Professor David Milstein, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, has been awarded the 2012 Israel Prize in Chemistry and Physics. The award is presented by the State of Israel and is regarded as the state’s highest honor. Milstein receives the prize for his work on transition metal catalysts and ligands for the activation of strong C–C, C–H, C–F, N–H, and O–H bonds, with applications in synthesis and water splitting. The award will be presented on April 26 at a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the president, the prime minister, the chairperson of Israel’s legislature, and the Supreme Court president.
David Milstein studied chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, where he obtained his B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. He spent a year in the group of Professor John Stille, Colorado State University and University of Iowa, USA, as a post-doctoral fellow. In 1979, he joined the Central Research and Development Department of DuPont, Wilmington, USA, and was made Group Leader there in 1983. Milstein took up an academic appointment in 1987 as Associate Professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, becoming a full professor in 1993.
He currently serves as the Head of the Kimmel Center for Molecular Design at the Weizmann Institute and is on the Editorial Board of several journals, including Israel Journal of Chemistry, ChemCatChem, and Chemistry – A European Journal.
- Selective Acceptorless Conversion of Primary Alcohols to Acetals and Dihydrogen Catalyzed by the Ruthenium(II) Complex Ru(PPh3)2(NCCH3)2(SO4),
E. Kossoy, Y. Diskin-Posner, G. Leitus, D. Milstein,
Adv. Synth. Catal. 2012.
DOI: 10.1002/adsc.201100672 - Unprecedented Catalytic Hydrogenation of Urea Derivatives to Amines and Methanol,
E. Balaraman, Y. Ben-David, D. Milstein.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50(49), 11702–11705.
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201106612 - Low-Pressure Hydrogenation of Carbon Dioxide Catalyzed by an Iron Pincer Complex Exhibiting Noble Metal Activity,
R. Langer, Y. Diskin-Posner, G. Leitus, L. J. W. Shimon, Y. Ben-David, D. Milstein,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50(42), 9948–9952.
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201104542
