Klaus Kümmerer, University of Lüneburg, Germany, celebrates his 65th birthday on May 29, 2024. He has performed important work in sustainable chemistry. His research topics include green and sustainable chemistry and pharmacy, applied cheminformatics, materials chemistry, the environmental behavior of chemicals, and the concept of “benign by design”, in which environmental pollution is reduced through the targeted design of molecules. He also promotes the integration of sustainability-related topic into the training of chemists.
Klaus Kümmerer studied chemistry at the Universities of Würzburg and Tübingen, Germany. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1990 in Tübingen for work on the analysis of organic sulfur compounds in the aquatic environment. He completed his habilitation in environmental chemistry and environmental hygiene at the University of Freiburg, Germany, in 1999. Kümmerer then served as an Assistant Professor and later as Head of the Section for Applied Environmental Research at the University Medical Center Freiburg.
In 2005, Kümmerer became an Associate Professor at the University of Freiburg. From 2008 to 2010, he was both Deputy Chair of the Commission for Environment and Sustainability and Environmental Officer at the University Hospital Freiburg. Kümmerer has been Professor of Sustainable Chemistry and Physical Resources at the University of Lüneburg since 2010 and Director of the International Research and Education Sustainable Collaborative Centre (ISC3), University of Lüneburg and Bonn, Germany, since 2017.
Selected Publications
- How data on transformation products can support the redesign of sulfonamides towards better biodegradability in the environment,
Neele Puhlmann, Oliver Olsson, Klaus Kümmerer,
Sci. Total Environ. 2024, 921, 171027.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171027 - Flavonoids as benign substitutes for more harmful synthetic chemicals – effects of flavonoids and their transformation products on algae,
Lena Schnarr, Oliver Olsson, Sonia Ohls, Jolanda Webersinn, Tim Mauch, Klaus Kümmerer,
Sustain. Chem. Pharm. 2024, 38, 101473.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scp.2024.101473 - Safe-and-sustainable-by-design: State of the art approaches and lessons learned from value chain perspectives,
Christina Apel, Klaus Kümmerer, Akshat Sudheshwar, Bernd Nowack, Claudia Som, Catherine Colin, Lutz Walter, Johan Breukelaar, Marcel Meeus, Beatriz Ildefonso, Dmitri Petrovykh, Chaima Elyahmadi, Elina Huttunen-Saarivirta, Ann Dierckx, Anne Chloé Devic, Eva Valsami-Jones, Maurice Brennan, Cris Rocca, Johanna Scheper, Emma Strömberg, Lya G. Soeteman-Hernández,
Curr. Opin. Green Sustain. Chem. 2024, 45, 100876.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2023.100876 - Antibiotics in the aquatic environment – A review – Part I,
Klaus Kümmerer,
Chemosphere 2009, 75, 417–434.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2008.11.086 - Antibiotics in the aquatic environment – A review – Part II,
Klaus Kümmerer,
Chemosphere 2009, 75, 435–441.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2008.12.006 - The presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment due to human use – present knowledge and future challenges,
Klaus Kümmerer,
J. Environ.l Manag. 2009, 90, 2354–2366.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.01.023
Also of Interest
- Video: Don’t Forget Thermodynamics,
Vera Koester, Jasmin Herr, Johanna Rath,
ChemistryViews 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1002/chemv.202400040
Klaus Kümmerer on green and sustainable chemistry, the importance of kinetics, and why it is important to do something outside your area of interest once in a while -
Klaus Kümmerer Receives Wöhler Prize For Sustainable Chemistry,
ChemistryViews 2023.
Prize honoring pioneering research work in the field of sustainable chemistry
