A Career in Catalysis: Laura Prati

This account celebrates the long and successful scientific career of Laura Prati, recalling her most important scientific achievements since the beginning of her work as a researcher in inorganic chemistry. Laura went through many aspects of liquid-phase heterogeneous catalysis, taking her first steps in the field of catalysts synthesis, where she pursued the development of innovative strategies for preparing catalysts until laying the foundations of the colloidal synthesis of metal nanoparticles, with particular interest in gold. Her investigations in colloids for catalysis had a natural outcome on catalysts synthesis and optimization. In her career, she dealt with liquid-phase oxidation reactions, with particular attention to biomass valorization processes. According to this, she could not help to deal also with hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis reactions, to which she dedicated herself, especially in the more recent years. Her discoveries have influenced many researchers in the area of heterogeneous catalysis and design of materials.