Professor wins prestigious American Chemical Society Award in Chromatography
Professor Milton Hearn. CREDIT: Steve Morton
Monash University Professor Milton Hearn has been awarded the prestigious 2015 American Chemical Society Award in Chromatography.
Professor Hearn, Associate Director (Industry) of the University’s Green Chemical Futures and Lead Scientist of the Victorian Centre for Sustainable Chemical Manufacturing, received the award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the fields of chromatography and related sciences.
Professor Hearn has made significant and enduring contributions internationally in the fields of chromatography and separation sciences throughout his career. His research has resulted in the discovery of a range of novel technologies, new methods and breakthrough concepts that have ultimately led to improvements in the quality of human life.
“The chromatographic sciences represent an enabling field of knowledge, which underpins most other areas of scientific, biomedical and biotechnological research, development and product manufacture,” Professor Hearn said.
“I am thrilled that the research my team and I have carried out has been recognised for its global and environmental impact by the American Chemical Society.”
Professor Hearn has authored more than 600 original scientific papers and has made many other contributions to the chemical and biotechnology industry and the public within Australia and overseas, for which he has received a Centennial Medal of the Commonwealth of Australia and inter alia the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute’s Distinguished Lecturer Award (2013). Professor Hearn has previously received the Leighton Memorial Medal, the Green Chemistry Challenge Medal, the R.K. Murphy Medal, the Analytical Chemistry Medal, the Applied Research Medal and the H.G. Smith Medal, all from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, an Alexander von Humboldt Forschungspreis and numerous other national and international medals and awards for his pioneering work at the forefront of the separation sciences, analytical chemistry and biotechnology.
Most recently, Professor Hearn and his team, formerly at the University's Centre for Green Chemistry, developed a new process to extract natural products, such as polyphenols and phytosterols, from plant waste rather than manufacturing them from a petro-chemical base. These products are increasingly being used as nutraceutical ingredients in a number of processed foods, and in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products, because of their potential anti-ageing and health-promoting effects.
Professor Hearn said the new extraction process adds value to what is otherwise agricultural waste.
“Chemically, the new technology replicates a biological process and replaces a less efficient synthetic process that produces significant waste of its own. The results of the research are higher quality products, greater productivity and better environmental outcomes in accord with the concepts and practices of green chemistry,” Professor Hearn said.
The 2015 American Chemical Society Award in Chromatography award, sponsored by Sigma-Aldrich/Supelco, will be presented to Professor Hearn at the Society’s National Meeting in Denver, Colorado, on 24 March 2015.