About me
Born in Weisskirchen (Styria, Austria), I moved to Graz in 1998 to study Technical Chemistry at Graz University of Technology. After working on my master thesis in the field of organometallic catalysis at the Rutgers University in New Jersey, I graduated in 2003 and started immediately my PhD thesis, which I finished in 2007. In September 2010 I started my project “Rational Development of Functionalized Materials for Applications in Continuous API Manufacturing” which was financed by an Elise-Richter program by the Austrian Science Fond (FWF). Since 2014 I’m the leader of the “Continuous Synthesis and Processes” group at the institute and the head of several funded and industrial projects. After some years of Post-Doc and two external research stays, I finished my habilitation (venia docendi) in the field of Pharmaceutical Engineering in 2018 and was then announced as Assoc. Prof. at TU Graz.
Research interests
My current projects deal with heterogeneous (bio)catalysis and continuous processes for API synthesis and downstream unit operations, as well as reactor and crystallizer design including additive manufacturing, real-time analyses and self-optimization of chemical processes.
Tools
Our available equipment includes state-of-the-art equipment for catalysts synthesis and (continuous) chemical reactions (syringe pumps, HPLC pumps, in-house developed micro- and milli reactors and coils plus appropriate equipment) as well as standard analytical instrumentation for performing state-of-the-art chemical analyses (FTIR, HPLC, GC). Furthermore, state-of-the-art analytics for solubility measurements (Crystalline®), particle analysis (particle size, shape, density, specific surface) and set-ups for continuous synthesis, extraction and crystallization as well as inline analytics (UV/Vis, NIR, FBRM) are available.
Publications
Key Journal Papers:
Neugebauer P.*, Triebl A., Gruber-Woelfler H., Complete chiral resolution in a continuous flow crystallizer with recycle stream, J. Flow Chem (2021), 11, 483-493, doi.org/10.1007/s41981-021-00173-2
Valotta, A., Maier, M:C:, Soritz, S., Pauritsch, M., Koenig, M., Brouczek, D., Schwentenwein, M., Gruber-Woelfler, H.*, 3D printed ceramics as solid supports for enzyme immobilization: an automated DoE approach for applications in continuous flow, J. Flow Chem (2021), 11, 675 - 689, DOI: 10.1007/s41981-021-00163-4
Maier M. C., Valotta A., Hiebler K., Soritz S., Gavric K., Grabner B., Gruber-Woelfler H.,* 3D Printed Reactors for Synthesis of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in Continuous Flow. Org. Process Res. Dev. 2020, 10, 2197 – 2207 doi.org/10.1021/acs.oprd.0c00228
Further publications (Link to Pure)