Bill Morandi
Bill Morandi (* 1983 in Freiburg im Üechtland ) is a Swiss chemist ( complex chemistry , catalysis ).
Morandi studied biology at the ETH Zurich with a bachelor's degree in 2006 and chemical biology with a master's degree in 2008 with Erick M. Carreira , where he also received his doctorate in organic chemistry in 2012. His diploma thesis was about the decarbonylation of aldehydes and in his dissertation he developed new synthetic methods with in situ prepared and thus more safely manageable diazo compounds . François Diederich was one of his teachers at ETH . As a post-doctoral student , he worked with Robert Grubbs at Caltech until 2014 . There he worked on the development of efficient catalytic oxidation reactions on internal alkenes and their regioselectivity. In 2014 he became Max Plack Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim. In 2018 he became professor for synthetic organic chemistry at ETH Zurich.
He is working on novel catalysis that convert widely available organic compounds such as hydrocarbons and polyols into building blocks for polymers and applications in medicine and materials science. Morandi introduced the concept of shuttle catalysis to handle dangerous substances such as hydrogen cyanide more safely in organic synthesis and to transfer functional groups. This would also make greater use of hydrocyanation , which is mainly used in the large-scale industrial production of polyamides, economically feasible for industrial production processes on a smaller scale (for fine chemicals). In shuttle catalysis, a functional group is transferred with the catalyst acting as a carrier (shuttle). In the case of hydrocyanation, the hydrogen cyanide is transferred between aldehydes and nitriles in a gas-free and reversible manner. The model was the H 2 gas-free transfer hydrogenation according to Ryōji Noyori . In addition to the transfer of dangerous reaction partners, shuttle catalysis can also serve to transfer highly reactive substances. The concept is also a contribution to green chemistry.
In 2017 he received the Chemistry Prize of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen for contributions to reversible transfer catalysis (laudation). In 2017 he received an ERC Starting Grant, the Hoechst Lecturer Award from the Aventis Foundation, the Novartis Early Career Award in Organic Chemistry and the ADUC Award and in 2016 the Bayer Early Excellence in Science Award and the Ruzicka Award. In 2013 he received the ETH medal. In 2018 he received the Carl Duisberg Memorial Prize .
Fonts (selection)
- with X. Fang, P. Yu: Catalytic reversible alkene-nitrile interconversion through controllable transfer hydrocyanation, Science, Volume 351, 2016, pp. 832-836
- with Benjamin N. Bhawal: Shuttle Catalysis - New Strategies in Organic Synthesis, Chem. Eur. J., Volume 23, 2017, pp. 12004-12013
- with Yong Ho Lee: C – H carbonylation: In situ acyl triflates ace it, Nat. Chem., Volume 10, 2018, pp. 116-117
- Suzanne Willems, Bill Morandi: On the way to safe chemical reactions: The hydrogen cyanide-free hydrocyanation by "shuttle catalysis" , research report Max Planck Society 2017
Web links
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Morandi, Bill |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss chemist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1983 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Freiburg in Üechtland |