About
Belén Martín Matute was born in Madrid. She obtained her Licenciate in Organic Chemistry at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 1998.
She then joined the group of Prof. A. M. Echavarren where she received her doctoral degree with sobresaliente cum laude in 2002 working on transition-metal-catalysed reactions: intramolecular arylations and cyclisations of furans with alkynes.
In 2003, she joined the group of Prof. J.-E. Bäckvall at Stockholm University for her postdoctoral studies where she worked on the dynamic kinetic resolution of sec-alcohols combining ruthenium and enzyme catalysts.
She spent two more years in the group of Prof. J. C. Carretero in Madrid working on asymmetric catalysis.
In October 2007, she returned to Stockholm University as Assistant Professor, where she became Associate Professor in 2012, and Full Professor in 2014.
Belén Martín-Matute leads activities on the development of new catalytic processes to produce carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds. This includes converting water, carbon dioxide, and other renewable resources into chemical products without having to deal with hazardous intermediates. Heteroatoms, such as oxygen, nitrogen and halogens are common in pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals. To make these bonds selectively is one of her main interests. In her research, Belén Martín-Matute uses a variety of metal catalysts, as well as metal-free ones (so-called organocatalysts). By refining the electronic and steric properties of catalysts, activity and selectivity can be controlled. A very important aspect of her work deals with the synthesis of heterogeneous catalysts based on porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). In Belén Martín-Matute's research, sustainability is also prioritized by using environmentally friendly solvents and versatile, stable and structurally simple but yet effective catalysts. Martín-Matute was promoted to Professor in 2014 at Stockholm University, where she continues her activities. She received the Young Investigator Award from the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry / Sigma Aldrich in 2007, the Lindbomska Award from the Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2013, and the Göran Gustafsson (GG) Award by the GG Foundation.
She currently serves as advisory board member for ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering and she is soon joining as advisory board member for Chemistry- An European Journal. Since November 2021, she is an associate editor for Organic Letters.