Forschung

Astruc’s interests have been in organometallic chemistry and electron-transfer processes. He is indeed known for having disclosed in 1979 the concept of “Electron-reservoirs” that was applied mostly with 19-electron organo-iron complexes to useful stoichiometric and catalytic electron-transfer reactions. For instance, the chemical activation of dioxygen to reactive superoxide radical anion showed for the first time the amazingly versatile reactivity of this species that is known to be responsible for aging illnesses. His research moved toward nanosciences after the finding in 1979 by his research group of the iron-induced one-pot perfunctionalization of polymethyl arenes to polyfunctional dendritic cores. He extended the nanoscience research of his group to the study of gold nanoparticles with the first nanoparticle centered dendrimers and their use as anion sensors. Applications are presently sought in nanocatalysis and nanomedicine.