Jean-Marie Lehn- Curriculum vitae#
Born on September 30, 1939 at Rosheim, Bas-Rhin
Director
- Laboratoire de Chimie Supramoléculaire ISIS, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg
- Laboratoire de Chimie des Interactions Moléculaires,Collège de France, Paris
- Director at the Nanotechnologie Institute of the Research Center of Karlsruhe, since 1998
Education
- Undergraduate Studies, University of Strasbourg: Licence ès-Sciences (Bachelor of Sciences), Strasbourg, 1960
- Graduate work on "Conformational Studies of Triperpenes"; with Professor Guy Ourisson, University of Strasbourg
- Doctorat-ès-Sciences (Ph.D.), University of Strasbourg, 1963
- Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University, 1964: work on vitamin B12 total synthesis with Professor Robert B. Woodward
Appointments
- Member of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 1960-66
- Maître de Conférences (Assistant Professor) at the University of Strasbourg, 1966-69
- Professeur sans chaire (Associate Professor) at the University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg, 1970
- Professor of Chemistry at the University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg, 1970-1979
- Professor at Collège de France, Paris, since October 23rd 1979; Chair of Chimie des Interactions Moléculaires
- Visiting Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University, 1972 (Spring), 1974 (Spring), and on a part time basis until 1980
- Visiting Professor of Chemistry at the E.T.H. Zürich, 1977
- Alexander Todd Visiting Professor of Chemistry, Cambridge University, 1984
- Visiting Professor, University of Barcelona, 1985
- Rolf-Sammet Gastprofessor, Frankfurt University, 1985-86
- Heinrich-Hertz Gastprofessor, Karlsruhe University, Nov., Dec. 1989
- Robert Burns Woodward Visiting Professor, Harvard University, 1997, 2000
- Newton Abraham Professor, Lincoln College, Oxford University, 1999-2000
- Adjunct Professor at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, 2005
Honorary Degrees
- Honoris Causa Doctorates
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1984
- Universidad Autonoma, Madrid, 1985
- Georg-August University of Göttingen, 1987
- Université Libre of Bruxelles, 1987
- Iraklion University, 1989
- Università degli Studi di Bologna, 1989
- Charles University of Prague, 1990
- University of Sheffield, 1991
- University of Twente, 1991
- University of Athens 1992
- Polytechnical University of Athens, 1992
- Illinois Wesleyan University, 1995
- Université de Montréal, 1995
- University of Bielefeld, 1998
- Honorary Professor, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 1998
- Honorary Professor, Southeast University, Nanjing, 1998
- Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot; 1998
- Faculté des Sciences Appliquées, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1999
- Nagoya University, 2000
- Université de Sherbrooke, 2000
- Università di Trieste, 2001
- Honorary Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2003
- Honorary Professor, Nanjing University, 2003
- Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2003
- University of St. Andrews, 2004
- Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, 2005
- Technical University, St Petersburg, 2005
- Mazaryk University, Brno, 2005
- Honorary Professor, Beijing University, 2005
- Kyushu University, 2005
Awards
- Bronze Medal of the CNRS, 1963
- Adrian Prize of the Société Chimique de France, 1968
- Silver Medal of the CNRS, 1972
- Raymond Berr Prize of the Société Chimique de France, 1978
- Gold Medal of the Académie Pontificale des Sciences, 1981
- Gold Medal of the CNRS, 1981
- Pierre Bruylants Medal, Louvain, 1981
- Paracelsus Prize of the Swiss Chemical Society, 1982
- Alexander von Humboldt Forschungspreis, 1983
- Prize of the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique awarded by the Académie des Sciences, 1984
- Rolf-Sammet Prize, Frankfurt University, 1985
- Prize of the Fondation Alsace, 1986
- George Kenner Prize, University of Liverpool, 1987
- Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1987
- Sigillum Magnum, University of Bologna, 1988
- Minnie Rosen Award, 1989
- Vermeil Medal of the Ville de Paris, 1989
- Gold Medal of the Société d'Encouragement au Progrès, 1989
- Karl-Ziegler Prize, Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, 1989
- Grand Bretzel d’Or, Institut des Arts et Traditions Populaires d’Alsace, 1992
- Bonner Chemiepreis, 1993
- 1992 "Ettore Majorana-Erice-Science for Peace" Prize, 1994
- Gold Medal of the Société Académique Arts–Sciences–Lettres, 1995
- Gold Medal of Comenius University, Bratislava, 1995
- Golden Memorial Medal of the Faculty of Sciences, Charles University, Prague, 1995
- Honorary Medal of the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, 1996
- The Davy Medal of the Royal Society, 1997
