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2024
Summer/Fall:​​​​

  • Franziska is the recipient of the 2025 Elias J. Corey Award for Outstanding Original Contribution in Organic Synthesis by a Young Investigator! Congratulations.

  • Many congratulations to Theresa on the promotion to Akadmische Oberrätin :)

  • We are happy to welcome our new PhD student Louis and postdoc Aidan. Louis studied in France and Scotland, and Aidan is our first Irish group member! We wish you all the best and are excited to work together.

  • Check out our first forray in electrosynthesis: C-heteroatom bond formation of alkyl germanes unlocked. Congratulations Markus, Eric, Kristina, Gurdeep & Annika. (READ MORE >) 

  • The group says farewell to Marvin, Tanya & Gurdeep. We will miss you and wish you all the best for the next challenges! Keep in touch.

  • We are happy to welcome back Fritz for his PhD studies, following a fantastic Master thesis with us. All the very best for your PhD.

  • We are happy to report the dynamic stereomutation of vinylcyclopropanes with metalloradicals in Nature. Congratulations Marvin, Teresa, Jegor, Theresa et al. (READ MORE >) 

  • The group is on tour! Members of the group attend the catalysis for organic synthesis symposium in Vienna, the Orchem in Regensburg, Ischia summer school in Italy & the Paris total synthesis meeting. Franziska lectures in Austria, China, USA & UK. She delivered the Merck, Novartis, AbbVie and Musgrave Lectureships and a plenary lecture at the ICPOC in Beijing. 

  • Franziska is the winner of the 2024 Thieme-IUPAC Prize. Congratulations!

  • Congratulations to our three awesome Bachelor thesis students this summer, Thibault, Kara and Denise, for their outstanding theses and presentations! 

  • Congratulations to our newly minted Dr. Marvin Mendel on successfully defending his PhD!

  • The group welcomes Che-Ming from Taiwan. All the best for your PhD studies.

Winter/Spring:​​​​

  • Have a look at our detailed mechanistic study of the transmetalation of Ni(II)-F complexes with Me3Si-CF3. The frequently assumed 4-membered transition state is disfavored. Instead, an ionic rebound mechanism is operating. Congratulations Mathilde & Sebastian!(READ MORE >) 

  • Congratulations to Avet on successfully defending his PhD thesis! 

  • Franziska delivers a lecture at the 57th Bürgenstock Conference.

  • Check out our latest report in Angewandte on modularity in Csp3-space: we show a triply selective, sequential diversification at a single carbon, which allows to make a rich diversity of compounds rapidly. (READ MORE >)  Congratulations Markus, Eric, Gurdeep, Quentin & Alba.

  • We unlocked access to NCF2H carbonyl compounds. Have a look at our report in JACS. (READ MORE >)  Congratulations Filip, Gina & Linhao.

  • Franziska delivers a lecture at the ‘Visions in Chemistry - Torkil Holm Symposium 2024’ in Denmark.

  • Mike joins us from the USA as postdoctoral fellow. Welcome!

  • We report a comprehensive investigation of post-transition state dynamic effects in the transmetalation of Pd(II)F to Pd(II)CF3. Dynamics trajectory calculations (with and without solvent) were conducted in combination with experimental studies, showing that a single TS can lead to either cis- or trans-Pd(II) intermediates directly without the need for a separate isomerization. Congratulations Maoping, Chris, Erdem and Theresa. (READ MORE >)

2023
Fall/Winter:​​​​

  • The group enjoys a fantastic Christmas party and wishes everyone happy holidays.

  • We have summarized the latest developments with organogermanes in synthesis and catalysis. Have a look at our Minireview in Angewandte. Well done Tanya, Markus and Eric. (READ MORE >)

  • Group members attend WIPOS in Hawaii and present posters (Teresa, Marvin) and a lecture (Franziska) on the group’s research. Congratulations Teresa on winning a poster prize.

  • The group welcomes Francesco for his PhD and Fritz for his master thesis. 

  • Franziska was elected to be a member of the IUPAC – division III, subcommittee on structural and mechanistic chemistry (SSMC).

  • Franziska delivers lectures at the European symposium on organic reactivity in Amsterdam and at a Symposium at Bayer.

  • Have a look at the site-selective nitration of aryl germanes at room temperature. Congratulations to the A-Team: Amit, Avet & Aymane!(READ MORE >)

Spring/Summer:​​​​

  • We are pleased to report the orthogonal olefination of aryl germanes. Congratulations Amit and Markus. (READ MORE >)

  • The group welcomes exchange PhD student Alba from the University of La Rioja in Spain.

