Western Representative

Professor George Koutsantonis

George Koutsantonis is a synthetic chemist with an interest in functional materials that contain metals. He is a graduate of the University of Adelaide where he obtained his BSc(Hons) and PhD degree, the latter, under the supervision of Michael Bruce. He began his scientific life studying the coordination properties and reactions of alkynes and often returns to this fascinating area. He undertook a postdoctoral position at the University of Kentucky. In Lexington, he continued his work with alkynes, more specifically investigating metathesis reactions with metalloalkynes. After a fruitful period in the USA, he returned to Australia on an inaugural ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship at Griffith University in 1991. In Brisbane, still essentially an inorganic chemist, worked with Main Group hydrides of Group 13.

He was appointed to the staff at the University of Western Australia in 1995 where he remains. In Perth, he established an independent research programme in organometallic and inorganic chemistry. His work in this area was recognised by the joint award of the RACI Organometallic award in 2004.

He is active in the RACI, being a member of the Inorganic Division’s Committee for a number of years and is currently on the RACI Board as the Western Representative.

He is an enthusiastic amateur cabinetmaker and has for many years exhibited purebred German Shorthaired Pointers under the Dürers prefix.