Herbert Mayr (chemist)

Herbert Mayr, at the ADUC 2016 in Heidelberg

Herbert Mayr (born June 8, 1947 in Weilheim in Upper Bavaria ) is a German chemist ( organic chemistry , physical chemistry ). He is Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich (LMU).

Mayr studied chemistry at LMU Munich from 1966 and received his doctorate in organic chemistry under Rolf Huisgen in 1974 (mechanism of ketene cycloadditions and chemistry of cyclobutenones). As a post-doctoral student he was with George Olah in Cleveland in 1975/76 . 1976-1984 he was at the University of Erlangen in Paul von Ragué Schleyer and habilitated there in 1980 and then was a lecturer. From 1984 he was professor (C 4) for chemistry at the Medical University of Lübeck , from 1991 professor for organic chemistry at the TU Darmstadt and since 1996 at the LMU in Munich. In 1997/98 he headed the Institute for Organic Chemistry there, was Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy from 1998 to 2000 and 2011 to 2013 and Director of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 2007/08.

He deals with the estimation of rate constants of chemical reactions and established reactivity scales of electrophilic and nucleophilic reactions over 30 powers of ten in the rate constant. These scales are used in the systematic planning of syntheses in organic chemistry and in macromolecular chemistry (understanding the kinetics of carbocationic polymerizations).

Mayr was visiting professor at University College London, Gunma University in Kiryu in Japan, Technion and the University of Kuwait. In 2003 he became a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and in 2006 of the Leopoldina . For 2020 he was awarded the James Flack Norris Award from the American Chemical Society . In 2006 he received the Liebig medal . From 2000 to 2003 he was head of the organic chemistry department of the Society of German Chemists. In 2004 he became spokesman for the Molecular Chemistry Review Board of the DFG.

Web links

• CV, LMU
• Literature by and about Herbert Mayr in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ biographical data, publications and Academic pedigree of Herbert Mayr at academictree.org, accessed on 2 January of 2019.
2. ↑ Member entry by Prof. Dr. Herbert Mayr (with picture) at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , accessed on July 18, 2016.
3. ↑ LMU for election to the Leopoldina