Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Manfred T. Reetz (Emeritus)

2011

Starting September 1 Emeritus-Status and Hans-Meerwein-Research-Professor at Philipps-Universität Marburg as external Group Leader of the Max-Planck-Institute

1993–2011

Chairman of the Studiengesellschaft Kohle mbH, SGK (Patent Department of the Institute)

1993–2002

Managing Director of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung

1992–2010

Honorary Professor at Ruhr-Universität Bochum

1991–2011

Director at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung

1989–1990

Guest Professor at Florida State University/USA

1980–1991

Full Professor at University of Marburg

1978–1980

Associate Professor at University of Bonn

1978

Guest Professor at University of Wisconsin/USA

1972–1978

Assistant Professor (Habilitand/Dozent) at University of Marburg

1971–1972

Post-Doc with R. W. Hoffmann at University of Marburg

1969

Doctoral degree, University of Göttingen with U. Schöllkopf

1967

Master degree, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor/USA

1965

Bachelor degree, Washington University, St. Louis/USA

1952

Immigration to the USA

1943

Born August 13, 1943 in Hirschberg/Germany

2011

Otto-Hahn-Prize (Germany)

2011

Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry

2009

Yamada-Koga Prize (Japan)

2009

Arthur C. Cope Award, ACS (USA)

2009

Lilly Distinguished Lectureship Award

2007

Ruhr-Prize for Arts and Science (Germany)

2007

Honorary Professor at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (China)

2006

Prelog Medal (Switzerland)

2006

Ernst Hellmut Vits-Prize (Germany)

2005–

Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

2005

Karl-Ziegler-Prize (German Chemical Society)

2005

Cliff S. Hamilton Award in Organic Chemistry (USA)

2003

Centenary Lecture Award (UK)

2003

Hans Herloff Inhoffen Medal (Germany)

2001–

Member of the Academy of Sciences of the State of NRW

2000

Nagoya Gold Medal of Organic Chemistry (Japan)

1997–

Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

1997

Fluka-Prize "Reagent of the Year 1997"

1992–2010

Honorary Professsor at Ruhr-Universität Bochum

1989

Leibniz-Prize of the German Research Council (DFG)

1986

Otto-Bayer-Prize (Germany)

1978

Chemistry Prize of the Academy of Sciences Göttingen

1977

Jacobus van't Hoff Award Grant (The Netherlands)

1976

German Chemical Industries Prize (Dozentenstipendium des FCI)

2010–

Member of the Advisory Board of the Karl-Ziegler-Foundation

2009–2010

Coordinator of ORCHEM 2010

2009–2010

President of BOSS12

2009–

Associate Editor of Chemistry and Biology

2007–2011

Senator of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (Chemistry Section)

2007–2008

Member of Research Assessment Exercise, RAE (Evaluation of UK Chemistry Departments)

2006–2007

Member of the International Advisory Board of the Chemistry Department of Nagoya University (Japan)

2006–

Member of the Advisory Board "Topics in Stereochemistry", John Wiley & Sons

2005–

Member of the Editorial Advisory Board "Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan"

2003–

Member of the Board of Governors of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Foundation

2003–

Member of the Advisory Board of "QSAR & Combinatorial Science", Wiley-VCH

2002–2010

Member of the Editorial Board "Angewandte Chemie", Wiley-VCH

2001–2005

Member of Scientific Advisory Board for the School of Engineering and Science, International University Bremen

2000–2005

Member of Advisory Board, "Advanced Synthesis and Catalysis", Wiley-VCH

2000–

Member of Advisory Board, "Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry"

1999–

Member of Selction Committee, Alfried Krupp-Prize

1999–2008

Member of the Advisory Board, Catalysis NRSC (The Netherlands)

1999–2005

Chairman of Selection Committee, Adolf-von-Bayer-Prize (GDCh)

1998–2005

Member of Advisory Board, Emil-Fischer-Prize (GDCh)

1997–

Member of Editorial Board, "Topics in Organometallic Chemistry", Spinger

1997–2000

Member of Board, Catalysis Network (Katalyseverbund) NRW

1997

President of Bürgenstock-Conference

1995

Vice-President of German Chemical Society (GDCh)

1994–2001

Memberof the Selection Committee, Karl Heinz Beckurts-Prize

1994–1999

Member of Advisory Borad, "Nachrichten aus Chemie, Technik und Laboratorium"

1994–1998

Member of Selection Committe, Carl-Duisberg-Prize (GDCh)

1993–2001

Member of the Scientific Advisory Board, Institut für Organische Katalyseforschung Rostock (Germany)

1992–1996

Chairman of Selection Committee, August-Wilhelm-von-Hofmann-Prize (Medal, GDCh)

1990–1995

Member of the Board, German Chemical Society (GDCh)

1989–1992

Committee Member of Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (engeres Kuratorium)

1987–1988

Chairman of Chemistry Department, University Marburg (Germany)

Publications 2012

M. T. Reetz
Artificial Metalloenzymes as Catalysts in Stereoselective Diels-Alder Reactions.
Chem. Rec. 2012, 12, 391-406.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/tcr.201100043

W. Augustyniak, H. Wienk, R. Boelens,  M. T. Reetz
¹H, ¹³C and ¹⁵N resonance assignment of wild-type Bacillus subtilis Lipase A and its mutant evolved towards thermostability.
Biomol. NMR Assignemnts 2012, DOI: 10.1007/s12104-012-9420-z.