- Lavoisier Medal 1997 of the Société Française de Chimie
- Top 75 Award, C&N, American Chemical Society, 1998
- Allan R. Day Award of the Philadelphia Organic Chemists' Club, 1998
- 1998 Messel Medal, Society of Chemical Industry, London
- Premio Barocco, 2003
- Gold Medal "Giulio Natta" of the Italian Chemical Society, 2003
- JSPS Award (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), 2003
- Gold Medal of the 70th Anniversary of the Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, 2004
- Gold Medal of the University Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, 2005
Memberships
- Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 1980
- Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1980
- Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1983
- Member of the Académie des Sciences, Institut de France, 1985
- Foreign Member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina, 1985
- Foreign Member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1985
- Honorary Member of the Union des Physiciens, 1986
- Foreign Member of the American Philosophical Society, 1987
- Honorary Member of the Académie Européenne des Sciences, des Arts et des Lettres, 1987
- Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (Belgium), 1987
- Honorary Fellow ot the Royal Society of Chemistry (Great-Britain), 1987
- Member of the Academia Europaea, 1988
- Member of the Académie d'Alsace, 1989
- Honorary Fellow of Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, 1989
- Foreign Associate of the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur-Mainz, 1989
- Honorary Member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, 1990
- Member of the Akademie der Wissenschaften of Göttingen, 1990
- Associate Member of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten, 1990
- Honorary Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, 1991
- Foreign Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 1991
- Foreign Associate of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Puerto Rico, 1991
- Foreign Member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 1992
- Honorary Member, Institut Grand Ducal, Luxembourg, 1992
- Foreign Member of the Royal Society, 1993
- Honorary Member of the Romanian Academy, 1993
- Honorary Foreign Member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), 1995
- Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 1996
- Foreign Member of the Third World Academy of Sciences, 1996
- Honorary Member of the Czech Learned Society, 1997
- Honorary Member of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, 1997
- Foreign Member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, 1999
- Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy, Section Science, 1999
- Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1999
- Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics, 1999
- Member of the Académie des Technologies, Institut de France, 2001
- Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2001
- Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2001
- Honorary Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Chemistry, 2001
- Member of the International Academy of Humanism, 2001
- Honorary Member of The Chemical Society of Japan (CSJ), 2002
- Honorary Fellow of the Chemical Research Society of India, 2002
- Consulting Honorary Member of The World Innovation Foundation, 2003
- Corresponding Member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2003
- AAAS Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2003
- Honorary Fellowship of IChemE Institution of Chemical Engineers, 2003
- President of the Academia Bibliotheca Alexandrinae, 2004
- Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2004
- Member of the Gesellschaft Österreichischer Chemiker, 2004
- Honorary Member of the Académie des Sciences Inscriptions et Belles Lettres de Toulouse, 2005
- Honorary Member of the Real Academia Sevillana de Ciencias, 2005
- Honorary Member of the Société Française de Chimie, 2005
Decorations
- Chevalier dans l'Ordre National du Mérite, 1976
- de l'ordre de la Légion d'Honneur, 1983
- Officier de l'ordre de la Légion d'Honneur, 1988
- Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques, 1989
- Member of the Order "Pour le Mérite" für Wissenschaften und Künste (RFA), 1990
- Officier dans l'Ordre National du Mérite, 1993
- Commandeur de l'Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur, 1996
- Ostereischiches Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Erste Klasse, 2001
- Grand Officer of the Order of Cultural Merit of Romania, 2004
Scientific Work
- 790 publications;
- 3 books
- "Chemia Supramolekularna",Collection of publications by J.-M. Lehn, organised and translated into Polish under the direction of Janusz Lipkowski, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, 1985.
