Benjamin List

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Benjamin List

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|1|11|df=y}}

| birth_place = Frankfurt, West Germany

| image = Empfang für Benjamin List im Rathaus Köln-7597-crop.jpg

| caption = Benjamin List in 2021

| death_date =

| death_place =

| education = Free University of Berlin (Diplom)
Goethe University Frankfurt (PhD)

| awards = Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (2016)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2021)

| workplaces = University of Cologne
Max Planck Institute for Coal Research
Hokkaido University

| doctoral_advisor = Johann Mulzer

| academic_advisors = Richard Lerner
Carlos F. Barbas III

| thesis_title = Synthese eines Vitamin B 12 Semicorrins

| thesis_year = 1997

| thesis_url = https://hds.hebis.de/ubffm/Record/HEB053816005

| relatives = Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (aunt)

}}

Benjamin List ({{IPA|de|ˈbɛnjamiːn ˈlɪst|-|De-Benjamin List.ogg}}; born 11 January 1968) is a German chemist who is one of the directors of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research and professor of organic chemistry at the University of Cologne. He co-developed organocatalysis, a method of accelerating chemical reactions and making them more efficient. He shared the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with David MacMillan "for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis".{{Cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2021/list/facts/|access-date=6 October 2021|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US}}

Background

Born to an upper-middle-class family of scientists and artists in Frankfurt, List is a great-grandson of the cardiologist Franz Volhard and a 2nd great-grandson of the chemist Jacob Volhard.{{cite web |last=Pietschmann |first=Catarina | title=A Perspective for Life | website=Max-Planck-Gesellschaft | date=6 October 2021 | url=https://www.mpg.de/17662734/potrait-benjamin-list | access-date=7 October 2021}} His aunt, the 1995 Nobel laureate in medicine Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, is the sister of his mother, architect Heidi List.{{cite news |title=Nobelpreis für Nüsslein-Volhards Neffen |url=https://www.tagblatt.de/Nachrichten/Nobelpreis-fuer-Nuesslein-Volhards-Neffen-519710.html|newspaper=Tagblatt.de |access-date=6 October 2021}}{{cite news |title=Nobelpreis an Deutschen für Revolution in der Chemie |url=https://www.morgenpost.de/web-wissen/article233512243/Nobelpreis-an-Deutschen-fuer-Revolution-in-der-Chemie.html |access-date=7 October 2021 |work=Morgenpost}} At age three, his parents divorced.

Career and research

List obtained his Diplom (M.Sc.) degree in chemistry from the Free University of Berlin in 1993, and his PhD from Goethe University Frankfurt in 1997. His doctoral dissertation was titled Synthese eines Vitamin B 12 Semicorrins (Synthesis of a Vitamin B 12 Semicorrin),{{OCLC|613569311}}{{cite journal | last1=Mulzer | first1=Johann | last2=List | first2=Benjamin | last3=Bats | first3=Jan W. | title=Stereocontrolled Synthesis of a Nonracemic Vitamin B₁₂ A−B-Semicorrin | journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society | publisher=American Chemical Society (ACS) | volume=119 | issue=24 | date=1 June 1997 | issn=0002-7863 | doi=10.1021/ja9700515 | pages=5512–5518}} and was advised by Johann Mulzer.{{Cite web|url=https://www.chem.purdue.edu/hcbrownlectures/2019/List%20web%20bio_2.pdf|title=Benjamin List, H. C. Brown lecture|accessdate=6 October 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.kofo.mpg.de/342315/2016-04-21_benjamin_list_erhaelt_erc_advanced_grant.pdf|title=Benjamin List, Direktor am Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, erhält ERC Advanced Grant des Europäischen Forschungsrates|accessdate=15 October 2021}} List worked at the Scripps Research Institute Department of Molecular Biology in La Jolla, US as a postdoctoral researcher in Carlos F. Barbas III and Richard Lerner's research groups{{cite journal |last1=Service |first1=Robert F. |title=Nobel honors molecule builders who made chemistry easier and greener |journal=Science |date=6 October 2021 |doi=10.1126/science.acx9266 |s2cid=242889498 |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/nobel-honors-molecule-builders-who-made-chemistry-easier-and-greener |access-date=12 October 2021 |language=en|url-access=subscription }} from 1997 to 1998 with a scholarship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and as an assistant professor from 1999 to 2003.

