Professor Dr Matthias Drieß
- Section Chemistry
- Location Berlin, Germany
- Election year 2012
Research
Matthias Driess is a synthetic chemist who strongly supports scientific generalism (against nerd) with main emphasis to build up and to extend bridges between different ‘faculty cultures’ within chemistry and towards other molecular sciences. His work is dedicated to a strikingly broad area of interdisciplinary endeavors in the molecular sciences, ranging from metalorganic chemistry including structure-reactivity relationships to the synthesis of nano-scaled materials for catalysis and other energy- and resource-saving applications.
His landmark discoveries through the development of novel synthetic methods comprise numerous new classes in main-group (e.g. silicon) chemistry, among them divalent, zwitterionic silicon compounds (silylenes) and isolable silanone complexes which turned out to be suitable for facile metal-free activation of important small molecules such as alkanes, water, dihydrogen, and dioxygen. He was awarded for creativity in synthetic chemistry and received the renowned Alfred Stock Memorial Award from the German Chemical Society and the Wacker Silicone Prize. Since 2007 Matthias Driess is heading the cluster of excellence in the Berlin–Potsdam area entitled “Unifying Concepts in Catalysis” (UniCat). Owing to his scientific competences and expert engagement he has contributed to the recognition of Berlin as one of the leading places in contemporary catalysis research.
His landmark discoveries through the development of novel synthetic methods comprise numerous new classes in main-group (e.g. silicon) chemistry, among them divalent, zwitterionic silicon compounds (silylenes) and isolable silanone complexes which turned out to be suitable for facile metal-free activation of important small molecules such as alkanes, water, dihydrogen, and dioxygen. He was awarded for creativity in synthetic chemistry and received the renowned Alfred Stock Memorial Award from the German Chemical Society and the Wacker Silicone Prize. Since 2007 Matthias Driess is heading the cluster of excellence in the Berlin–Potsdam area entitled “Unifying Concepts in Catalysis” (UniCat). Owing to his scientific competences and expert engagement he has contributed to the recognition of Berlin as one of the leading places in contemporary catalysis research.