  • Franziska delivers the 2023 Novartis Lecture at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla.

  • Franziska is the recipient of the 2023 IPMI Carol Tyler Award. Congratulations.

  • Check out our work on trialkylphosphine-derived dihalogen-bridged Ni(I) dimers. Using machine learning, we identified suitable ligands and synthesized various novel dimers. We also showed initial applications of these new catalysts, demonstrating C-I selective arylations (over C-Br and C-Cl) within minutes at room temperature. (READ MORE >)

  • Franziska delivers plenary lectures at 23rd ISFC in Quebec and OMCOS in Vancouver. She also was delighted to present at the ACS symposium honouring Ken Houk's 80th birthday.

  • Have a look at our development of C-O bond formations with organogermanes, recently published in JACS: it constitutes the first carbon-heteroatom bond formations with C-Ge. The process is mild, rapid and fully orthogonal to established C-O bond construction strategies with alternative handles. Congratulations Amit and Avet! (READ MORE >)

  • Many congratulations to Abdur for successfully defending his PhD thesis. Well done Dr Turksoy!

  • Franziska lectures on our group's research at the 20th Bristol Synthesis Symposium in the UK to 600 participants, the ETH Zürich in Switzerland, the 3rd Synthesis in Drug Discovery and Development Symposium and the MPI Kohlenforschung.

  • The group welcomes Dr Linhao Liu, Dr Gurdeep Singh and Dr Jaime Ponce de León who join us from France, India and Spain. Great to have you with us and best wishes.

  • The group says farewell to our postdoc Angel who joins the mechanistic group at AstraZeneca in Macclesfield, UK. Many congratulations Angel and best wishes for the new adventure.

January/February:​​​​

  • We welcome (back) our new PhD students Jegor and Quentin. Quentin joins us from Switzerland and Jegor re-joins following his Master thesis with us. All our best wishes.

  • Franziska delivers her first lecture in Israel at the 11th Asian-European Symposium on Metal-Mediated Organic Synthesis.

  • Big congratulations to our postdoc Mathilde who is a recipient of a prestigious PhD prize by the French Chemical Society.

  • We are thrilled that Lea Flecken and Daniela Dreßler join our team to strengthen admin and technology. Welcome.

2022
Fall/Winter:​​​

  • We report the rapid and modular access to vinyl cyclopropanes under air-stable Pd(I) dimer catalysis. Congratulations Marvin, Lars and Ula. (READ MORE >)

  • Franziska delivers the Merck Sharp & Dohme Lectureship at the University of Cambridge.

  • Check out our synthetic route to access N-CF3 formamides, published in Angew. Chem. (READ MORE >). Congratulations Filip and Chris!

  • Franziska delivers a lecture at the Ischia Advanced School of Organic Chemistry in Italy & 21st CSBC symposium in Dublin.

  • Several group members attend the ORCHEM in Münster and present posters on our chemistry.

Spring/Summer:​

  • The group welcomes Dr Tatiana Rogova as postdoctoral fellow and congratulates her on her selection for a Franz Effenberger Postdoctoral Fellowship.  

  • Franziska receives the Tetrahedron Young Investigator award at the Tetrahedron meeting in Portugal and delivers her awards lecture. Congratulations.

  • Teresa attends the 71st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. Congratulations.

  • The group says farewell to Dr Christian Nielsen who joins Vertex in Oxford, UK. We will miss you and wish you all the best.

  • Many congratulations to Amit for successfully defending his thesis. We are extremely proud and wish you all the very best for your postdoc at Cambridge (UK) in the Phipps lab.

  • Please have a look at our recent report in J. Am. Chem. Soc. in which we describe the first synthetic access to cyclic NCF3 ureas, involving a photocatalytic strategy and carbamoyl azides. Our mechanistic data suggests that an electron rebound mechanism is operative. (READ MORE >)

  • We report the functionalization of alkyl germanes and demonstrate their potential as modular building block in sp³-space. Congratulations Aymane, Markus and Adele. (READ MORE >)

  • Check out our recent reports involving organogermanes as (i) masking group in sequential and iterative couplings (READ MORE >), (ii) modular arylation of alkynyl germanes (READ MORE >) and (iii) our developments to access organogermanes in a straightforward manner (READ MORE >). Congratulations Adele, Amit, Aymane, Marvin and Tatjana.

