Professor Klaus Müllen (pictured left), Emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany, and Professor Helmut Schwarz (right), Technische Universität (TU) Berlin, Germany, have received the Leonardo da Vinci Award 2020 and 2021, respectively, from the European Academy of Sciences. The awards were presented in an online ceremony on May 21, 2021. The Leonardo da Vinci Award is presented yearly and honors outstanding lifelong achievement in the sciences. The 2020 award ceremony had been postponed due to the pandemic.
Klaus Müllen was honored for his outstanding activity in the field of physical organic chemistry. He has developed, e.g., a variety of polymer materials, nanographenes, and graphene nanoribbons. His research interests include, e.g., graphenes and carbon materials, polymer-forming reactions, polymers with complex shape-persistent architectures, functional polymeric networks, and nanocomposites.
Helmut Schwarz received the award for his outstanding work in molecular chemistry. His research is focused on chemistry in the gas phase and combines experimental and theoretical work. His interests include reactions of metal-cluster ions, metal-mediated oxidations, reactive transition-metal compounds, bond activation, and the development of mass spectrometry (MS) techniques.
Klaus Müllen studied chemistry at the University of Cologne, Germany, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Basel, Switzerland, in 1971. After postdoctoral research and his habilitation at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland, Müllen joined the University of Cologne as Professor in 1979 and moved to the University of Mainz as Professor in 1983. From 1989 to 2016, he was Director at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research.
Klaus Müllen is a Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was President of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society) in 2008 and 2009. Among many other honors, Müllen has received the ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry from the American Chemical Society in 2011, the Adolf von Baeyer Medal in 2013, the Hermann Staudinger Prize in 2016, the Karl Ziegler Prize in 2019 (all three from the GDCh), and several honorary doctorates.
Helmut Schwarz studied chemistry at TU Berlin, Germany, and received his Ph.D. there in 1972. He completed his habilitation at TU Berlin in 1974 and was appointed Professor of Chemistry there in 1978. Schwarz served as President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany, from 2008 to 2017.
Among many other honors, Helmut Schwarz has received the Liebig Medal from the GDCh in 1998, the Prelog Medal in Gold from ETH Zurich in 2000, the Blaise Pascal Medal in Chemistry from the European Academy of Sciences in 2011, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2012, the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (WATOC) Schrödinger Medal in 2015, the Karl Ziegler Prize from GDCh in 2015, and numerous honorary doctorates. He is a Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Academia Europaea, the German Academy of Engineering acatech, and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, as well as a Foreign Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
Selected Publications by Klaus Müllen
- Dicyclopentaannelated Hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronenes with a Singlet Biradical Ground State,
Qiang Chen, Martin Baumgarten, Manfred Wagner, Yunbin Hu, Ian Cheng-Yi Hou, Akimitsu Narita, Klaus Müllen,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 11300–11304.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202102932 - On-surface Activation of Benzylic C-H bonds for the Synthesis of Pentagon-Fused Graphene Nanoribbons,
Xiushang Xu, Marco Di Giovannantonio, José I. Urgel, Carlo A. Pignedoli, Pascal Ruffieux, Klaus Müllen, Roman Fasel, Akimitsu Narita,
Nano Res. 2021.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3419-2 - X-Shaped Thiadiazole-Containing Double [7]Heterohelicene with Strong Chiroptical Response and π-Stacked Homochiral Assembly,
Juan Hong, Xuxian Xiao, Haoliang Liu, Lin Fu, Xin-Chang Wang, Long Zhou, Xiao-Ye Wang, Zijie Qiu, Xiao-Yu Cao, Akimitsu Narita, Klaus Müllen, Yunbin Hu,
Chem. Commun. 2021.
https://doi.org/10.1039/d1cc01631h - A Fishing Rod-Like Conjugated Polymer Bearing Pillar[5]arenes,
Yingjie Ma, Long Chen, Chen Li, Klaus Müllen,
Chem. Commun. 2016, 52, 6662–6664.
https://doi.org/10.1039/c6cc02059c - Hierarchically Porous Carbons with Optimized Nitrogen Doping as Highly Active Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction,
Hai-Wei Liang, Xiaodong Zhuang, Sebastian Brüller, Xinliang Feng, Klaus Müllen,
Nat. Commun. 2014.
