Felix de Zwart develops metal catalysts to turn plastic waste into useful chemicals by designing molecular catalysts that can break and transform the strong bonds found in polymers, and in understanding what makes these catalysts work under the demanding conditions needed for plastic recycling. Our work combines organometallic chemistry, catalyst design, synthesis and mechanistic studies with the testing of new catalytic reactions on polymers and model compounds. If you are a student interested in a research project where you can design, make and test molecular catalysts while working on a real sustainability challenge, feel free to get in touch using the contact information on this page.

More information about Felix de Zwart

Curriculum Vitae

Current and previous research positions

2026 – now     NWO Veni Fellow, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, The Netherlands
2024 – 2026     ETH Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zürich, Switzerland (Prof. Christophe Copéret)

Education

2024   PhD, Van ’t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 15 February 2024. Thesis title: “Carbenes as Versatile Tools in Polymer Chemistry”
Advisors: Prof. Bas de Bruin and Dr. Jitte Flapper
2018   MSc in Chemistry, HRSMC Excellence Master Track, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, cum laude

Grants, awards, recognitions

2026   SURF National Computer Facilities Grant (EINF-20350, 900k CPU SBU)
2026   NWO VENI Fellowship (VENI.252.100, k€ 320)
2024   ETH Postdoctoral Fellowship (24-1 FEL-008, k€ 256) 

Contribution to teaching and supervision

• Co-supervision of 2 PhD students, 1 MSc student and 3 semester projects at ETH Z Zürich in catalysis, experimental design and spectroscopic characterization.
• Supervision of 4 individual research projects and 3 group projects at the UvA, including organometallic synthesis and statistical analysis
• Teaching of BSc level inorganic chemistry laboratory courses at UvA

Other responsibilities

• Session Chair, Heterogeneous Catalysis – Depolymerisation, NCCC XXVII, 2026.
• Session Chair, Heterogeneous Catalysis – Polymer, NCCC XXVI, 2025.
• Reviewer for the Journal of the American Chemical Society (4 reviews) and Nature Communications (1 review).
• Member of the ETH Career Seed Panel, rounds 25-1 and 25-2.
• Conference Assistant, International Symposium on Carbene and Nitrene Chemistry, Amsterdam, 2023.

Publication record including five recent representative publications

29 papers with >500 citations, H-index 11 (Web of Science)

Full publication record: Google Scholar

• de Zwart, F. J.; Gehr, N.; Anferov, S. W.; Landis, J.; Copéret, C. Fluorination of Alkoxide Ligands: Neither Too Much nor Too Little for Optimal Ligand Field Strength. Chemical Science 2026.
• van Leest, N. P.; de Zwart, F. J.; Zhou, M.; de Bruin, B. Controlling Radical-Type Single-Electron Elementary Steps in Catalysis with Redox-Active Ligands and Substrates. JACS Au 2021, 1, 1101–1115.
• Seidel, M. Z.; de Zwart, F. J.; Ciuoli, M.; Yakimov, A. V.; Copéret, C. Molecular and Surface W-Sites through 31P-Detected and Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Surface-Enhanced 183W NMR Spectroscopy across Olefin Metathesis Catalysts. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2026.
• de Zwart, F. J.; Wolzak, L. A.; van den Berg, K.; Baran, M. J.; Wulff, J. E.; Flapper, J.; de Bruin, B. Diazirine-Functionalized Polyurethane Crosslinkers for Isocyanate-Free Curing of Polyol-Based Coatings. ACS Applied Polymer Materials 2024, 6, 3517–3522.
• de Zwart, F. J.; Laan, P. C. M.; van Leeuwen, N. S.; Bobylev, E. O.; Amstalden van Hove, E. R.; Mathew, S.; Yan, N.; Flapper, J.; van den Berg, K. J.; Reek, J. N. H.; de Bruin, B. Isocyanate-Free Polyurea Synthesis via Ru-Catalyzed Carbene Insertion into the N–H Bonds of Urea. Macromolecules 2022, 55, 9690–9696.

Presentations including five presentations at international conferences

• NCCC XXVII – Netherlands Catalysis and Chemistry Conference, Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, 2026. Oral presentation: Fluoroalkoxy ligands: Neither too much nor too little fluorine optimizes ligand fields.
• NCCC XXVI – Netherlands Catalysis and Chemistry Conference, Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, 2025. Poster presentation: Chemical Upcycling of Polypropylene by Tungsten-Catalyzed Alkane Cross-Metathesis.
• Gordon Research Conference on Organometallic Chemistry, Salve Regina, USA, 2022. Poster presentation: Isocyanate-free Polyurea Synthesis via Ru-Catalyzed Carbene Insertion into the N–H Bonds of Urea.
• EuCOMC XXIV Virtual Conference, Madrid, Spain, 2021. Oral presentation: X-ray Database Analysis for Redox-Active 1,4-Diazabutadiene Ligands.
• ARC-CBBC Symposium, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2019. Poster presentation: Novel cross-linking protocols for waterborne paint curing.