Jean-Marie Pierre Lehn, born on September 30, 1939 at Rosheim, Bas-Rhin

Address:
ISIS, Université Louis Pasteur
8 allée Gaspard Monge,
BP 70028, F-67083 Strasbourg cedex
Tel: +33-390-245-145
Fax: +33-390-245-140
E-mail: lehn@isis.u-strasbg.fr

Collège de France
11 place Marcelin Berthelot, F-75005 Paris
Tel: +33-144-271-360
Fax: +33-144-271-356

Director

Laboratoire de Chimie Supramoléculaire ISIS, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg

Laboratoire de Chimie des Interactions Moléculaires,
Collège de France, Paris

Director at the Nanotechnologie Institute of the Research Center of Karlsruhe, since 1998

Education

Undergraduate Studies, University of Strasbourg: Licence ès-Sciences (Bachelor of Sciences), Strasbourg, 1960
Graduate work on "Conformational Studies of Triperpenes"; with Professor Guy Ourisson, University of Strasbourg
Doctorat-ès-Sciences (Ph.D.), University of Strasbourg, 1963
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University, 1964: work on vitamin B12 total synthesis with Professor Robert B. Woodward

Appointments

Member of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 1960-66
Maître de Conférences (Assistant Professor) at the University of Strasbourg, 1966-69
Professeur sans chaire (Associate Professor) at the University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg,1970
Professor of Chemistry at the University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg, 1970-1979
Professor at Collège de France, Paris, since October 23^rd 1979; Chair of Chimie des Interactions Moléculaires
Visiting Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University, 1972 (Spring), 1974 (Spring), and on a part time basis until 1980
Visiting Professor of Chemistry at the E.T.H. Zürich, 1977
Alexander Todd Visiting Professor of Chemistry, Cambridge University, 1984
Visiting Professor, University of Barcelona, 1985
Rolf-Sammet Gastprofessor, Frankfurt University, 1985-86
Heinrich-Hertz Gastprofessor, Karlsruhe University, Nov., Dec. 1989
Robert Burns Woodward Visiting Professor, Harvard University, 1997, 2000
Newton Abraham Professor, Lincoln College, Oxford University, 1999-2000
Adjunct Professor at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, 2005

Honorary Degrees

Honoris Causa Doctorates
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1984
Universidad Autonoma, Madrid, 1985
Georg-August University of Göttingen, 1987
Université Libre of Bruxelles, 1987
Iraklion University, 1989
Università degli Studi di Bologna, 1989
Charles University of Prague, 1990
University of Sheffield, 1991
University of Twente, 1991
University of Athens 1992
Polytechnical University of Athens, 1992
Illinois Wesleyan University, 1995
Université de Montréal, 1995
University of Bielefeld, 1998
Honorary Professor, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 1998
Honorary Professor, Southeast University, Nanjing, 1998
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot; 1998
Faculté des Sciences Appliquées, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1999
Nagoya University, 2000
Université de Sherbrooke, 2000
Università di Trieste, 2001
Honorary Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2003
Honorary Professor, Nanjing University, 2003
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2003
University of St. Andrews, 2004
Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, 2005
Technical University, St Petersburg, 2005
Mazaryk University, Brno, 2005
Honorary Professor, Beijing University, 2005
Kyushu University, 2005

