Albert-Weller Award of the GDCh Division of Photochemistry

The Division of Photochemistry of the German Chemical Society and the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry awarded the Albert-Weller Award 2022 to Dr. Carolin Müller and Dr. Felix Strieth-Kalthoff on September 20, 2022 at the 28th Lecture Conference on Photochemistry in Düsseldorf.

The prize is awarded to Dr. Carolin Müller "in recognition of her outstanding dissertation entitled “Towards Operando Spectroscopy of Supramolecular Photocatalysts – A Case Study on Ru-dppz-derived Systems”, which she wrote in the working group of Prof. Dr. Benjamin Dietzek-Ivanšić at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technologies. As part of her dissertation, Dr. Müller succeeded in taking important steps towards operando sub-ps time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy and thus investigating the processes that take place in molecular photocatalysts after light excitation. Dr. Müller succeeded in characterizing the photophysics of extremely short-lived reaction intermediates during the course of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and thus obtaining information about the reaction mechanism and possible deactivation pathways of the molecular photocatalysts that influence the efficiency and stability of the systems."

The prize will be awarded to Dr. Strieth-Kalthoff was awarded "in recognition of his outstanding dissertation entitled "Systematic and computer-aided methods for the discovery and development of chemical reactions" written in the working group of Prof. Dr. Frank Glorius at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. The dissertation impressively shows how methods of organic synthesis, combinatorial chemistry, time-resolved spectroscopy and quantum chemistry can be used to discover novel photocatalytic reactions as well as to investigate and understand their molecular mechanisms. Using the newly discovered reactivities based on triplet-triplet energy transfer processes, Mr. Strieth-Kalthoff demonstrates how the knowledge gained can be used to design improved catalysts and synthetic transformations. This dissertation thus makes an important contribution to the development of photocatalysis with visible light towards a milder, broadly applicable and thus more sustainable strategy for the synthesis of complex organic molecules".

On the occasion of the virtual 27th Lecture Conference on Photochemistry, the Photochemistry Division of Photochemistry of the German Chemical Society and the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry award the Albert-Weller Award 2020, donated by ATTO-TEC GmbH, to Dr. Michael Peter Kathan and Dr. Yusen Luo.

The award will be given to Dr. Kathan awarded in recognition of his outstanding dissertation entitled: "Photoswitching Reactivity - From Remote-Controlled to Light-Driven Chemical Systems". The award winner's impressive work deals with the fundamental question of photochemical control of thermal equilibria. Dr. Kathan has developed creative approaches to optically control and drive condensation-hydrolysis equilibria using photoswitches. By creatively coupling photoinduced 6 electrocyclization and thermal keto-enol tautomerism, he was able to remotely control both living polymerization processes and dynamic covalent imine Make or break bonds against their equilibrium position, i.e. quasi uphill. His work has significant application potential for self-healing materials, for example in sensors and for solar recycling of polymers. The dissertation was carried out in the working group of Prof. Dr. S tefan Hecht at the Humboldt University in Berlin.

The prize is awarded to Dr. Luo to recognize her outstanding doctoral thesis, entitled: “Photoinduced Electron Transfer Dynamics in Ruthenium(II) Bis(terpyridine) Based Molecular Dyads and Triads”. dr Luo studied the photoinduced electron-transfer dynamics in covalently linked molecular dyads and triads as model systems for molecular photoredox catalysts. Using model systems comprising a Ru-terpyridin-based photosensitizer, a fullerene acceptor and a phenothiazine donor, Dr. Luo could obtain novel insights into the mechanisms of photodriven electron transfer. Resorting on temperature-dependent ultrafast time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy, Dr. Luo experimentally demonstrated novel effects, eg investigating the impact of a formally spectator ligand on the electronic coupling between photosensitizer and electron donor. Such “remote control” of electron transfer has been speculated about but has never been demonstrated experimentally before.