François Diederich (9 July 1952, in

Ettelbruck Ettelbruck ( lb, Ettelbréck , german: Ettelbrück ) is a commune with town status in central Luxembourg, with a population of inhabitants. History Until 1850, both Erpeldange and Schieren were part of the Ettelbruck commune as well, but both ...

– 23 September 2020) was a Luxembourgian

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

specializing in

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, ...

Education

He obtained both his diploma and PhD (first synthesis of Kekulene) from the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

in 1977 and 1979, respectively.

Career and research

After

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

studies with Orville L. Chapman at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

(

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

) and habilitation at the

Max Planck Institute for Medical Research The Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, is a facility of the Max Planck Society for basic medical research. Since its foundation, six Nobel Prize laureates worked at the Institute: Otto Fritz Meyerhof (Physiology), R ...

in Heidelberg, he became Full Professor of Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry at

in 1989. In 1992 he was appointed Professor of

Organic Chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, ...

at ETH Zurich. He retired on 31 July 2017, and remained a research-active professor at ETH Zurich. On 16 March 2019, the

German Chemical Society The German Chemical Society (German: ', GDCh) is a learned society and professional association founded in 1949 to represent the interests of German chemists in local, national and international contexts. GDCh "brings together people working in che ...

(Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, GDCh) bestowed him with their highest recognition, Honorary Membership. Diederich died on 23 September 2020 after a battle with cancer. His research interests cover a wide range of topics: *

Molecular recognition The term molecular recognition refers to the specific interaction between two or more molecules through noncovalent bonding such as hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, hydrophobic forces, van der Waals forces, π-π interactions, halogen ...

in chemistry and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

. * Modern

medicinal chemistry Medicinal or pharmaceutical chemistry is a scientific discipline at the intersection of chemistry and pharmacy involved with designing and developing pharmaceutical drugs. Medicinal chemistry involves the identification, synthesis and developme ...

: molecular recognition studies with biological receptors and X-ray structure-based design of nonpeptidic

enzyme inhibitor An enzyme inhibitor is a molecule that binds to an enzyme and blocks its activity. Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions necessary for life, in which substrate molecules are converted into products. An enzyme facilitates a sp ...

s. Examples of targets:

plasmepsin Plasmepsins are a class of at least 10 enzymes ( and ) produced by the ''Plasmodium falciparum'' parasite. There are ten different isoforms of these proteins and ten genes coding them respectively in ''Plasmodium'' (Plm I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII ...

II, IspE and IspF in the non-mevalonate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis (

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

); t-RNA guanine transglycosylase (

shigellosis Shigellosis is an infection of the intestines caused by ''Shigella'' bacteria. Symptoms generally start one to two days after exposure and include diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, and feeling the need to pass stools even when the bowels are emp ...

);

trypanothione Trypanothione is an unusual form of glutathione containing two molecules of glutathione joined by a spermidine ( polyamine) linker. It is found in parasitic protozoa such as leishmania and trypanosomes. These protozoal parasites are the cause of ...

reductase ( African sleeping sickness). * Supramolecular nanosystems and nano-patterned surfaces. * Advanced materials based on carbon-rich acetylenic molecular architecture: new organic super- acceptors and their inter- and intramolecular charge-transfer complexes, opto-electronic materials for molecular electronic circuitry,

chiral Chirality is a property of asymmetry important in several branches of science. The word ''chirality'' is derived from the Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is distinguishable from i ...

macrocyclic Macrocycles are often described as molecules and ions containing a ring of twelve or more atoms. Classical examples include the crown ethers, calixarenes, porphyrins, and cyclodextrins. Macrocycles describe a large, mature area of chemistry. ...

and acyclic alleno-acetylenes, amplification of chirality and its transfer from the molecular to the

macroscopic scale The macroscopic scale is the length scale on which objects or phenomena are large enough to be visible with the naked eye, without magnifying optical instruments. It is the opposite of microscopic. Overview When applied to physical phenomena a ...

Honors and awards

Source: *

Otto Hahn Medal The Otto Hahn Medal (german: Otto-Hahn-Medaille) is awarded by the Max Planck Society to young scientists and researchers in both the natural and social sciences. The award takes its name from the German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate Otto Hahn ...

of the Max Planck Society (1979) * Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award (1987) * ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (1992) *

Otto Bayer Award Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded ...

(1993) * Janssen Prize for Creativity in Organic Synthesis (2000) * Havinga Medal (2000) * Myron L. Bender & Muriel S. Bender Distinguished Summer Lecturer at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

(2004) *

Humboldt Prize The Humboldt Prize, the Humboldt-Forschungspreis in German, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of G ...

(2005) * Burckhardt Helferich Prize (2005) *

August Wilhelm von Hofmann August Wilhelm von Hofmann (8 April 18185 May 1892) was a German chemist who made considerable contributions to organic chemistry. His research on aniline helped lay the basis of the aniline-dye industry, and his research on coal tar laid the g ...

-Denkmünze of the

(2006) * ACS

Ronald Breslow Ronald Charles David Breslow (March 14, 1931 – October 25, 2017) was an American chemist from Rahway, New Jersey. He was University Professor at Columbia University, where he was based in the Department of Chemistry and affiliated with the De ...

Award for Achievements in Biomimetic Chemistry (2007) * of the

(2011) * Honorary Doctoral Degree, Technion, Haifa (2012) * Ernst Hellmut Vits-Preis (2014) * Prix Paul Metz by the Institut Grand Ducal, Luxembourg (2014) * EFMC Nauta Award for Pharmacochemistry and for outstanding results of scientific research in the field of Medicinal Chemistry (2016) * Honorary Membership of the German Chemical Society (Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, GDCh) (2019)

Memberships in scientific academies

Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...

* Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften *

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

(Foreign Honorary Member) * Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales (Spain, foreign member) * US National Academy of Sciences (Foreign Associate)

Books

* * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diederich, Francois 1952 births 2020 deaths Luxembourgian chemists Organic chemists Carbon scientists Academic staff of ETH Zurich People from Ettelbruck Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences