Bernhard Breit
July 2008 - September 2010
Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry
Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry
Freiburg, Germany
Bernhard Breit is a Full Professor of Organic Chemistry (Chair) at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Freiburg. He is the director of the International Research Training Group GRK1038 "Catalysts and Catalytic Reactions for Organic Synthesis". His research interests focus on exploration of new methods and concepts in organic synthesis and homogeneous catalysis.
Bernhard Breit studied chemistry in Kaiserslautern and finished with a doctoral thesis in 1993 (Prof. Regitz). After postdoctoral training at the Department of Chemistry at Stanford Unviversity with Professor Barry Trost, Bernhard Breit joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Marburg in 1994 to start his independent scientific carreer. In 1998 he received his habilitation and from 1998/99 he spend a semester as a visiting Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. In 1999 he became Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Heidelberg, and in 2001 he moved to his current position as full professor of organic chemistry at the University of Freiburg. In 2005 he was a visiting professor at Stanford University.
His awards include the Heinz-Maier-Leibnitz award (DFG), "Dozenten award" of the Fonds of the Chemical Industry, the Alfried-Krupp award, and the Novartis Young Investigator Award.
He is author of more than 100 publications and 8 patents.
Man made soft matter requires environmentally benign techniques for construction and modification. As such the field of catalysis plays a major role, since catalysis provides a unique resource- and energy-saving way for building matter on a molecular defined level. Crucial to this goal is the development of new molecular catalysts and catalytic reactions that allow for efficient waste-free and highly selelctive chemical transformations. Towards this goal the expertise of the Krische group (new atom economic carbon carbon bond forming reactions) and Breit group (defined molecular catalyst based on self-assembly) will be combined.
- “A Supramolecular Catalyst for Regioselective Hydroformylation of Unsaturated Carboxylic Acids". T. Smejkal, B. Breit, Angew. Chem. 2008, 120, 317-321; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 311-315.
- “A Supramolecular Catalyst for the Decarboxylative Hydroformylation of á,â-Unsaturated Carboxylic Acids”. T. Smejkal, B. Breit, Angew. Chem. 2008, 120, 4010-4013; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 3946-3949.
- “Self-Assembly of Bidentate Ligands for Combinatorial Homogeneous Catalysis: Methanol-Stable Platforms Analogous to the Adenine Thymine Base Pair". C. Waloch, J. Wieland, M. Keller, B. Breit, Angew. Chem. 2007, 119, 3097-3099; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 3037-3039.
- “Reagent Directing Group Controlled Organic Synthesis: Total Synthesis of (R,R,R)-á-Tocopherol". C. Rein, P. Demel, R. A. Outten, T. Netscher, B. Breit, Angew. Chem. 2007, 119, 8824-8827; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 8670-8673.
- “Self-Assembly of Bidentate Ligands for Combinatorial Homogeneous Catalysis: Asymmetric Rhodium-Catalyzed Hydrogenation”. M. Weis, C. Waloch, W. Seiche, B. Breit, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 4188-4189.
