Franziska Schoenebeck Receives 2024 Thieme-IUPAC Prize

 

Professor Franziska Schoenebeck, holder of the RWTH Chair of Organic Chemistry I, has been awarded the 2024 Thieme-IUPAC Prize for her groundbreaking research in organic chemistry. This prestigious award, presented by Thieme Chemistry and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), recognizes her significant contributions to the field.

Schoenebeck is the 16th recipient of this honor, joining a distinguished group of scientists whose work has profoundly influenced synthetic organic chemistry. The prize, which includes a 5,000 euro award, is given biennially and will be presented at the 2024 IUPAC International Conference on Organic Synthesis (ICOS).

The Thieme-IUPAC Prize is awarded based on scientific excellence in independent research into organic synthesis in the broadest sense of organic chemistry, encompassing organometallic chemistry, medicinal and biological chemistry, and designed molecules and materials. It targets researchers under 42, within 15 years of starting their independent careers, who have made significant impacts on synthetic organic chemistry.

After studying in Berlin and Glasgow, Schoenebeck earned her doctorate at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow (UK). She was a Feodor Lynen Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles (USA), before joining ETH Zurich as an assistant professor in 2010. In 2013, she became a W2 junior professor at RWTH Aachen University and was promoted to full professor in 2016. Her research focuses on the intersection between organic synthesis, homogeneous catalysis, and physical-organic chemistry. Her team has made pioneering advances in using organogermanes in synthesis and catalysis, developing efficient methods for trifluoromethylation of nitrogen groups, and applying machine learning to study and develop dinuclear metal complex catalysts.

IUPAC, founded in 1919 by chemists from industry and academics, is the global authority on chemical nomenclature, terminology, standardized measurement methods, atomic weights, and other critically evaluated data.