Alois F�rstner

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Professor Alois F�rstner obtained his PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1987 at the Technical University Graz, Austria. After a postdoctoral stay with the late Prof. W. Oppolzer at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, he returned to Graz to finish his "Habilitation" in 1992. In 1993 he became group leader at the Max-Planck-Institut f�r Kohlenforschung where he was promoted to the rank of Director in 1998. He is also affiliated with the University of Dortmund. Professor F�rstner's research interests are focused on organometallic chemistry as applied to organic synthesis, with particular emphasis on catalytic methods. Current efforts include studies of alkene and alkyne metathesis, as well as investigations on novel principles for catalytic transformations (Nozaki-Kishi reactions catalytic in chromium, platinum catalyzed skeletal rearrangements, iron catalyzed cross coupling reactions etc.). These methods paved the way for the total synthesis of many bioactive natural products, in particular of macrolides, alkaloids and complex glycoconjugates. He has received several awards in recognition of his scientific contributions, including the Leibniz award of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Thieme-IUPAC prize in synthetic organic chemistry, and the Arthur C. Cope Scholar award of the ACS. He is member of the German Academy Leopoldina.