January - March:

​​​​

  • After 2 years of pandemic-related international travel outage, Franziska is delighted to visit California to deliver the Streitwieser Lecture at UC Berkeley and the Houk-Jung lecture at UCLA.

  • Many congratulations to Gourab Kundu on successfully defending his PhD. We are very proud and wish you all the best for your postdoc in the Lambert lab at Cornell University. 

  • The group welcomes (back) Andrea and Gina for their PhD studies and also Dr Mathilde Rigoulet who joins us as postdoc. Best wishes to everyone.

  • Check out our latest development of an extremely rapid remote functionalization involving an air-stable Pd(I) dimer. Congratulations Gourab, Filip and Theresa. (READ MORE >)

2021
Fall/Winter:
​

  • We are excited about our recent report in Science that describes an unsupervised machine learning workflow to identify catalysts using only a handful of experimental data points and otherwise in-silico generated data. The algorithm correctly predicted Pd(I) dimers of a specific geometry and desired property (air-stable) and involved ligands that were never made before. (READ MORE >)

  • We welcome (back) Eric for his PhD studies and Dr Lars Gnägi for his postdoc. Many congratulations on being awarded a Swiss national science foundation postdoctoral scholarship, Lars. All the best.

  • The group says farewell to our postdocs, Dr Adele Queen and Dr Aymane Selmani who join Pharmaron, UK and BASF, Germany. We wish you all the best.

  • Check out our collaboration with the Rovis group on the selective C–H functionalization of amines via reversible hydrogen atom transfer catalysis, published in J. Am. Chem. Soc. (READ MORE >). Congratulations Yangyang and Ignacio.

Spring/Summer:​​
​

  • Franziska is the recipient of the 2022 Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award. Congratulations. (READ MORE >)

  • Have a look at our latest work published in J. Am. Chem. Soc. which unlocks access to N-CF3 alkynamides & many valuable derivatives, such as N-CF3 decorated alkenyl amides, oxindoles or quinolones. Congratulations Chris & Filip! (READ MORE >)

  • Congratulations to Teresa on being awarded a PhD scholarship by the 'Fonds der Chemischen Industrie'.

  • Many congratulations to Franziska on being awarded the 2020 Klung-Wilhelmy-Wissenschafts-Preis! (READ MORE >)

  • The group reports the synthesis of Z-silyl enol ethers via Ni-catalyzed remote functionalization of ketones in J. Am. Chem. Soc.  Congratulations Sinem, Gourab & Andrea. (READ MORE >)

  • As there is a growing number of coupling protocols developed with aryl germanes, their synthetic accessibility becomes critical for future applications - check out Aymane's & Amit's two latest protocols to readily access aryl germanes from arenes. (READ MORE >)

  • Our heartiest congratulations to Sam for successfully defending his PhD thesis (with distinction) and his new role in Canada's pharmaceutical industry.

  • Many congratulations to Sherif for his new appointment at Bayer in Germany. We will miss you and wish you all the best!

  • We welcome (back) Markus for his PhD studies, following his Master thesis research in our group. Best wishes.

January/February:

​​

  • The group welcomes Ula and Teresa as PhD students. Wishing you all the best.

  • We report a mechanistic study on aryl diazonium salt couplings in Angew. Chem. that sheds light on the importance of Pd(II)-OMe as reactivity controlling intermediate. (READ MORE >)

2020
Fall/Winter:

​

  • Check out our recent review on catalysis with Pd(I) dimers. (READ MORE >).

  • FS joins J. Am. Chem. Soc. as associate editor from 01/2021.

  • The group says farewell to Dr. Ignacio Funes-Ardoiz who joins the University of La Rioja in Spain for his independent academic career. 

  • Congratulations to Marvin on his PhD scholarship from the German Merit Foundation (Studienstiftung). 

  • The group welcomes Dr. Angel Mudarra as postdoctoral fellow and congratulates on his fellowship from the Ramón Areces Foundation.

  • Congratulations to our former postdoc Dr. Xiangyu Chen who starts his independent academic career as associate professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing.

 

Summer:

​

  • The group says farewell to Christoph and wishes him all the best for the future and his postdoc at Cambridge University. Check out Christoph's account on many of his key developments in the area of organogermanium functionalization (READ MORE >).

  • A new generation of air-stable Pd(I) dimer allows for the first olefin migration in air. It also triggers triply selective C-C couplings of poly(pseudo)halogenated arenes in air. Have a look at our publication in Angew. Chem. (READ MORE >). Congratulations Gourab and Theresa!