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5973 - Fabrication of Cobalt and Cobalt Oxide/Graphene Composites: Towards High-Performance Anode Materials for Lithium Ion Batteries,
Shubin Yang, Guanglei Cui, Shuping Pang, Qian Cao, Ute Kolb, Xinliang Feng, Joachim Maier, Klaus Müllen,
ChemSusChem 2010, 3, 236–239.
https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.200900106 - Solution Processable Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cells Using a Small Molecule Acceptor,
Zi En Ooi, Teck Lip Tam, Richard Yee Cheong Shin, Zhi Kuan Chen, Thomas Kietzke, Alan Sellinger, Martin Baumgarten, Klaus Müllen, John C. deMello,
J. Mater. Chem. 2008, 18, 4619.
https://doi.org/10.1039/b813786m
Selected Publications by Helmut Schwarz
- Counter-Intuitive GasPhase Reactivities of [V2]+ and [V2O]+ towards CO2 Reduction: Insight from Electronic Structure Calculations,
Jilai Li, Caiyun Geng, Thomas Weiske, Helmut Schwarz,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 12308–12314.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202001223 - On the Crucial Role of Isolated Electronic States in the Thermal Reaction of ReC+ with Dihydrogen,
Jilai Li, Caiyun Geng, Thomas Weiske, Helmut Schwarz,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 9370–9376.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202001599 - Revisiting the Intriguing Electronic Features of the BeOBeC Carbyne and Some Isomers: A Quantum‐Chemical Assessment,
Jilai Li, Caiyun Geng, Thomas Weiske, Mingfei Zhou, Jun Li, Helmut Schwarz,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 17261–17265.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202007990 - How and Why Do Cluster Size, Charge State, and Ligands Affect the Course of Metal-Mediated Gas-Phase Activation of Methane?,
Helmut Schwarz,
Israel J. Chem. 2014, 54, 1413–1431.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ijch.201300134 - Thermal Hydrogen-Atom Transfer from Methane: The Role of Radicals and Spin States in Oxo-Cluster Chemistry,
Nicolas Dietl, Maria Schlangen, Helmut Schwarz,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 5544–5555.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201108363 - Chemistry with Methane: Concepts Rather than Recipes,
Helmut Schwarz,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 10096–10115.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201006424 - Gas-phase activation of methane by ligated transition-metal cations,
D. Schroder, H. Schwarz,
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2008, 105, 18114–18119.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0801849105 - Thermal Activation of Methane by Tetranuclear [V4O10]+,
Sandra Feyel, Jens Döbler, Detlef Schröder, Joachim Sauer, Helmut Schwarz,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 4681–4685.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200600188
Also of Interest
- Karl Ziegler Prize for Klaus Müllen,
ChemistryViews.org 2019.
One of the highest German honors in chemistry for polymer and materials researcher - Hermann Staudinger Prize for Klaus Müllen,
ChemViews Mag. 2016.
Outstanding contributions to polymer chemistry honored - 10 Years Ago And Now: Klaus Müllen,
ChemViews Mag. 2014.
Chemistry – An Asian Journal speaks with Klaus Müllen about 10 years ago and now - Müllen Awarded the Adolf von Baeyer Medal,
ChemViews Mag. 2013.
The Adolf von Baeyer Medal of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society) has been presented to Professor Klaus Müllen - Scholarly Integrity,
Jonathan Faiz,
ChemViews Mag. 2017.
Joseph S. Francisco, Ulrike Hahn, and Helmut Schwarz discuss how scholarly integrity can be fostered - Karl Ziegler Prize for Helmut Schwarz,
ChemViews Mag. 2015.
Eminent physical and theoretical chemist receives one of the highest German honors in the field of chemistry - Video: Angewandte Symposium in Tokyo: Prof. Schwarz,
ChemistryViews.org 2011.
