Antonio Togni, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland, has been awarded the Paracelsus Prize 2022 by the Swiss Chemical Society (SCS). The award lecture took place at the SCS Fall Meeting in Zurich on September 8, 2022. The Paracelsus Prize is awarded to scholars who have produced outstanding scientific research in the field of chemistry at an international level. The award includes CHF 20,000 and a medal in gold.
Togni is honored for his groundbreaking contributions to organic, inorganic, organometallic chemistry and catalysis both in industry and academia as well as for his inspiring approaches to teaching and education. His research interests include direct electrophilic trifluoromethylations using hypervalent-iodine-based reagents (Togni reagents) and ferrocene-based catalysts, as well as homogenous catalysis and the preparation of unprecedented ligands, such as Josiphos and derivatives.
Antonio Togni was born on January 14, 1956, in Roveredo, Switzerland. He studied chemistry at ETh Zurich, wehere he received his Ph.D. in 1983 under the supervision of Luigi M. Venanz. He then worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA, with John E. Bercaw, in 1983–1984 and as a Research and Teaching Associate at ETH Zurich in 1984–1985. From 1985 to 1992, Togni was a Research Chemist and Group Leader at Ciba-Geigy Ltd., Basel, Switzerland. He joined ETH Zurich in 1992 as Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1995 and to Full Professor of Organometallic Chemistry in 1999. He remained in Zurich until his retirement.
Among many other honors, Togni has received a Lectureship of the Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Japan, in 1997, the Golden Owl Award of the VSETH (a student organization at ETH) for excellent teaching in 2013, and the 2017 National Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Selected Publications
- Recyclable Mn(I) Catalysts for Base‐Free Asymmetric Hydrogenation: Mechanistic, DFT and Catalytic Studies,
Harikrishnan Jayaprakash, Peter Coburger, Michael Wörle, Antonio Togni, Hansjorg Grützmacher,
Chem. Eur. J. 2022.
https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202201522 - Oxidative Fluorination of Heteroatoms Enabled by Trichloroisocyanuric Acid and Potassium Fluoride,
Yannick Kraemer, Emily Nicole Bergman, Antonio Togni, Cody Ross Pitts,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202205088 - Chemoproteomic Profiling by Cysteine Fluoroalkylation Reveals Myrocin G as an Inhibitor of the Nonhomologous End Joining DNA Repair Pathway,
Daniel Abegg, Martin Tomanik, Nan Qiu, Dany Pechalrieu, Anton Shuster, Bruno Commare, Antonio Togni, Seth B. Herzon, Alexander Adibekian,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 20332–20342.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c09724 - Electrophilic Trifluoromethylation by Use of Hypervalent Iodine Reagents,
Julie Charpentier, Natalja Früh, Antonio Togni,
Chem. Rev. 2014, 115, 650–682.
https://doi.org/10.1021/cr500223h - Zinc-Mediated Formation of Trifluoromethyl Ethers from Alcohols and Hypervalent Iodine Trifluoromethylation Reagents,
Raffael Koller, Kyrill Stanek, Daniel Stolz, Raphael Aardoom, Katrin Niedermann, Antonio Togni,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 4332–4336.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200900974 - Mild Electrophilic Trifluoromethylation of Carbon- and Sulfur-Centered Nucleophiles by a Hypervalent Iodine(III)–CF3 Reagent,
Iris Kieltsch, Patrick Eisenberger, Antonio Togni,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 754–757.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200603497 - A Novel Easily Accessible Chiral Ferrocenyldiphosphine for Highly Enantioselective Hydrogenation, Allylic Alkylation, and Hydroboration Reactions,
Antonio Togni, Claude Breutel, Anita Schnyder, Felix Spindler, Heidi Landert, Amina Tijani,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 116, 4062–4066.
https://doi.org/10.1021/ja00088a047
Also of Interest
- Event: SCS Fall Meeting 2022
Annual meeting of the Swiss Chemical Society (SCS) - Paracelsus Prize 2020,
ChemistryViews 2020.
Scott E. Denmark, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, honored by the Swiss Chemical Society (SCS) - Paracelsus Prize 2016,
ChemistryViews 2016.
Solar cell pioneer Michael Grätzel honored - Richard Schrock Awarded,
ChemistryViews/Jonathan Faiz,
ChemistryViews 2014.
The Paracelsus Prize is the highest honor of the SCS