  • The group welcomes Dr Adele Queen from Scotland as postdoctoral fellow. We also welcome back Julian Hüffel for his PhD and Markus Schötz for his Master thesis. We say farewell to Will who joins J-STAR Research in the USA as a process chemist. Best wishes to All.

  • Have a look at our recent review article on oxidative gold catalysis and perspective on computational chemistry & machine learning in homogeneous catalysis (READ MORE >)

  • Congratulations to Christoph and Kristina on their Angewandte publication, which makes the selective introduction of several different halogens accessible through organogermanium's priviliged reactivity. (READ MORE >)

  • Check out our latest development of straightforward germylation of arenes via sulfonium salt intermedites. (READ MORE >)

​

April/May:

​

  • We are happy to report another dimension of selectivity and modularity in coupling catalysis, i.e. the selective arylation of aryl germanes (C-GeEt3) over C-Bpin, C-SiR3 and halogens enabled by light-activated gold-catalysis in Angew. Chem. (READ MORE >).

  • N-Trifluoromethyl Hydrazines, Indoles & their Derivatives can now be made. Great work Sam and Thomas. Please see our recent publication in Angew. Chem. for details. (READ MORE >)

  • We are pleased to report the pentafluoroarylation of aryl germanes in JACS. Congratulations Christoph and Amit. (READ MORE >)

  • FS was awarded the EROS Best Reagent Award 2020 for our work with NMe4SCF3. Congratulations. (READ MORE >)

​
January-March:

​

  • The group welcomes Dr. Sherif Kaldas from the University of Toronto as new postdoctoral fellow.

  • The group reports the selective ortho functionalization of adamantylarenes in Angew. Chem. and observed intruiging dispersion effects. Congratulations. (READ MORE >)

  • On 1st February our group had its 10 year anniversary. We celebrated with former and present co-workers, lots of science and even more fun. 

  • We welcome our new postdocs Dr. Christian Nielsen and Dr. Aymane Selmani. 

  • Congratulations to Hong-Gang whose recent Org. Lett. publication is the most read of the past month.

  • Many congratulations to Marvin on his three prizes in January: the Procter & Gamble prize for his RWTH Aachen chemistry degree results, a poster prize, and a prize by the city of Aachen for volunteer work to help students with less priviliged backgrounds.

2019
Fall/ Winter: 

​​​

  • Many congratulations to our new doctor, Dr. Christoph Fricke, for successfully defending his PhD thesis with the highest distinction.

  • The European Research Council continues to support the group's research with an ERC Consolidator Grant. Congratulations to all.

  • Congratulations Marvin, Indrek, Daniel & Guillaume on demonstrating the site-selective and modular diversification of polyhalogenated aryl fluorosulfates (ArOSO2F) with an air-stable Pd(I) dimer. Check out our recent Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. for details. (READ MORE >) ​​

  • FS is the 2019 Boehringer-Ingelheim lecturer at MIT and the 2019 Merck-Symposium lecturer at Boston College in the USA.

  • Farewell to our PhD students Sinem, Guillaume and Erdem, our postdocs Grant, Hong-Gang, Maoping and Bhaskar and our visiting PhD student, Pedro. We wish you all the best for the future and will miss you. 

  • The group demonstrates that Pd nanoparticles react in an orthogonal fashion with organogermanes to homogeneous Pd(0) catalysts. While organogermanes are unreactive in Pd(0)/Pd(II) catalysis, they are the most reactive species with nanoparticles. (READ MORE >) 

  • Congratulations to Bhaskar on his new position as Professor at IIT Mandi in India. 

  • The group is pleased to report a straightforward access to the N-trifluoromethyl carbonyl motif in Nature. Great work Thomas and Sam! (READ MORE >)  See also "News & Views" by J. Clayden (Nature 2019, 573, 37) & blog by D. Lowe (READ MORE >) and C&En News. (READ MORE >)   

  • Although organogermanium compounds are generally associated with low reactivities in catalysis, we report their highly efficient transformations with arenes under gold catalysis. Congratulations Christoph, Amit and Will! (READ MORE >)

  • Congratulations to Guillaume on successfully defending his PhD thesis. 

  • Claudia and Christoph present talks at the WiFo in Aachen.

  • The Volkswagen Foundation supports the group's research program in machine learning and data mining with 1 Mio €.

