Sophie Carenco, Sorbonne Université, France, has been awarded the Clara Immerwahr Award 2020 for her contributions to catalysis and nanochemistry, and science outreach. The award was presented at a public ceremony at the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), Germany, on February 14, 2020.

The annual Clara Immerwahr Award honors a young female scientist at an early stage of their career for outstanding achievements in catalysis research. The award is presented by UniSysCat (Unifying Systems in Catalysis), Berlin, Germany.

Carenco’s research interests include metal oxysulfide, metal carbide, and metal phosphide nanoparticles, the ligand shells of nanoparticles, nanoparticle safety, synchrotron methods for nanoparticle characterization, and the reactivity of gases at nanoparticle surfaces. Her work has applications in catalysis.

Sophie Carenco studied at the École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France. She obtained her Ph.D. in chemistry in 2011 from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris (now a part of Sorbonne Université). Then she was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Berkeley, CA, USA, working with Miquel Salmeron. In 2014, she became a Researcher at the Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Paris (LCMCP), associated with Sorbonne Université, CNRS, and the Collège de France.

Among other honors, Sophie Carenco has received the European Young Chemist Award from EuChemS in 2010, the L’Oreal-UNESCO Fellowship in 2014, an ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council in 2017, and the Bronze Medal of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS, Centre national de la recherche scientifique) in 2018. She is one of the founding members of the International Younger Chemists Network (IYCN) and an active member of the European Young Chemists Network (EYCN) of EuChemS and of the French Chemical Society (SCF, Société Chimique de France).

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Selected Publications

• Bimetallic Phosphide (Ni,Cu)₂P Nanoparticles by Inward Phosphorus Migration and Outward Copper Migration,
  Anh-Minh Nguyen, Mounib Bahri, Sébastien Dreyfuss, Simona Moldovan, Antoine Miche, Christophe Méthivier, Ovidiu Ersen, Nicolas Mézailles, Sophie Carenco,
  Chem. Mater. 2019, 31, 6124–6134.
  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.9b01505
• Radical‐Initiated Dismutation of Hydrosiloxanes by Catalytic Potassium‐Graphite,
  Xavier Frogneux, Antoine Pesesse, Simon Delacroix, François Ribot, Sophie Carenco,
  ChemCatChem 2019, 11, 3781–3785.
  https://doi.org/10.1002/cctc.201900172
• Direct Synthesis of N‐Heterocyclic Carbene‐Stabilized Copper Nanoparticles from an N‐Heterocyclic Carbene–Borane,
  Xavier Frogneux, Laura Hippolyte, Dimitri Mercier, David Portehault, Corinne Chanéac, Clément Sanchez, Philippe Marcus, François Ribot, Louis Fensterbank, Sophie Carenco,
  Chem. Eur. J. 2019, 25, 11481–11485.
  https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201901534
• Nanoscaled Metal Borides and Phosphides: Recent Developments and Perspectives,
  Sophie Carenco, David Portehault, Cédric Boissière, Nicolas Mézailles, Clément Sanchez,
  Chem. Rev. 2013, 113, 7981–8065.
  https://doi.org/10.1021/cr400020d
• Size-Dependent Dissociation of Carbon Monoxide on Cobalt Nanoparticles,
  Anders Tuxen, Sophie Carenco, Mahati Chintapalli, Cheng-Hao Chuang, Carlos Escudero, Elzbieta Pach, Peng Jiang, Ferenc Borondics, Brandon Beberwyck, A. Paul Alivisatos, Geoff Thornton, Way-Faung Pong, Jinghua Guo, Ruben Perez, Flemming Besenbacher, Miquel Salmeron,
  J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 2273–2278.
  https://doi.org/10.1021/ja3105889
• Controlled Design of Size-Tunable Monodisperse Nickel Nanoparticles,
  Sophie Carenco, Cédric Boissière, Lionel Nicole, Clément Sanchez, Pascal Le Floch, Nicolas Mézailles,
  Chem. Mater. 2010, 22, 1340–1349.
  https://doi.org/10.1021/cm902007g

Also of Interest

• The Future of Chemistry is Global,
  Vera Koester, Paula C. P. Bueno, Sophie Carenco, Christine Dunne, Lori Ferrins, Evijola Llabani, Nnanake-Abasi Offiong, Ilya V. Vorotyntsev,
  ChemistryViews.org 2017.
  Members of the newly formed International Younger Chemists Network (IYCN) talk about their ideas, aims, and work
• Expectations of Younger Chemists in France,
  Sophie Carenco, Camille Oger, Gregory Chatel (on behalf of the French Young Chemists Network),
  Chemistryviews.org 2017.
  International Younger Chemist Network: The expectations of younger chemists in France
• Clara Immerwahr Award 2019,
  ChemViews Mag. 2019.
  Dr. Maria Escudero Escribano, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, honored
• Clara Immerwahr Award 2017,
  ChemViews Mag. 2017.
  Sandra Luber, Switzerland, honored for outstanding work in catalysis research
• Clara Immerwahr Award 2016,
  ChemViews Mag. 2016.
  Rebecca Melen, UK, honored for outstanding achievements in catalysis research
• Clara Immerwahr Award 2015,
  ChemViews Mag. 2015.
  Anna Company Casadevall, University of Girona, Spain, honored
• Clara Immerwahr Award 2014,
  ChemViews Mag. 2014.
  Dr. Teresa Santos-Silva, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal, has been awarded for outstanding achievements in catalysis research
• The Myth of Clara Immerwahr,
  ChemistryViews.org 2016.
  Did she take her life as a statement against chemical warfare?
• 100th Anniversary: Clara Immerwahr’s Death,
  ChemViews Mag. 2015.
  A role model for her pursuit of science in spite of obstacles and for her strong moral convictions