In 2003 he returned to Germany to become group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research, and in 2005 he became one of the institute's directors, heading the Homogeneous Catalysis Department.{{Cite web|url=http://www.kofo.mpg.de/en/institute/board-of-directors|title=Board of Directors|publisher=Max Planck Institute for Coal Research|access-date=25 March 2019}} He served as the institute's managing director from 2012 to 2014. He has held a part-time position as an honorary professor of organic chemistry at the University of Cologne since 2004.{{cite web | title=List, Benjamin | website=Max-Planck-Gesellschaft | date=23 September 2021 | url=https://www.mpg.de/390103/kohlenforschung-list | access-date=6 October 2021}}{{cite web | title=Vita Prof. List | website=kofo.mpg.de | date=10 May 2021 | url=https://www.kofo.mpg.de/en/research/homogeneous-catalysis/vita | access-date=6 October 2021}} List is also a principal investigator at the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery, Hokkaido University since 2018.{{cite web | title=ICReDD Principal Investigator, Prof. Benjamin List won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021!! Huge congratulations!! | website=ICReDD: Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery, Hokkaido University (WPI-ICReDD) | date=6 October 2021 | url=https://www.icredd.hokudai.ac.jp/ja/news/6093 | access-date=6 October 2021}}{{cite web | title=LIST, Benjamin | website=ICReDD: Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery, Hokkaido University (WPI-ICReDD) | date=23 December 2020 | url=https://www.icredd.hokudai.ac.jp/list-benjamin | access-date=6 October 2021}} He is the editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Synlett.{{cite journal |last1=List |first1=Benjamin |title=Crowd-based peer review can be good and fast |journal=Nature |date=30 May 2017 |volume=546 |issue=7656 |pages=9 |doi=10.1038/546009a|pmid=28569830 |bibcode=2017Natur.546....9L |doi-access=free |hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-002E-18FF-E |hdl-access=free }} {{As of|2021}}, he has an h-index of 95 according to Google Scholar{{Google Scholar id}} and of 86 according to Scopus.{{Cite web|url=https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=7007013643|title=Scopus preview – List, Benjamin – Author details – Scopus|website=www.scopus.com|accessdate=15 October 2021}}

File:L-Prolin - L-Proline.svg]]

