François Diederich (9 July 1952 – 23 September 2020) was a Luxembourgish

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

specializing in

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

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 (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

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). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

studies with Orville L. Chapman at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

) 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), ...

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 science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

ETH Zurich ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...

. 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 () 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 chemistry and th ...

(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 Supramolecular chemistry refers to the branch of chemistry concerning Chemical species, chemical systems composed of a integer, discrete number of molecules. The strength of the forces responsible for spatial organization of the system range from w ...

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

. * Modern

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

: 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 Enzyme activity, activity. Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions necessary for life, in which Substrate (biochemistry), substrate molecules are converted ...

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, VI ...

II, IspE and IspF in the

non-mevalonate pathway The non-mevalonate pathway—also appearing as the mevalonate-independent pathway and the 2-''C''-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate/1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate (MEP/DOXP) pathway—is an alternative metabolic pathway for the biosynthesis of the iso ...

isoprenoid The terpenoids, also known as isoprenoids, are a class of naturally occurring organic chemicals derived from the 5-carbon compound isoprene and its derivatives called terpenes, diterpenes, etc. While sometimes used interchangeably with "terpene ...

biosynthesis (

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

); t-RNA guanine transglycosylase (

shigellosis Shigellosis, known historically as dysentery, 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 ...

);

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 le ...

reductase (

African sleeping sickness African trypanosomiasis is an insect-borne parasitic infection of humans and other animals. Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as African sleeping sickness or simply sleeping sickness, is caused by the species ''Trypanosoma bru ...

). * Supramolecular nanosystems and nano-patterned surfaces. * Advanced materials based on carbon-rich

acetylenic In organic chemistry, the term acetylenic designates *A doubly unsaturated position (''sp''-hybridized) on a molecular framework, for instance in an alkyne such as acetylene Acetylene (Chemical nomenclature, systematic name: ethyne) is a chemi ...

molecular architecture: new organic super- acceptors and their inter- and intramolecular

charge-transfer complex In chemistry, charge-transfer (CT) complex, or electron donor-acceptor complex, describes a type of supramolecular assembly of two or more molecules or ions. The assembly consists of two molecules that self-attract through electrostatic force ...

es, 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 language, Greek (''kheir''), "hand", a familiar chiral object. An object or a system is ''chiral'' if it is dist ...

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 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 fro ...

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 phenom ...

Honors and awards

Source: *

Otto Hahn Medal The Otto Hahn Medal () 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, who served as the first ...

of the

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

(1979) * Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award (1987) * ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (1992) * Otto Bayer Award (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 (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

(2004) *

Humboldt Prize The Humboldt Research Award (), also known informally as the Humboldt Prize, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of Germany in recognition of ...

(2005) *

Burckhardt Helferich Burckhardt Helferich (10 June 1887, in Greifswald – 5 July 1982, in Bonn) was a German chemist. Biography He was the son of surgery professor Heinrich Helferich (1851–1945). He studied science, especially Geology, at the University of Lausan ...

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 Depa ...

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 (), in short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded on 1 January 1652, based on academic models in Italy, it was originally named the ''Academi ...

* Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften *

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) 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, and other ...

(Foreign Honorary Member) * Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales (Spain, foreign member) * US

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

(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