Professor Emeritus Ernst Peter Kündig, University of Geneva, Switzerland, celebrates his 70th birthday on September 2, 2016.

Kündig’s research focuses on organic synthesis and transition-metal catalysis, and recently on palladium-catalyzed intramolecular arylations, asymmetric C–H activation, chiral Fe- and Ru-Lewis acids, and planar chiral metal complexes.

E. Peter Kündig studied chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, ON, Canada in 1975. After postdoctoral research with Peter Timms at the University of Bristol, UK, Kündig joined the University of Geneva as Assistant Professor in 1978. He was promoted Associate Professor in 1986 and to Full Professor of Organic Chemistry in 1990. He remained in Geneva until his retirement in 2012.

Peter Kündig was a Member of the Organizing Committee of the Bürgenstock Conference from 1995 to 2008, Member of Executive Board of the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS) from 2000 to 2006, President of the School of Chemistry at the University of Geneva from 2002 to 2006, Board Member of the Swiss Chemical Society (SCS) from 2008 to 2015, and President of the SCS from 2010 to 2015. He is Member of the Editorial Advisory Boards of the Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry and Helvetica Chimica Acta.

Among other honors, Professor Kündig has received the Werner Prize from the SCS in 1986, the Honorary Badge of the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Bulgarian Academy of Science in 2007, and the EuCheMS Award, also in 2007.

---

Selected Publications

• Regioselective Synthesis and Characterization of Multinuclear Convex-Bound Ruthenium-[n]Cycloparaphenylene (n=5 and 6) Complexes,
  Eiichi Kayahara, Vijay Kumar Patel, Audrey Mercier, E. Peter Kündig, Shigeru Yamago,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 302–306.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201508003
• Asymmetric bromine–lithium exchange: on the importance of both the diamine ligand and the organolithium reagent,
  Jézabel Praz, Julien Graff, Léo Egger, Laure Guénée, Simon Wagschal, E. Peter Kündig, Alexandre Alexakis,
  Chem. Commun. 2015, 51, 16912–16915.
  DOI: 10.1039/c5cc06548h
• Palladium-N-Heterocyclic Carbene (NHC)-Catalyzed Asymmetric Synthesis of Indolines through Regiodivergent C(sp³)–H Activation: Scope and DFT Study,
  Dmitry Katayev, Evgeny Larionov, Masafumi Nakanishi, Céline Besnard, E. Peter Kündig,
  Chem. Eur. J. 2014, 20, 15021–15030.
  DOI: 10.1002/chem.201403985
• Asymmetric C(sp³)-H/C(Ar) coupling reactions. Highly enantio-enriched indolines via regiodivergent reaction of a racemic mixture,
  Dmitry Katayev, Masafumi Nakanishi, Thomas Bürgi, E. Peter Kündig,
  Chem. Sci. 2012, 3, 1422–1425.
  DOI: 10.1039/c2sc20111a
• Fused Indolines by Palladium-Catalyzed Asymmetric C–C Coupling Involving an Unactivated Methylene Group,
  Masafumi Nakanishi, Dmitry Katayev, Céline Besnard, E. Peter Kündig,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 7438–7441.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201102639
• Oxindole Synthesis by Direct Coupling of C_sp²–H and C_sp³–H Centers,
  Yi-Xia Jia, E. Peter Kündig,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 1636–1639.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.200805652
• Chiral N-heterocyclic carbene ligands for asymmetric catalytic oxindole synthesis,
  Yi-Xia Jia, J. Mikael Hillgren, Emma L. Watson, Stephen P. Marsden, E. Peter Kündig,
  Chem. Commun. 2008.
  DOI: 10.1039/b810858g
• Bulky Chiral Carbene Ligands and Their Application in the Palladium-Catalyzed Asymmetric Intramolecular α-Arylation of Amides,
  E. Peter Kündig, Thomas M. Seidel, Yi-xia Jia, Gérald Bernardinelli,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 8484–8487.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.200703408

Also of Interest

• E. Peter Kündig: Chemistry in Switzerland,
  Vera Köster,
  ChemViews Mag. 2014.
  DOI: 10.1002/chemv.201300124
  The President of the Swiss Chemical Society talks about their program of reform and the fascination of discovery