Meera Mehta

Meera Mehta is an Associate Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford, affiliated with the Department of Chemistry. Her research interests span main group synthesis, catalysis, and materials science, with a focus on the design of group 14 and 15 clusters and their applications in synthetic science and greenhouse gas conversion. Meera was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, and completed her undergraduate studies at McMaster University (2008–2012) and PhD at the University of Toronto (2012–2017) under Prof Douglas Stephan. She held a Royal Society Newton International Fellowship at the University of Oxford (2018–2019) and was recruited to the University of Manchester as a Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry in 2020. She returned to Oxford in 2024 as an Associate Professor and is also a tutorial fellow at Trinity College.

Meera Mehta is a researcher at the University of Oxford, specializing in the development of novel catalytic systems using Lewis acids and phosphorus-based compounds. Her work explores the synthesis and reactivity of phosphonium salts, Zintl clusters, and electrophilic fluorophosphonium cations in catalytic transformations. Mehta's research focuses on metal-free catalysis, particularly in the reduction of functional groups such as ketones, amides, sulfoxides, and nitriles. Her studies also investigate the role of FLP (fluorophosphonium-ligand pair) chemistry in promoting bond-forming reactions. Her contributions highlight the potential of Zintl clusters and boron-based catalysts in sustainable and transition metal-free organic synthesis.