Professor Daniel Seidel, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA, has been awarded the Carl Duisberg Memorial Award of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society). The award is given to young scientists who have distinguished themselves through original work. Seidel is recognized for his work in the highly competitive field of organocatalysis and the activation of unreactive C–H bonds. The award will be presented at the Chemiedozententagung on March 5 by GDCh President Professor Barbara Albert.

Daniel Seidel studied chemistry at Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, USA, in 2002. He spent three years as post-doctoral researcher in the lab of Professor David Evans at Harvard University, USA. In 2005, Seidel joined the faculty at Rutgers University, first as Assistant Professor and since 2011 as Associate Professor.

His research focuses on supramolecular approaches to asymmetric catalysis for the preparation of valuable synthetic intermediates. His group has developed highly active thiourea catalysts and redox neutral reaction cascades for the mild functionalization of C–H bonds, such as those alpha to heteroatoms.

• A Dual Catalysis Approach to the Asymmetric Steglich Rearrangement and Catalytic Enantioselective Addition of O-Acylated Azlactones to Isoquinolines,
  C. Kanta De, N. Mittal, D. Seidel,
  J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 16802–16805.
  DOI: 10.1021/ja208156z
• Merging Nucleophilic and Hydrogen Bonding Catalysis: An Anion Binding Approach to the Kinetic Resolution of Propargylic Amines,
  E. G. Klauber, C. Kanta De, T. K. Shah, D. Seidel,
  J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 13624—13626.
  DOI: 10.1021/ja105337h
• Gadolinium triflate in Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis,
  D. Das, D. Seidel,
  John Wiley & Sons, New York, USA, 2011.
  ISBN: 9780470842898