Julius Hillenbrand receives the Thiel Award 2020 for his study on a new family of structurally well-defined molybdenum-alkylidyne catalysts
The award ceremony of the Thiel Award 2020 for the best publication of a young scientist at the MPI für Kohlenforschung now took place in a small setting due to corona. Julius Hillenbrand from the Department of Organometallic Chemistry received the prize and his certificate from the hands of Professor Ferdi Schüth for his publication "Canopy Catalysts" for Alkyne Metathesis: Molybdenum Alkylidyne Complexes with a Tripodal Ligand Framework. In the article, the young researcher describes his discovery of a new family of molybdenum-alkylidyne-based catalysts that feature very good structural properties, ease of preparation on scale, improved tolerance to functional groups, high reactivity and broad applicability. "The new complexes explored by Julius Hillenbrand show several advantages compared to previous generations of catalysts used to date and mark an important milestone in the field of alkyne metathesis," explained Ferdi Schüth with regard to the jury's selection of the article, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
About the Thiel Award
The "Thiel Award" was established in 2019 in continuation of the Turck Award to promote young scientists at the MPI für Kohlenforschung in their early career. It honors the best publication of a year in memory of the director emeritus Prof. Dr. Walter Thiel, who passed away in 2019. From 2015 to 2018, the Hans Turck GmbH, active in the field of industrial automation and situated in Mülheim an der Ruhr, sponsored this prize. The award comes with prize money of 2,000 euros.
