family of functionalized ionic liquids composed of phosphines or thiols linked to an imidazolium ring through an alkyl spacer. These stabilizers serve in the synthesis of transition metal nanoparticles. We used the phosphine/imidazolium series to stabilize palladium and rhodium NPs. These FIL stabilized NPs were active and recyclable catalysts for the hydrogenation of alkenes and arenes under mild conditions. We reported a dependence of the catalytic activity on the structural parameters of the FIL.

Axis 3 - Functionalized Ionic Liquids as Improved Stabilizers of Nanocatalysts.: Cellulose Nanocrystallites (CNCs) are nano whiskers (150 x 5 nm) composed of highly crystalline cellulose. This material can be processed from wood and has found applications as a coating agent and reinforcing material. We very recently showed that this material could also be used to support palladium nanoparticles, and fabricated a well defined hybrid material, PdNPs@CNCs, consisting of monodisperse PdNPs evenly deposited onto colloidal CNCs. The resulting material was active in the hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone in water under very mild conditions and the Heck coupling.

Currently Teaching