​
Spring/Summer:

​

  • C​​​ongratulations to Thomas who is one of the 45 finalists for the 2019 Reaxys PhD Prize for his work on "Efficient Synthesis of Trifluoromethyl Amines (N-CF3) via a Formal Umpolung Strategy from the Bench-Stable Precursor (Me4N)SCF3" (READ MORE >)

  • Congratulations to Erdem and Sinem on successfully defending their PhD theses. 

  • Congratulations Daniel on being awarded a PhD scholarship by the 'Fonds der Chemischen Industrie'.

  • Farewell to Ajoy and best wishes for the new post as Professor at the Shiv Nadar University.

  • The group reports a new polymerization strategy based on Pd(I) in Angewandte Chemie. One catalyst to make many polymers within seconds. Congratulations Guillaume. (READ MORE >)

  • We report the arylation of axially chiral phosphorothioate salts under Pd(I) catalysis. Congratulations Xiang-Yu, Hong-Gang, Maoping and Theresa. (READ MORE >) 

  • We welcome back Marvin who starts his PhD following his master thesis in our group. All the best!

​
January/February:

​

  • The group reports "E-Olefins through intramolecular radical relocation" in Science. Congratulations Ajoy, Theresa and Sinem! (READ MORE >)

  • We welcome Sebastian Wellig who joins us from Switzerland for his PhD studies. Best wishes.

  • The group welcomes (back) Daniel who joins as a PhD student, following his Master thesis in the group. Best wishes!

  • FS delivers lectures at the Sheffield Stereochemistry Symposium in UK, at the LMU and in Regensburg.

2018
December: 

​​​

  • Franziska Schoenebeck joins the editorial board of Synthesis.

 
September/October:

​

  • The group reports catalysis with cationic Pd trimers that trigger selective C-I functionalizations in the presence of C-Br. Congratulations Claudia and Thomas. (READ MORE >)

  • The first direct catalytic method to install Csp2-TeCF3 bonds is developed. Great work Theresa and Sinem. Read about it in Angew. Chem. (READ MORE >)

  • The group unraveled how CF3 groups are transfered to Pd(II) complexes with trifluoromethylsilanes. Experiments and dynamics calculations revealed a fundamentally novel difluorocarbene mechanism. Congratulations Maoping, Italo and Erdem. Read about it in our latest Angew. Chem. (READ MORE >)

  • We welcome Dr. Ignacio Funes! Ignacio undertook his PhD at ICIQ and will be supported by an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship for his stay in our group.  

  • Congratulations to Thomas on successfully defending his PhD! 

 
Summer:

​

  • The group reports on site selective C-C and carbon-heteroatom bond formations in two Angew manuscripts. Full control over all sites (C-Br vs. C-Cl vs. C-OTf) was achieved using the same air-stable Pd(I) catalyst. 

  • The group welcomes Avet for his PhD.

  • Congratulations to Theresa on successfully defending her PhD! 

  • Farewell to Indrek who is off to the USA to design proteins with David Baker's team at the University of Washington as a human frontier science program postdoctoral fellow. All the best! 

  • The group welcomes several new members: Julian, Sarah and Tatjana join for PhD and William and Hong-Gang join as postdocs. We wish everyone all the best.

  • A collaboration with Tom Rovis team at Columbia on photoredox-catalyzed alkylation of amines is published in Nature Chemistry. 

  • FS lectures on the group's research at the "Computational Catalysis for Sustainable Chemistry" meeting in Spain, the "2nd International Symposium on Organic Reaction Mechanisms" in China and the BOSS XVI meeting in Belgium.

 
Spring:

​

  • Franziska Schoenebeck delivers the 2018 Steinhofer lecture at the University of Freiburg.

  • Congratulations to Indrek who has been awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by the human frontier science program.

  • Farewell to Sinead who is returning to Australia to start her independent career at Macquarie University in Sydney. Best wishes and congratulations on your fellowship!

  • Farewell to Yuuta who is returning to Japan after his 6 months internship with us.

 
January/February:

​

  • The group reports a decarbonylative trifluoromethylation of acid fluorides in Angew. The manuscript was selected as very important paper (VIP). Congratulations Sinead!

  • The group welcomes Filip Opincal for his PhD and Dr Xiangyu Chen. Best wishes!

  • Happy New Year!

November/December:

​

  • O​ur mechanistic study, involving experiments and Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics, on how the (Me4N)SCF3 reagent is activated is now online. The manuscript also compares typical reaction parameters to thiophosgene. (READ MORE >)

  • Congratulations to Indrek on his successful PhD defense and for winning a major research award in the Estonian student research contest.

