(Correspondents: Wang Aocheng, Cheng Ran, Liu Lijun) At the invitation of our university, Professor Daniel Werz from the University of Freiburg, Germany, visited our university on January 8 for academic exchange. He engaged in academic discussions with faculty and students in Lecture Hall 610 of the Main Chemical Engineering Building. The session was chaired by Professor Dong Zhibing from the School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering.
Professor Daniel Werz delivered a lecture titled "Gain by Strain: Donor-Acceptor Cyclopropanes to Access Carbo- and Heterocyclic Compounds." In his talk, he described the use of highly reactive cyclopropanes as substrates to synthesize various ring-expanded and ring-opened products via thermochemical and electrocatalytic pathways under the action of Lewis acids. Starting from cyclopropanes bearing electron-withdrawing and electron-donating groups, he explored the effects of different metal cations and optimized reaction conditions to obtain a series of cyclic structures and polyfunctionalized products in high yields through green synthetic routes. This approach not only achieved straightforward ring expansion to yield alkyl cyclic compounds with diverse functional groups but also enabled the cascade synthesis of polycyclic structures.
Professor Werz's research group has long been dedicated to the study of ring expansion reactions using reactive cyclopropanes, exploring various methods for ring expansion and ring opening. Following the lecture, Professor Werz engaged in in-depth discussions with the attending faculty and students. The presentation was rich in content and detail, and all participants found it highly rewarding.
Profile of Professor Daniel Werz:
Professor Daniel Werz is a W3 Chair Professor at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and an internationally renowned organic chemist. Born in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1975, he completed his chemistry studies at the University of Heidelberg, earning his doctorate with the highest distinction. He subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at ETH Zurich and the University of Göttingen. His academic career includes serving as a Full Professor at the Technical University of Braunschweig before assuming his current position as Chair Professor at the University of Freiburg in 2022. His research focuses primarily on electron-rich alkynes, carbohydrate chemistry, and the development of synthetic methodologies, making significant contributions to the field of organic synthetic chemistry. He has received numerous prestigious grants and honors, including the ERC Consolidator Grant from the European Union, the Emmy Noether Scholarship from the German Research Foundation (DFG), and the Heisenberg Scholarship. He has also long served as an editorial board member for academic journals and holds various positions in professional societies. Professor Daniel Werz has supervised dozens of doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers and has published over 270 academic papers, with total citations exceeding 16,000 and an h-index of 70, fully reflecting his extensive influence and distinguished academic standing in the international chemistry community.
(Reviewed by Yu Junxia, Du Chunli)