 Z.-G. Zhang, L. P. Parra, M. T. Reetz
Protein Engineering of Stereoselective Baeyer-Villiger Monooxygenases.
Chem. Eur. J. 2012, 18, 10160-10172.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201202163

S. Cesarini, C. Bofill, F. I. J. Pastor, M. T. Reetz, P. Diaz
A thermostable variant of P. aeruginosa cold-adapted LipC obtained by rational design and saturation mutagenesis.
Process Biocgem. 2012, 47, 2064-2071.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201202163

M. T. Reetz
Laboratory evolution of stereoselective enzymes as a means to expand the toolbox of organic chemists.
Tetrahedron 2012, 68, 7530-7548.
http://dx.doi.org/10..1016/j.tet.2012.05.093

S. Kille, C. G. Acevedo-Rocha, L. P. Parra, Z.-G. Zhang, D. J. Opperman, M. T. Reetz,
J. P. Acevedo
Reducing Codon Redundancy and Screening Effort of Combinatorial Protein Libraries Created by Saturation Mutagenesis
ACS Synth. Biol. 2012, DOI: 10.1021/sb300037w.

R. Agudo, G.-D. Roiban, M. T. Reetz
Achieving Regio- and Enantioselectivity of P450-Catalyzed Oxidative CH Activation of Small Functionalized Molecules by Structure-Guided Directed Evolution.
ChemBioChem 2012, 13, 1465-1473.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cbic.201200244

C. G. Acevedo-Rocha, M. T. Reetz
Tuning lipase activity with perfluoro carboxylic acids as additives.
Catal. Sci. Technol. 2012, 2, 1553-1555.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C2CY20173A

Y. Gumulya, J. Sanchis, M. T. Reetz
Many Pathways in Laboratory Evolution Can Lead to Improved Enzymes: How to Escape from Local.
ChemBioChem 2012, 13, 1060.1066.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cbic.201100784

I. Polyak, M. T. Reetz, W. Thiel
Quantum Mechanical/Molecular Mechanical Study on the Mechanism of the Enzymatic
Baeyer-Volliger Reaction.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 2732-2741.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja2103839

X. Feng, J. Sanchis, M. T. Reetz, H. Rabitz
Enhancing the Efficiency of Directed Evolution in Focused Enzyme Libraries by the Adaptive Substituent Reordring Algorithm.
Chem.-Eur. J. 2012, 18, 5646-5654.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201103811

M. T. Reetz
Directed Evolution of Enzymes.
In: Enzyme Catalysis in Organic Synthesis, 3. Edition, Vol. 1-3,
(Eds. K. Drauz, H. Gröger, O. May),
Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2012 Vol.1, pp. 119-190.

W. Augustyniak, A. A. Brzezinska, T. Pijning, H. Wienk, R. Boelens,
B. W. Dijkstra, M. T. Reetz
Biophysical characterization of mutants of Bacillus subtilis lipase evolved for thermostability: Factors contributing to increased activity retention.
Protein Sci. 2012, 21, 487-497.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pro.2031

• Download Complete List of Publications (PDF)

1. Manfred T. Reetz was chosen to be the first Hans-Meerwein-Research-Professor at Philipps-University in Marburg. 
Following the termination of his contract as Director at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung at the age of 68 years, Manfred T. Reetz has moved to the Philipps-University in Marburg, where he was recently elected to become the first Hans-Meerwein-Research-Professor. At his new site he directs a group of six coworkers, financed by a special fund of the Max-Planck-Society and the Mülheim MPI. Thus, he has two appointments, namely external (emeritus) group leader of the MPI für Kohlenforschung and member of the Marburg chemistry faculty.

2. Paper by Reetz group selected by Faculty 1000 as top contribution.
The post-publication peer review organization Faculty 1000 has evaluated and selected the recent publication of the Reetz group regarding "Regio- and stereoselectivity of P450-cataysed hydroxylation of steroids by laboratory evolution" (S. Kille, F. E. Zilly, J. P. Acevedo, M. T. Reetz, Nature Chem. 2011, 3, 738-743). Election of a publication to F1000 places the work of the "top 2% of published articles in biology and medicine".

3. Manfred T. Reetz has been selected to receive the Otto-Hahn-Prize for his seminal contributions to methodology development in synthetic organic chemistry, especially for his concept of directed evolution of stereoselective enzymes as catalysts in asymmetric transformations. The € 50,000 endowed prize, initiated in 2005, is awarded every two years by the German Chemical Society (GDCh), The German Physics Society (DPG) and the city of Frankfurt/Main (the birthplace of Otto-Hahn). Past winners are Theodor Hänsch (physics/2005), Gerhard Ertl (chemistry/2007) and Stefan Hell (physics/2009). The ceremony took place on November 22, 2011 in the historic Paulskirche in Frankfurt/Main.

4. Manfred T. Reetz has been selected to receive another prestigious award, namely the international Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry 2011, endowed with $10,000.