​
October:

​

  • We are now on Twitter! Follow our latest news via @Schoenebeck_Lab

  • Check out C&En News for a highlight on our recent chemistry  (READ MORE >)

  • The group welcomes Yuuta Funakoshi from Kyoto for a research stay.

  • The group reports the direct conversion of carboxylic acids to acyl fluorides. Congratulations Thomas and Kristina. (READ MORE >)

  • The group welcomes Tatjana, Sarah, He, Michael and Moritz for their Master theses and research projects.

​
August/September:

​

  • Sinead and FS attend the 'European Symposium on Organic Reactivity' in Durham, UK, where FS delivers a plenary lecture on the group's research.

  • Congratulations to Indrek for winning an award for his lecture at the ISySyCat2017 in Portugal.

  • FS lectures at the 'International Symposium on Advances in Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry' in Vienna, and Thomas presents a poster.

  • The group welcomes our new postdoc, Dr Mondal. Best wishes.

  • FS lectures at the 'Computation & Catalysis' session organized by Merck at the ACS in Washington, D.C.​

  • The groups's summer outing features Laser Tag and BBQ!

  • The group reports dinuclear Ni(I) catalysis in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.  (READ MORE >)

 
June/July:

​

  • FS lectures at the Organic Reactions and Processes Gordon Research Conference in the USA. 

  • We are delighted to welcome our new group members Grant, Gourab and Amit.

  • Summer = conference time = the group is on tour! Meet Thomas at OMCOS in Korea and Guillaume, Theresa, Indrek at the Tetrahedron meeting in Budapest and the ESOC in Cologne, presenting posters on their latest research. Franziska presents a lecture at ESOC.

2017
​
May: 

​​

  • Many congratulations to Indrek on being awarded a 2017 MS_CEC Young Researcher Award. Well done on delivering a great awards lecture at the 8th Münster symposium. READ MORE >

  • The group welcomes Abdur for his PhD.

  • The group reports an a priori predictable chemoselective alkylation of C-Br bonds in the presence of C-OTf and C-Cl in Angew. Chem. Congratulations Indrek, Theresa, Thomas and Guillaume.

  • Franziska lectures at the 23rd Lakeland Symposium in Grasmere, UK and the University of Manchester.

March/April: 

​​

  • The group engaged in a collaboration with Thomas Colacot's team at Johnson Matthey to understand the unusual reduction of Pd(II) to Pd(I). The work was published in J. Am. Chem. Soc. and discussed in C&EN News. Congratulations Theresa.

  • To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Acc. Chem. Res. a special issue on the "Holy Grails in Chemistry" was recently published. The group contributed an invited article on the theme of computational catalyst design.  READ MORE >

  • Congratulations to Thomas on another curious application of (Me4N)SCF3 - this time to make R-NCS and cyclic thioureas.   

​
January/February:

​

  • Thomas' paper on trifluoromethylation of amines was the most read article in Angew. Chemie in the past month and was also discussed here: www.

  • Theresa's report in Synthesis belongs to the most read articles of the past month.

  • Congratulations to Indrek and Theresa on the acceptance of their manuscripts detailing fundamental insight on the reactivity of Ni(I) and Pd-catalyzed additions of C-X bonds across alkynes.

​

  • Franziska lectures at Novartis (Basel) and Lyon.

  • The group enjoys a day trip to Winterberg for skiing. 

  • Congratulations to Guillaume and Indrek on a prize at the New Year Symposium in Aachen for a poster detailing a priori predictable chemoselective couplings under Pd(I) catalysis.

  • The group reports an a priori predictable, substrate-independent and chemoselective coupling method that allows to functionalize C-Br bonds in the presence of C-Cl, C-OTf and other functionality in air using a Pd(I) dimer catalyst. Congratulations Indrek and Guillaume.  READ MORE >

2016
November/December: 

​​

  • Congratulations to Italo for successfully defending his PhD Thesis and best wishes for the future. 

  • Farewell to Carl who joins Trinity College Dublin as a Lecturer. 

  • The group reports a straightforward method to trifluoromethylate amines. Congratulations Thomas & Kristina!

    READ MORE >

​
October:

​

  • Congratulations to Italo on his new position as CEO of a start-up company. Best wishes.

  • Franziska lectures at the 5th Lilly Chemistry Symposium in Spain.

  • Congratulations to Alexander for winning a prize for his poster at the 2nd NSFC-RSC in London, UK. 

  • Congratulations to Guoyin on joining Wuhan for a professorship. Best wishes!

