Interview with Prof. Dr. Benjamin List: Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2021

Melina E A Dilanas; Emiel Dobbelaar; Charlotte M Gerischer; Alexander Haseloer; Torsten John; Claudia Neumeier

doi:10.1002/chem.202201236

Interview with Prof. Dr. Benjamin List: Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2021

Chemistry. 2022 Aug 4;28(44):e202201236. doi: 10.1002/chem.202201236. Epub 2022 Jul 12.

Authors

Melina E A Dilanas^{1

2}, Emiel Dobbelaar^{1

3}, Charlotte M Gerischer^{1

4}, Alexander Haseloer^{1

5}, Torsten John^{1

6}, Claudia Neumeier¹

Affiliations

¹ Young Chemists' Network (JCF) of the German Chemical Society (GDCh), Varrentrappstr. 40-42, 60486, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
² Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Division Molecular Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Engesserstr. 15, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany.
³ Department of Chemistry, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, 67663, Kaiserslautern, Germany.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623, Berlin, Germany.
⁵ Institute for Inorganic Chemistry, University of Cologne, Greinstr. 4-6, 50939, Cologne, Germany.
⁶ Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

PMID: 35820153
DOI: 10.1002/chem.202201236

Abstract

In an interview with Benjamin List, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, members of the Young Chemists' Network (JCF) of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) asked him about his science, his career, and the academic system. Benjamin List, Director at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung in Germany, was awarded the Nobel Prize together with David W. C. MacMillan (Princeton University, USA) for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis. After studying chemistry at the Free University of Berlin, he received his doctorate from Goethe University in Frankfurt. He discovered the amino acid proline to be an efficient catalyst and thus co-founded the field of organocatalysis. In 2016, he received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, which is considered the most important research award in Germany.

Keywords: Nobel laureates; asymmetric organocatalysis; career; interview; young chemists.

MeSH terms

Chemistry
Humans
Male
Nobel Prize*
Universities