Professor Helma Wennemers, ETH Zürich, Switzerland, is the recipient of the 2014 EurJOC lecture award. The lecture titled “Bioinspired Chemistry with Peptides” will be delivered at the ORCHEM meeting in Weimar on Monday, 15 September, 2014, 16:55-17:40.

The EurJOC lecture was first awarded in 2012 at the ORCHEM meeting of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) and will continue to be awarded every two years. The recipient is selected by the Editorial Board of the European Journal of Organic Chemistry  (EurJOC) in conjunction with the Editor.
The previous winner of the award in its inaugural year in 2012 was Professor Véronique Gouverneur, University of Oxford, UK.

Helma Wennemers received her PhD degree in 1996 from Columbia University, New York, USA, where she worked with Prof. W. Clark Still. She then carried out postdoctoral studies with Prof. Hisashi Yamamoto at Nagoya University, Japan. In 1999, she became assistant professor at the University of Basel, Switzerland, and was promoted to associate professor in 2003. Since 2011, she has been Professor of Organic Chemistry at the ETH Zürich.

Her research focuses on the development of small molecules for functions that are fulfilled by large macromolecules in nature. This includes bioinspired asymmetric catalysis, peptide-based materials, and the use of peptides as additives for the generation of silver nanoparticles.

Selected Publications

• Stereoselective Synthesis of Indolines via Organocatalytic Thioester Enolate Addition Reactions,
  A. Kolarovic, A. Käslin, H. Wennemers,
  Org. Lett. 2014, in press.
  DOI: 10.1021/ol501936n
• Switchable Proline Derivatives: Tuning the Conformational Stability of the Collagen Triple Helix by pH Changes,
  C. Siebler, R. S. Erdmann, H. Wennemers,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, in press.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201404935
• Organocatalytic Stereoselective Synthesis of Acyclic -Nitrothioesters with All-Carbon Quaternary Stereogenic Centers,
  Y. Arakawa, S. P. Fritz, H. Wennemers,
  J. Org. Chem. 2014, 79, 3937–3945.
  DOI: 10.1021/jo500403q
• Stereoselective Metal-free Synthesis of β-Amino Thioesters Bearing Tertiary and Quaternary Stereogenic Centers,
  A. Bahlinger, S. P. Fritz, H. Wennemers,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 8779–8783.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201310532
• Peptide Catalysis in Aqueous Emulsions,
  J. Duschmalé, S. Kohrt, H. Wennemers,
  Chem. Commun. 2014, 50, 8109–8112.
  DOI: 10.1039/C4CC01759E