​
September:

​

  • Congratulations to Theresa on the acceptance of paper number 5 this year, the latest being a collaboration with the Lautens group, published in JACS.

  • Franziska lectures at the 2016 Celebration of Organic Chemistry meeting held at Syngenta, UK. 

  • The group welcomes Dr. Sinead Keaveney who joins us from Australia. Best wishes.

  • Indrek lectures at the EuCheMs in Seville, supported by a DAAD travel grant.

  • Franziska lectures at the 2016 GEQO Congress in Girona, Spain.

  • Several group members present our research at the ORCHEM in Weimar (posters by Indrek, Alexander, Theresa and Thomas and a lecture by Franziska). Congratulations to Theresa for winning a poster prize. 

  • Congratulations to Ajoy for winning a prize for his poster at the Bioinorganic Symposium held at RWTH Aachen. 

 
August:

​

  • Franziska is on USA tour, delivering lectures at the '2nd Annual Rahway CMC Center Symposium' at Merck (NJ), at Novartis in Boston, Lehigh and Delaware University.

  • Collaborative work with the Lautens and Noel groups are in press in Nature Chemistry and Chem. Sci. Congratulations.

  • Dr. Maoping Pu joins the team. Welcome and best wishes!

​
July:

​

  • Indrek lectures at the RSC Phys. Org. meeting at Syngenta, UK.

  • Franziska is promoted to Full Professor. 

  • The group welcomes Sam for his PhD. Best wishes.

  • Farewell to Elli and Jamie and best wishes for your new jobs.

  • Theresa lectures at the ICPOC in Sydney, Australia, supported by Evonik and DAAD travel grants.

  • Franziska visits Japan to deliver lectures in Osaka and the ISHC in Kyoto.

​
May/June:

​

  • The group welcomes UCLA undergrad Celena Wu for her ACalNet supported stay in our group. 

  • Franziska is delighted to lecture in her home town (HU Berlin) and her Alma Mater (University of Stathclyde, Glasgow).

​
April:

​

  • The air-stable iodide-bridged Pd(I) dimer is now commercially available at Strem. 

  • Congratulations to Theresa for winning a poster prize at the MS-CEC in Münster for "Pd(I)dimer catalyzed SeCF3 bond formations". The work was done by Marialuisa, Theresa and Althea.  

  • Franziska delivers a plenary lecture at "Girona Seminar - Predictive Catalysis: Transition-Metal Reactivity by Design" in Spain.

  • The group welcomes Claudia and Jamie. 

  • An author profile is published in Angew. Chem. on FS.   READ MORE >

  • Collaborative work with the Rueping group on the AlR3-assisted alkylation of aryl ethers is published in Angew. Chem.  READ MORE >

​
February/March:

​

  • Farewell to Henry and Francois. Best wishes.

  • Alexander presents his research at the JCF Frühjahrssymposium in Kiel.

  • Check out our recent manuscripts in Chem. Sci. describing a computationally assisted identification of scope in the development of a Ni-catalyzed trifluoromethylthiolation of C-O bonds, as well as our collaborative work with the Enders group in Angew. Chem.   READ MORE >

 

January:

​

  • Our most recent article on aerobic hydroxylations of ketones under Cu-catalysis belongs to the most read articles of the past month in JACS.   READ MORE >

2015
December: 

  • For this years celebration of the festive season the group chose: RACING....   

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
November: 

  • We welcome Guillaume Magnin who joins the group for his doctoral studies.   

October: 

  • Franziska is a recipient of the 2016/17 Novartis Chemistry Lectureship. 

  • Dr. Carl Poree joins the group for postdoctoral studies - welcome and best wishes!

  • Franziska delivered the Marcial Moreno lecture at the ICIQ in Tarragona.

  • Christoph joins the group for his PhD. Welcome!

September: 

  • Franziska enjoys a great visit to Canada, delivering the 2015 Alphora Lecture at the University of Toronto and additional seminars at McGill and York. 

  • The group welcomes our new group members Elli and Sinem. Best wishes!  

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  • The group's recent Chem. Rev. article in the themed edition "frontiers in organic synthesis" was selected as the cover image.

August: 

  • Italo attends the 130th BASF International Summer School.

July: 

  • Indrek, Theresa and Franziska attend the OMCOS in Sitges, Spain, presenting posters and a lecture on the group's research.  

April: 

  • Congratulations to Marialuisa for successfully defending her PhD thesis. Well done.

