Chemistry Nobel Laureate and pioneer in supramolecular chemistry Jean-Marie Lehn, University of Strasbourg, France, celebrates his 85th birthday on September 30, 2024.
Jean-Marie Lehn, born on September 30, 1939, in Rosheim, France, studied chemistry at the University of Strasbourg and received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1963 under the supervision of Guy Ourisson. He then performed postdoctoral research with Robert Burns Woodward at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA, where he took part in the total synthesis of Vitamin B12. In 1966, Jean-Marie Lehn was appointed as maître de conférences (Assistant Professor) at the Chemistry Department of the University of Strasbourg. In 1980, he became Chair of Chemistry of Molecular Interactions at the Collége de France in Paris.
Jean-Marie Lehn is a pioneer of supramolecular chemistry, which—instead of studying the bonds inside one molecule—looks at intermolecular interactions and molecular assemblies. Lehn received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1987 together with Donald J. Cram and Charles J. Pedersen for their work on the “development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity”. Lehn specifically was honored for his development of cryptands, three-dimensional multidentate ligands.
Besides the Nobel Prize and among many other honors, Jean-Marie Lehn has received the Gold Medal of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in 1981, the Karl Ziegler Prize from the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society) in 1989, the Davy Medal of the Royal Society and the Lavoisier Medal of the Société Française de Chimie (SCF, French Chemical Society) in 1997, and the Gold Medal “Giulio Natta” from the Società Chimica Italiana (SCI, Italian Chemical Society) in 2003, as well as many honorary doctorates and honorary memberships and fellowships in dozens of learned societies. He was Co-Founder of Chemistry – A European Journal and a Chemistry Europe Honorary Fellow.
(Photo © CC BY-SA 4.0; original BW photo: Claude TRUONG-NGOC)
Selected Publications
- “The Sulfur Dance” Around Arenes and Heteroarenes – the Reversible Nature of Nucleophilic Aromatic Substitutions,
Sapna Gahlot, Jean-Louis Schmitt, Aline Chevalier, Marco Villa, Myriam Roy, Paola Ceroni, Jean-Marie Lehn, Marc Gingras,
Chem. Eur. J. 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202400231 - Triply Adaptive Libraries of Dynamic Covalent Macrocycles: Switching between Sorted and Unsorted States,
Zhaozheng Yang, Ferran Esteve, Cyril Antheaume, Jean-Marie Lehn,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146(22), 15438–15445.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c03698 - Key structural features to favour imines over hydrates in water: pyridoxal phosphate as a muse,
Ferran Esteve, Tanguy Rieu, Jean-Marie Lehn,
Chem. Sci. 2024.
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SC02206H - From precision polymers to complex materials and systems,
Jean-François Lutz, Jean-Marie Lehn, E. W. Meijer, Krzysztof Matyjaszewski,
Nat. Rev. Mater. 2016.
https://doi.org/10.1038/natrevmats.2016.24 - Perspectives in Chemistry-Aspects of Adaptive Chemistry and Materials,
Jean-Marie Lehn,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 3276–3289.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201409399 - DYNAMERS: dynamic polymers as self-healing materials,
Nabarun Roy, Bernd Bruchmann, Jean-Marie Lehn,
Chem. Soc. Rev. 2015, 44, 3786–3807.
https://doi.org/10.1039/c5cs00194c - Perspectives in Chemistry-Steps towards Complex Matter,
Jean-Marie Lehn,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 2836–2850.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201208397 - From supramolecular chemistry towards constitutional dynamic chemistry and adaptive chemistry,
Jean-Marie Lehn,
Chem. Soc. Rev. 2007, 36, 151–160.
https://doi.org/10.1039/b616752g - Addressing metal centres in supramolecular assemblies,
Mario Ruben, Jean-Marie Lehn, Paul Müller,
Chem. Soc. Rev. 2006, 35, 1056–1067.
https://doi.org/10.1039/b517267p - Toward Self-Organization and Complex Matter,
Jean-Marie Lehn,
Science 2002, 295 (5564), 2400-2403.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1071063 - Dynamic Combinatorial Chemistry and Virtual Combinatorial Libraries,
Jean-Marie Lehn,
Chem. Eur. J. 1999.
https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1521-3765(19990903)5:9<2455::AID-CHEM2455>3.0.CO;2-H - Supramolecular Chemistry—Scope and Perspectives Molecules, Supermolecules, and Molecular Devices (Nobel Lecture),
Jean-Marie Lehn
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1988.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.198800891 - Supramolecular Chemistry: Receptors, Catalysts, and Carriers,
Jean-Marie Lehn,
Science 1985, 227(4689), 849-856.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.227.4689.849
Also of Interest
The huge National Conference of the Italian Chemical Society (SCI) in Milan covered a wide range of topics from chemistry, but also from ethics to music, film, and visual arts – some highlights, including a summary of the talk of J. M. Lehn
Jean-Marie Lehn and Alain Krief talk about responsibility in sciences in a globalized world and how countries benefit differently from science