Awards

Bronze Medal of the CNRS, 1963
Adrian Prize of the Société Chimique de France, 1968
Silver Medal of the CNRS, 1972
Raymond Berr Prize of the Société Chimique de France, 1978
Gold Medal of the Académie Pontificale des Sciences, 1981
Gold Medal of the CNRS, 1981
Pierre Bruylants Medal, Louvain, 1981
Paracelsus Prize of the Swiss Chemical Society, 1982
Alexander von Humboldt Forschungspreis, 1983
Prize of the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique awarded by the Académie des Sciences,1984
Rolf-Sammet Prize, Frankfurt University, 1985
Prize of the Fondation Alsace, 1986
George Kenner Prize, University of Liverpool, 1987
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1987
Sigillum Magnum, University of Bologna, 1988
Minnie Rosen Award, 1989
Vermeil Medal of the Ville de Paris, 1989
Gold Medal of the Société d'Encouragement au Progrès, 1989
Karl-Ziegler Prize, Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, 1989
Grand Bretzel d’Or, Institut des Arts et Traditions Populaires d’Alsace, 1992
Bonner Chemiepreis, 1993
1992 "Ettore Majorana-Erice-Science for Peace" Prize, 1994
Gold Medal of the Société Académique Arts–Sciences–Lettres, 1995
Gold Medal of Comenius University, Bratislava, 1995
Golden Memorial Medal of the Faculty of Sciences, Charles University, Prague, 1995
Honorary Medal of the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, 1996
The Davy Medal of the Royal Society, 1997
Lavoisier Medal 1997
of the Société Française de Chimie Top 75 Award, C&N, American Chemical Society, 1998
Allan R. Day Award of the Philadelphia Organic Chemists' Club, 1998
1998 Messel Medal, Society of Chemical Industry, London
Premio Barocco, 2003
Gold Medal "Giulio Natta" of the Italian Chemical Society, 2003
JSPS Award (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), 2003
Gold Medal of the 70th Anniversary of the Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, 2004
Gold Medal of the University Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, 2005

Memberships

Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 1980
Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1980
Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1983
Member of the Académie des Sciences, Institut de France, 1985
Foreign Member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina, 1985
Foreign Member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1985
Honorary Member of the Union des Physiciens, 1986
Foreign Member of the American Philosophical Society, 1987
Honorary Member of the Académie Européenne des Sciences, des Arts et des Lettres, 1987
Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (Belgium), 1987
Honorary Fellow ot the Royal Society of Chemistry (Great-Britain), 1987
Member of the Academia Europaea, 1988
Member of the Académie d'Alsace, 1989
Honorary Fellow of Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, 1989
Foreign Associate of the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur-Mainz, 1989
Honorary Member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, 1990
Member of the Akademie der Wissenschaften of Göttingen, 1990
Associate Member of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten, 1990
Honorary Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, 1991
Foreign Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 1991
Foreign Associate of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Puerto Rico, 1991
Foreign Member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 1992
Honorary Member, Institut Grand Ducal, Luxembourg, 1992
Foreign Member of the Royal Society, 1993
Honorary Member of the Romanian Academy, 1993
Honorary Foreign Member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), 1995
Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 1996
Foreign Member of the Third World Academy of Sciences, 1996
Honorary Member of the Czech Learned Society, 1997
Honorary Member of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, 1997
Foreign Member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, 1999
Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy, Section Science, 1999
Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1999
Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics, 1999
Member of the Académie des Technologies, Institut de France, 2001
Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2001
Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2001
Honorary Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Chemistry, 2001
Member of the International Academy of Humanism, 2001
Honorary Member of The Chemical Society of Japan (CSJ), 2002
Honorary Fellow of the Chemical Research Society of India, 2002
Consulting Honorary Member of The World Innovation Foundation, 2003
Corresponding Member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2003
AAAS Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2003
Honorary Fellowship of IChemE Institution of Chemical Engineers, 2003
President of the Academia Bibliotheca Alexandrinae, 2004
Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2004
Member of the Gesellschaft Österreichischer Chemiker, 2004
Honorary Member of the Académie des Sciences Inscriptions et Belles Lettres de Toulouse,2005
Honorary Member of the Real Academia Sevillana de Ciencias, 2005
Honorary Member of the Société Française de Chimie, 2005

Decorations

Chevalier dans l'Ordre National du Mérite, 1976
Chevalier de l'ordre de la Légion d'Honneur, 1983
Officier de l'ordre de la Légion d'Honneur, 1988
Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques, 1989
Member of the Order "Pour le Mérite" für Wissenschaften und Künste (RFA), 1990
Officier dans l'Ordre National du Mérite, 1993
Commandeur de l'Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur, 1996
Ostereischiches Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Erste Klasse, 2001
Grand Officer of the Order of Cultural Merit of Romania, 2004