List is considered to be one of the founders of organocatalysis, which uses non-metal and non-enzyme catalysts. In particular, while still an assistant professor he discovered the possibility of using the amino acid proline as an efficient chiral catalyst.{{sfn|List|Lerner|Barbas|2000}} This takes place in intermolecular aldol reactions, in which carbon atoms from two different molecules are bonded together, induced by proline.{{cite web | title=DFG gratuliert Benjamin List zum Nobelpreis für Chemie | website=www.dfg.de | url=https://www.dfg.de/service/presse/pressemitteilungen/2021/pressemitteilung_nr_41/index.html | language=de | access-date=6 October 2021}}{{sfn|List|Lerner|Barbas|2000}} The development is based on the Hajos–Parrish–Eder–Sauer–Wiechert reaction.{{cite journal | last=List | first=Benjamin | title=Proline-catalyzed asymmetric reactions | journal=Tetrahedron | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=58 | issue=28 | year=2002 | issn=0040-4020 | doi=10.1016/s0040-4020(02)00516-1 | pages=5573–5590}}{{cite journal | last1=Hajos | first1=Zoltan G. |author-link1=Zoltan Hajos | last2=Parrish | first2=David R. | title=Asymmetric synthesis of bicyclic intermediates of natural product chemistry | journal=The Journal of Organic Chemistry | publisher=American Chemical Society (ACS) | volume=39 | issue=12 | year=1974 | issn=0022-3263 | doi=10.1021/jo00925a003 | pages=1615–1621}} Subsequently, he developed the first proline-catalyzed Mannich,{{cite journal | last1=List | first1=Benjamin | last2=Pojarliev | first2=Peter | last3=Biller | first3=William T. | last4=Martin | first4=Harry J. | title=The Proline-Catalyzed Direct Asymmetric Three-Component Mannich Reaction: Scope, Optimization, and Application to the Highly Enantioselective Synthesis of 1,2-Amino Alcohols | journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society | publisher=American Chemical Society (ACS) | volume=124 | issue=5 | date=10 January 2002 | issn=0002-7863 | doi=10.1021/ja0174231 | pages=827–833| pmid=11817958 }} Michael,{{cite journal | last1=List | first1=Benjamin | last2=Pojarliev | first2=Peter | last3=Martin | first3=Harry J. | title=Efficient Proline-Catalyzed Michael Additions of Unmodified Ketones to Nitro Olefins | journal=Organic Letters | publisher=American Chemical Society (ACS) | volume=3 | issue=16 | date=14 July 2001 | issn=1523-7060 | doi=10.1021/ol015799d | pages=2423–2425| pmid=11483025 }} and α-amination reactions.{{cite journal | last=List | first=Benjamin | title=Direct Catalytic Asymmetric α-Amination of Aldehydes | journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society | publisher=American Chemical Society (ACS) | volume=124 | issue=20 | date=30 April 2002 | issn=0002-7863 | doi=10.1021/ja0261325 | pages=5656–5657| pmid=12010036 }} He found asymmetric catalysis (especially Asymmetric counteranion directed catalysis, ACDC).{{sfn|Mayer|List|2006}}{{cite journal | last1=Mahlau | first1=Manuel | last2=List | first2=Benjamin | title=Asymmetric Counteranion-Directed Catalysis: Concept, Definition, and Applications | journal=Angewandte Chemie International Edition | publisher=Wiley | volume=52 | issue=2 | date=28 November 2012 | issn=1433-7851 | doi=10.1002/anie.201205343 | pages=518–533| pmid=23280677 }} He developed also new methods of textile organic catalysis, in which soluble organic catalysts and textiles are bound.{{sfn|Lee|Mayer-Gall|Opwis|Song|2013}} These methods could, for example, help to treat water where there is no fresh water. Asymmetric organocatalysis{{cite journal | last=List | first=Benjamin | title=Introduction: Organocatalysis | journal=Chemical Reviews | publisher=American Chemical Society (ACS) | volume=107 | issue=12 | date=1 December 2007 | issn=0009-2665 | doi=10.1021/cr078412e | pages=5413–5415| doi-access=free }} is particularly important in bioactive organic compounds, where the chirality of the compounds is important, for example in drug production.{{cite journal | last1=Castelvecchi | first1=Davide | last2=Stoye | first2=Emma | title='Elegant' catalysts that tell left from right scoop chemistry Nobel | journal=Nature | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | date=6 October 2021 | volume=598 | issue=7880 | pages=247–248 | issn=0028-0836 | doi=10.1038/d41586-021-02704-2 | pmid=34616090 | bibcode=2021Natur.598..247C | s2cid=238422185 | doi-access=free }}

On 6 October 2021, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with David MacMillan "for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis." The development has great influence on pharmaceutical research and the drug production and "made chemistry greener".{{cite news |last=Dörhöfer |first=Pamela | title=Chemie-Nobelpreis für "geniales Werkzeug" | newspaper=Frankfurter Rundschau | date=6 October 2021 | url=https://www.fr.de/wissen/chemie-nobelpreis-2021-benjamin-list-gewinner-frankfurt-davidn-macmillan-news-91036264.html | language=de | access-date=6 October 2021}}

