Rate My Professor Ola Wendt

Ola Wendt is the Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Lund University’s Centre for Analysis and Synthesis and has served as Head of the Department of Chemistry since January 2024. He completed his undergraduate studies at Lund University in 1992, with a diploma thesis on inclusion compounds with cyclodextrins supervised by Ulf Berg. Wendt obtained his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from Lund University in 1997, researching mechanisms of substitution processes in platinum(II) and palladium(II) complexes under Lars Ivar Elding. He then conducted postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena with John Bercaw on organozirconium chemistry related to olefin polymerization. Back at Lund University, Wendt was appointed Assistant Professor in 2000 on a Swedish Research Council grant, achieved Docent status in 2003, held a special research position in Green Chemistry sponsored by the Swedish Research Council, and was promoted to Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry in February 2010. His career reflects a steady progression in organometallic chemistry within the Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of Science.

The research of Ola Wendt’s group focuses on organotransition metal chemistry to develop organometallic reactions for catalytic applications. Major themes encompass activation of small molecules and unreactive bonds, dehydrogenation reactions such as those for hydrogen storage, and metal hydride chemistry. The group applies specialized synthetic techniques including high-vacuum, Schlenk, and glovebox work. Structural characterization relies on multi-nuclear NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography, while reaction mechanisms are probed via kinetics measurements and spectroscopic identification of intermediates. They also advance the organometallic chemistry of pincer ligands and complexes. Wendt has produced 142 research outputs, including 132 articles, 4 reviews, and 2 book chapters. Recent key publications include “Green and scalable approaches for synthesis and encapsulating clean metal nanoclusters inside cerium MOFs for efficient glycerol carboxylation with CO2” (Journal of CO2 Utilization, 2025), “In Situ X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy to Study the Dehydrogenation and Decomposition Mechanisms of an Iridium Pincer Catalyst Exposed to Gaseous Isopropanol” (ChemCatChem, 2025), “Optimization of coal desulfurization method by sub/supercritical fluid extraction with binary mixtures of carbon dioxide and ethyl lactate as a solvent” (Green Analytical Chemistry, 2024), and “Characterization and evaluation of photolabile (µ-peroxo)(µ-hydroxo)bis[bis(bipyridyl)cobalt caged oxygen compounds to facilitate time-resolved crystallographic studies of cytochrome c oxidase” (Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences, 2024).