Scientific Work

790 publications; 3 books
"Chemia Supramolekularna",
Collection of publications by J.-M. Lehn, organised and translated into Polish under the direction of Janusz Lipkowski, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, 1985.
B. Dietrich, P. Viout, J.-M. Lehn,
"Aspects de la chimie des composés macrocycliques",
InterEditions/Editions du CNRS, 1991.
"Macrocyclic Chemistry – Aspects of Organic and Inorganic Supramolecular Chemistry",
VCH, Weinheim, 1993.
J.-M. Lehn,
"Supramolecular Chemistry – Concepts and Perspectives",
VCH, 1995.
"La chimie supramoléculaire : Concepts et perspectives",
Traduit de l’anglais par A. Pousse,
De Boeck Université, Bruxelles, 1997.
- Japanese Version, translated by Y. Takeuchi, Kagaku Dojin, Tokyo, 1997.
- Russian Version, translated by E.V. Boldyreva; coeditors, V.V. Vlassov and A.A. Varnek; Nauka, Novosibirsk, 1998.
- Chinese Version, translated by X. Shen, Peking University, Beijing, 2002.

Fields of Research

Theoretical Organic Chemistry: Ab initio conformational analysis: computation of nitrogen and phosphine inversion, of the electronic structure of hydrocarbons, of stereoelectronic effects on chemical reactivity; theoretical studies of molecular receptors and recognition processes.
Dynamic Nuclear Magnetic Resonance: Studies of conformational rate processes, internal rotation and nitrogen inversion.
Molecular Dynamics and Liquid Structure from Nuclear Magnetic Relaxation data. Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance.
Supramolecular Chemistry:
Cryptates: Design, synthesis and properties of ligands forming stable and selective inclusion complexes with metal ions; di- and poly-nuclear cryptates; bioinorganic models; photoactiveand electroactive cryptates; cluster cryptates; energy and electron transfer processes.
Molecular Recognition, Molecular Receptors and Coreceptors: Design, synthesis and properties of macropolycyclic complexing agents binding selectively one or several molecular substrates: metalloreceptors; photoactive receptors; cyclointercalands.
Anion Coordination Chemistry: Anion cryptates; receptors and coreceptors for anionic substrates; selective complexation of organic, inorganic and biological anions.
Supramolecular Catalysis: Design and properties of molecular catalysts performing a reaction on bound substrate species; enzyme models; cocatalysis.
Transport Processes: Design of selective carriers; transport of anions, cations and molecules; thermodynamic and kinetic properties; transport regulation; coupling to chemical potentials (protons, electrons) and to light.
Selfassembly and Selforganisation: Design of systems generating given supramolecular architectures by molecular recognition directed spontaneous assembly of the components; programmed chemical systems; hydrogen bonding and coordination interactions; selforganisation of organic and inorganic entities; polymolecular assemblies.
Supramolecular Materials: Recognition materials, supramolecular polymers, liquid crystals, vesicles, inorganic materials.
Chemionics: Molecular Photonic, Electronic and Ionic Devices: Photoactive and electroactive cryptates; energy and electron transfer processes; light conversion; photo-antenna; ion transfer; molecular and ionic switching and amplifying processes; molecular protonics.
Semiochemistry: Generation and processing of optical, electronic and ionic chemical signals; ion detection; ion pulses; non-linear optical properties.
Photochemistry and Solar Energy Storage: Photochemical activation of small molecules by means of transition metal complexes; photogeneration of hydrogen and oxygen; water photolysis; photoreduction of CO2; design of photoinduced charge separation systems.
Structural and Dynamic Studies by Multinuclear NMR on supramolecular complexes (in collaboration with the NMR Laboratory).
Bioorganic Chemistry and Biological Applications: Models of biological receptors, of enzymes and of biological transport processes; immunological labelling agents, selective nucleic acid reagents, helical and metallo-nucleic complexes; artificial gene transfer vectors.
Dynamic Combinatorial Chemistry: Design of virtual combinatorial libraries; application to biological targets and to materials.