Personal life

List married Sabine List in La Jolla in 1999 and they have two sons, Theo and Paul.{{cite web | last=Harmsen | first=Torsten | title=Ehemaliger Berliner Student Benjamin List gewinnt Chemie-Nobelpreis | website=Berliner Zeitung | date=6 October 2021 | url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/zukunft-technologie/ehemaliger-berliner-student-benjamin-list-erhaelt-den-chemie-nobelpreis-li.187187 | language=de | access-date=6 October 2021}}{{cite news |last=Müller-Jung |first=Joachim | title=Katalysator-Forscher List: Respektlos zum Nobelpreis | website=FAZ.NET | date=6 October 2021 | url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wissen/nobelpreise/chemie-nobelpreis-katalysator-forscher-benjamin-list-17572325.html | language=de | access-date=6 October 2021}}{{cite web | title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021, Benjamin List Interview | website=NobelPrize.org | date=6 October 2021 | url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2021/list/interview/ | access-date=6 October 2021}} They all survived the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.{{cite news |title=Benjamin List: Der Nobelpreisträger, der den Tsunami überlebte |url=https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/chemie-nobelpreis-geht-an-muelheimer-forscher-list-100.html |access-date=7 October 2021 |work=WDR}}

List's parents sought to raise their children with an anti-authoritarian parenting style; he has admitted occasionally using the approach with his own children, stating that "you may only be 12, but if you think it will do you good to eat ten chocolate bars, then go ahead and do it. I have faith in you. But my advice is: I wouldn't do it."

Honors and awards

Source:{{cite web | title=Awards Prof. List | website=Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung | date=10 May 2021 | url=https://www.kofo.mpg.de/en/research/homogeneous-catalysis/awards | access-date=6 October 2021}}

1994 NaFöG-Award from the City of Berlin{{cite web | title=Diplom an der Freien Universität Berlin: Müller gratuliert Chemie-Nobelpreisträgern List und McMillan | website=rbb24 | date=6 October 2021 | url=https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/2021/10/berlin-mueller-gratuliert-chemie-nobelpreis-list-mcmillan.html | language=de | access-date=7 October 2021}}
1997 Feodor Lynen Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
2000 Synthesis-Synlett Journal Award
2003 {{ill|Carl-Duisberg-Memorial Award|de|Carl-Duisberg-Gedächtnispreis}} of the German Chemical Society
2004 Degussa Prize for Chiral Chemistry
2004 Lecturer's Award of the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie
2004 Lieseberg Prize of the University of Heidelberg
2005 AstraZeneca European Lectureship, the Society of Synthetic Chemistry, Japan
2005 Lectureship Award
2005 Novartis Young Investigator Award
2006 JSPS Fellowship Award of Japan
2007 AstraZeneca Award in Organic Chemistry
2007 Award of the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie
2007 OBC-Lecture Award
2008 Visiting Professor at Sungkyunkwan University, Korea
2009 Boehringer-Ingelheim Lectureship, Canada
2009 Organic Reactions Lectureship, US
2009 Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate
2011 Boehringer-Ingelheim Lectureship, Harvard University, US
2011 ERC Advanced Grant
2012 Novartis Chemistry Lectureship Award
2012 Otto Bayer Award
2013 Horst-Pracejus-Preis
2013 Mukaiyama Award
2013 Ruhrpreis, Mülheim, Germany
2014 Cope Scholar Award, US
2014 Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher
2015 Carl Shipp Marvel Lectures, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US
2016 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize
2017 Prof. U. R. Ghatak Endowment Lecture, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata, India
2017 Ta-shue Chou Lectureship, Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
2018 Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
2019 Herbert C. Brown Lecture, Purdue University, Indiana, US
2019 Web of Science Citation Laureate in Chemistry
2021 TCR Lecture, 100th CSJ Annual Meeting, Japan
2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
2022 Herbert C. Brown Award 2022 for Creative Research in Synthetic Methodes{{cite web | title=Professor Ben List erhält den Herbert C. Brown Award | website=Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung | date=1 October 2021 | url=https://www.kofo.mpg.de/844630/20212709-Herbert-C-Brown-Award-an-Ben-List | language=de | access-date=6 October 2021}}
2024 John Stauffer Distinguished Lecture in the Sciences University of Southern California{{cite web | title= The 50th John Stauffer Distinguished Lecture in the Sciences, April 23-24, 2024 Professor Benjamin List 2021 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung | website=Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, University of Southern California | date=23 April 2024 | url=https://dornsife.usc.edu/chemistry/stauffer-lecturers/}}
2024 Criegee Lectureship (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology){{Cite web |last=Podlech |first=Joachim |date=2014-09-10 |title=KIT - Institut für Organische Chemie - Startseite |url=https://www.ioc.kit.edu/ |access-date=2024-04-20 |website=www.ioc.kit.edu |language=de-de}}

