Professor Dr Guy Bertrand

Research Priorities: Chemical synthesis of reactive molecules, metal-free catalysis, chemistry of stable carbenes
Guy Bertrand is a French chemist, who achieved significant progress with the synthesis of very reactive molecules. His research group combined an experimental approach with quantum-mechanical calculations to draft new compounds. With those, the scientist addresses the high cost and the toxicity of transition metal complexes that are widely utilized in catalysis today.
Already in 1988, Guy Bertrand achieved a tremendous scientific accomplishment: the discovery of the first stable carbene, a phosphino-silyl-carbene, where the carbene is stabilized by neighbouring phosphorus and silicon atoms. Carbenes are instable and highly reactive compounds of bivalent carbon. Guy Bertrand’s model substance propelled the chemistry of carbenes from the margins into an active field of research.
Guy Bertrand made numerous pathbreaking discoveries that propelled the understanding of carbenes. During the synthesis of novel substances, his team prepared unusual compounds, whose electronical structure, stability, and reactivity was subsequently quantum-chemically calculated. A comparison of the determined qualities with experimental observations enabled the scientist to optimize their models. Thus, the researchers were able to synthesize substances with characteristics that hitherto only transition metals displayed. Because those compounds are expensive and often toxic, the new carbenes enabled less problematic applications in many fields.
The chemist works in numerous ways to employ the possibilities of chemistry to face current challenges – be it in medicine, energy generation, or with environmental problems.