Editor's Page pubs.acs.org/Organometallics
Award-Winning Organometallic Chemistry:1 The 2014 RSC Main Group Chemistry Award
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Marder, was also cited for his contributions to boron chemistry and is now a colleague of Professor Braunschweig’s in Würzburg (Figure 3).
his issue begins with a drumroll for Professor Holger Braunschweig of the University of Würzburg (Figure 1), who is the recipient of the year 2014 Main Group Chemistry Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).2 This award was inaugurated in 1970 and is conferred biennially for “outstanding research in any aspect of the chemistry of the s and p block elements”. To this Editor’s knowledge, this constitutes the only award sponsored by a national chemical society for main group chemistry, and organometallic chemists are generously represented among past recipients.2
Figure 3. Professor Holger Braunschweig with his colleague Professor Todd Marder standing before an advertisement for a Bavarian beer festival in China. Photo by Carmine D’Agostino/UCambridge. Figure 1. Professor Holger Braunschweig in his office. Photo by Jürgen Querbach/DFG.
It is usually the custom to refer the reader to the biographical sketch in the award article that follows for additional background on the honoree. However, this Editor cannot refrain from mentioning Professor Braunschweig’s Leibnitz Prize (2009).3 This great honor, sponsored by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), is not as well-known outside of Germany as it should be. Each year, this DFG program provides approximately ten top scientists in Germany with more than € 2,000,000 in research funding over a seven year period (above and beyond existing grants). When a (organometallic) chemist is so recognized, it enriches the pool of money for the entire field and indirectly benefits all of us. Holger, we thank you for your leadership, not only in a scientific sense but also in terms of your many service activities, for example as a member of the Advisory Board of this journal (2006−2008). We also offer our enthusiastic congratulations on the occasion of your latest honor, which reflects so many diverse achievements and “firsts”. Befitting your research base in Franken (Frankonia), we propose a double-fisted “Zum Wohl”, not only with the customary fine German beer but also with a refreshing Weisswein made from the grapes growing in the vineyards on the hills overlooking your home institute (Figure 4).
Professor Braunschweig will be formally presented with his prize at an Awards Symposium in the United Kingdom during the first few months of 2015. He will receive, in addition to a framed certificate, a medal (Figure 2) and the means for adding some extra mustard to his next research group party (£2000). Professor Braunschweig’s laudatio reads “for his seminal contributions to the chemistry of transition metal−boron single and multiple bonds, as well as boron−boron and boron− oxygen triple bonds”. It is worth noting in passing that another recent recipient of this award (year 2007), Professor Todd
Figure 2. Medal conferred with the Main Group Chemistry Award. The portrait is of the famous English chemist John Dalton (1766− 1844). Photo by Sarah Wearing/RSC. © 2014 American Chemical Society
John A. Gladysz, Editor in Chief Published: November 24, 2014 6269
dx.doi.org/10.1021/om501102m | Organometallics 2014, 33, 6269−6270
Organometallics
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Figure 4. Main river as it passes through Würzburg, with vineyards sloping down from the Marienberg Fortress, which dates to the 12th century. Photo by Scirocco340/Shutterstock.com.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
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REFERENCES
(1) Previous Editor’s Page in this series: Gladysz, J. A. Organometallics 2014, 33, 5911. (2) http://www.rsc.org/ScienceAndTechnology/Awards/ MainGroupChemistryAward/Index.asp. (3) http://www.dfg.de/en/funded_projects/prizewinners/leibniz_ prize/.
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dx.doi.org/10.1021/om501102m | Organometallics 2014, 33, 6269−6270