- B. Dietrich, P. Viout, J.-M. Lehn,"Aspects de la chimie des composés macrocycliques",InterEditions/Editions du CNRS, 1991.
- "Macrocyclic Chemistry – Aspects of Organic and Inorganic Supramolecular Chemistry",VCH, Weinheim, 1993.
- J.-M. Lehn,"Supramolecular Chemistry – Concepts and Perspectives",VCH, 1995.
- "La chimie supramoléculaire : Concepts et perspectives",Traduit de l’anglais par A. Pousse, De Boeck Université, Bruxelles, 1997.
Fields of Research
- Theoretical Organic Chemistry: Ab initio conformational analysis: computation of nitrogen and phosphine inversion, of the electronic structure of hydrocarbons, of stereoelectronic effects on chemical reactivity; theoretical studies of molecular receptors and recognition processes.
- Dynamic Nuclear Magnetic Resonance: Studies of conformational rate processes, internal rotation and nitrogen inversion.
- Molecular Dynamics and Liquid Structure from Nuclear Magnetic Relaxation data. Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance.
- Supramolecular Chemistry:Cryptates: Design, synthesis and properties of ligands forming stable and selective inclusion complexes with metal ions; di- and poly-nuclear cryptates; bioinorganic models; photoactive and electroactive cryptates; cluster cryptates; energy and electron transfer processes.
- Molecular Recognition, Molecular Receptors and Coreceptors: Design, synthesis and properties of macropolycyclic complexing agents binding selectively one or several molecular substrates: metalloreceptors; photoactive receptors; cyclointercalands.
- Anion Coordination Chemistry: Anion cryptates; receptors and coreceptors for anionic substrates; selective complexation of organic, inorganic and biological anions.
- Supramolecular Catalysis: Design and properties of molecular catalysts performing a reaction on bound substrate species; enzyme models; cocatalysis.
- Transport Processes: Design of selective carriers; transport of anions, cations and molecules; thermodynamic and kinetic properties; transport regulation; coupling to chemical potentials (protons, electrons) and to light.
- Selfassembly and Selforganisation: Design of systems generating given supramolecular architectures by molecular recognition directed spontaneous assembly of the components; programmed chemical systems; hydrogen bonding and coordination interactions; selforganisation of organic and inorganic entities; polymolecular assemblies.
- Supramolecular Materials: Recognition materials, supramolecular polymers, liquid crystals, vesicles, inorganic materials.
- Chemionics: Molecular Photonic, Electronic and Ionic Devices: Photoactive and electroactive cryptates; energy and electron transfer processes; light conversion; photo-antenna; ion transfer; molecular and ionic switching and amplifying processes; molecular protonics.
- Semiochemistry: Generation and processing of optical, electronic and ionic chemical signals; ion detection; ion pulses; non-linear optical properties.
- Photochemistry and Solar Energy Storage: Photochemical activation of small molecules by means of transition metal complexes; photogeneration of hydrogen and oxygen; water photolysis; photoreduction of CO2; design of photoinduced charge separation systems.
- Structural and Dynamic Studies by Multinuclear NMR on supramolecular complexes (in collaboration with the NMR Laboratory).
- Bioorganic Chemistry and Biological Applications: Models of biological receptors, of enzymes and of biological transport processes; immunological labelling agents, selective nucleic acid reagents, helical and metallo-nucleic complexes; artificial gene transfer vectors.
- Dynamic Combinatorial Chemistry: Design of virtual combinatorial libraries; application to biological targets and to materials.