Selected works

Source:

{{cite journal | last1=List | first1=Benjamin | last2=Lerner | first2=Richard A. |author-link2=Richard Lerner | last3=Barbas | first3=Carlos F. |author-link3=Carlos F. Barbas III | title=Proline-Catalyzed Direct Asymmetric Aldol Reactions | journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society | publisher=American Chemical Society (ACS) | volume=122 | issue=10 | date=26 February 2000 | issn=0002-7863 | doi=10.1021/ja994280y | pages=2395–2396}}
{{cite journal | last1=Mayer | first1=Sonja | last2=List | first2=Benjamin | title=Asymmetric Counteranion-Directed Catalysis | journal=Angewandte Chemie International Edition | publisher=Wiley | volume=45 | issue=25 | date=19 June 2006 | issn=1433-7851 | doi=10.1002/anie.200600512 | pages=4193–4195| pmid=16721891 }}
{{cite journal | last1=Čorić | first1=Ilija | last2=List | first2=Benjamin | title=Asymmetric spiroacetalization catalysed by confined Brønsted acids | journal=Nature | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=483 | issue=7389 | year=2012 | issn=0028-0836 | doi=10.1038/nature10932 | pages=315–319| pmid=22422266 | bibcode=2012Natur.483..315C | s2cid=4401955 }}
{{cite journal | last1=Kaib | first1=Philip S. J. | last2=Schreyer | first2=Lucas | last3=Lee | first3=Sunggi | last4=Properzi | first4=Roberta | last5=List | first5=Benjamin | title=Extremely Active Organocatalysts Enable a Highly Enantioselective Addition of Allyltrimethylsilane to Aldehydes | journal=Angewandte Chemie International Edition | publisher=Wiley | volume=55 | issue=42 | date=6 October 2016 | issn=1433-7851 | doi=10.1002/anie.201607828 | pages=13200–13203| pmid=27653018 }}
{{cite journal | last1=Tsuji | first1=Nobuya | last2=Kennemur | first2=Jennifer L. | last3=Buyck | first3=Thomas | last4=Lee | first4=Sunggi | last5=Prévost | first5=Sébastien | last6=Kaib | first6=Philip S. J. | last7=Bykov | first7=Dmytro | last8=Farès | first8=Christophe | last9=List | first9=Benjamin | title=Activation of olefins via asymmetric Brønsted acid catalysis | journal=Science | publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | volume=359 | issue=6383 | date=29 March 2018 | issn=0036-8075 | doi=10.1126/science.aaq0445 | pages=1501–1505| pmid=29599238 | bibcode=2018Sci...359.1501T | hdl=21.11116/0000-0001-2AD6-F | s2cid=4549863 | hdl-access=free }}
{{cite journal | last1=Lee | first1=J.-W. | last2=Mayer-Gall | first2=T. | last3=Opwis | first3=K. | last4=Song | first4=C. E. | last5=Gutmann | first5=J. S. | last6=List | first6=B. | author-link4=Choong Eui Song | title=Organotextile Catalysis | journal=Science | publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | volume=341 | issue=6151 | date=12 September 2013 | issn=0036-8075 | doi=10.1126/science.1242196 | pages=1225–1229| pmid=24031014 | bibcode=2013Sci...341.1225L | s2cid=206550607 }}
{{cite journal | last1=Zhang | first1=Zhipeng | last2=Bae | first2=Han Yong | last3=Guin | first3=Joyram | last4=Rabalakos | first4=Constantinos | last5=van Gemmeren | first5=Manuel | last6=Leutzsch | first6=Markus | last7=Klussmann | first7=Martin | last8=List | first8=Benjamin | title=Asymmetric counteranion-directed Lewis acid organocatalysis for the scalable cyanosilylation of aldehydes | journal=Nature Communications | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=7 | issue=1 | date=17 August 2016 | page=12478 | issn=2041-1723 | doi=10.1038/ncomms12478| pmid=27530470 | pmc=4992067 | bibcode=2016NatCo...712478Z }}