Nobel laureate speaks at the university

In 2021, Benjamin List, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim, received the Nobel Prize for his work on asymmetric organocatalysis, together with David MacMillan. Their pioneering work on the use of simple organic molecules as catalysts established organocatalysis as a particularly sustainable and cost-effective alternative to the widespread use of metal-containing catalysts or enzymes in organic synthesis chemistry.

Now Benjamin List is coming to the University of Würzburg. At the invitation of the Institute of Organic Chemistry, he will give the Siegfried Hünig Lecture 2026 on Thursday, 7 May 2026 in Lecture Hall B of the Central Chemistry Building on Hubland South Campus, starting at 4.30 pm. The title of the lecture is "Catalysis for our World"; all members of the university with an affinity for chemistry are invited.

Nature as a model

Inspired by the mechanisms of enzymatic catalysis processes in nature, Benjamin List made the groundbreaking discovery in 2000 that the amino acid proline, which has a much simpler structure than enzymes, can be used as a catalyst for asymmetric intermolecular aldol reactions. He subsequently established enamine catalysis as a fundamental concept and expanded it in many ways, opening up efficient new approaches to fine chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

For some years now, his research group in Mülheim has also been working on the photocatalytic splitting of CO2 into O2 and pure carbon as a contribution to the urgently needed decarbonisation of the atmosphere. Once again, nature serves as inspiration, namely the conversion of carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates and oxygen through light-driven photosynthesis.

The Siegfried Hünig Lecture

The Siegfried Hünig Lecture was launched in 2011 to mark the 90th birthday of Prof. Dr Dr h.c. mult. Siegfried Hünig. An internationally renowned chemist is invited to give a lecture in Würzburg once a year as part of this named lecture.

Weblinks

Homepage of the List research group at the MPI for Coal Research

Information on Benjamin List at nobelprize.org

Background and chronicle of the Siegfried Hünig Lecture