  • Efficient dinuclear catalysis at Pd(I) sites was accomplished using an air-stable and robust dinuclear Pd(I) complex. Congratulations Guoyin and Indrek.   READ MORE >

  • Italo presents his research at the JCF Frühjahrssymposium in Münster.

March: 

  • The group reports on computational and experimental studies of Ni-catalysis in JACS. The first C-SCF3 coupling of aryl chlorides was developed. Important insights on additive and ligand effects were gained. Congratulations Guoyin and Indrek! READ MORE >  

  • Franziska is off to Denver for an exciting session at the ACS.   READ MORE >

January/February: 

  • The group welcomes François Napoly and Henry Fisher who join us as postdocs from France and the USA. 

2014
December:

  • In the spirit of the approaching festive season, part of the group investigated the effects of visible light activation... (also known as "laser tagging")!

  • Franziska is the 2014 Marcial Moreno Lecturer (awarded by the Spanish Royal Chemical Society).

November:

  • Franziska is looking forward to visiting Namur.   READ MORE >

  • The group's future research will be supported by a Grant from the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant).

  • Many congratulations to Felix on his outstanding Master graduation results and for being awarded the P&G Prize. Well done!

  • The group welcomes Dr. Ajoy! 

  • Farewell to Althea. All the best for your new post in Sydney.

  • Check out our recent reports on Pd(I)-dimer chemistry, the distinct reactivity of P(iPr)(tBu2) and our concept article on combining experiments and computation in reactivity studies. Congrats to all, especially Italo who co-authored three of our most recent papers. READ MORE >

October:

  • Franziska lectures at the OM&Cat-2014, visiting Japan for the first time.

September:

  • Fabien successfully defended his PhD thesis at the ETH Zürich. Well done Dr. Proutiere!

  • Franziska is a recipient of the ORCHEM Prize. 

August:

  • Franziska visits Canada for the first time, lecturing at the 22nd IUPAC International Conference on Physical Organic Chemistry.

June:

  • Our recent computational ligand design has been highlighted in Nature Chemistry.  READ MORE >

  • Congratulations to Theresa for receiving a doctoral scholarship from the Evonik foundation.

  • Franziska is the recipient of a 'Dozentenpreis' of the 'Fonds der Chemischen Industrie'.

  • Franziska enjoys being back in California, lecturing at the 35th Reaction Mechanisms Conference at UC Davis that also features a special session in honour of Prof. Bob Bergman.

May:

  • Congratulations to Italo for winning a SCNAT/SCS Chemistry Travel Award to attend the WATOC in Santiago de Chile.

April:

  • Congratulations to Karl who accepted a job at Lundbeck pharmaceutical company in Copenhagen.

  • Franziska is the winner of the 2014 JPOC award for Early Excellence in Physical Organic Chemistry. She will receive the award at the Reaction Mechanisms Conference in California in June.

  • Italo's Chem Sci paper with the Sanford group was one of the 25 most-read Chemical Science articles in 2013.

  • Marko and Marvin join the group to conduct undergraduate research projects.

March:

  • Proof-of-principle: The group reports on the computational design and experimental verification of a perfluoroalkyl ligand that triggers the challenging reductive elimination of ArCF3 from Pd(II).   READ MORE >

  • New group members: we welcome Theresa, Thomas & Erdem for their PhD studies. Best wishes.

February:

  • The group welcomes RWTH undergrads Felix and Lisa.

2013
December:

  • The group enjoyed ice skating in Aachen.    

November: 
October:

  • Indrek and Alexander join the group as PhD students. Welcome and best wishes! 

  • Fancy international experience? No need to travel the world - just stop by our labs. Eleven nationalities are currently represented in our group with co-workers from Australia, Austria, Britain, China, Chile, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Norway and Sweden. 

September:

  • We welcome Dr. Guoyin Yin who joins as postdoctoral fellow from the TU Munich and Theresa Sperger who is visiting from the ETH Zürich for her Master thesis project.

  • The group reports experimental, computational and spectroscopic data in support of the direct reactivity of a Pd(I) dimer with an aryl iodide! Keep an eye out for Karl's and Fabien's article to appear in Chem. Sci.   READ MORE >

Summer:

  • Franziska on world tour presenting talks at the "challenges in computational homogeneous catalysis" conference in Stockholm, at M.I.T. & the "Gordon conference in Physical Organic Chemistry" in USA, at "Heron6" in Australia and the "Catalysis Summer School" in Switzerland.

June:
May:
 
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