Holger Braunschweig

{{Short description|German chemist (born 1961)}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Holger Braunschweig

| image = Holger Braunschweig July 2018.jpg

| caption =

| birth_date = 1961

| birth_place = Germany

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality = German

| field = Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Organometallic Chemistry, Main-Group Chemistry, Organoboron chemistry

| work_institution = University of Würzburg

| alma_mater = RWTH Aachen University

| doctoral_advisor =

| known_for = Organoboron chemistry, Borylene Chemistry, Diborynes, Diborenes

| website = https://www.braunschweiggroup.de/

| prizes = 2009 DFG Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, 2014 RSC Main Group Award,[http://www.rsc.org/ScienceAndTechnology/Awards/MainGroupChemistryAward/2014-Winner.asp] 2016 GDCh Alfred Stock Memorial Prize,[http://www.chemistryviews.org/details/ezine/9870971/Alfred_Stock_Memorial_Award_2016.html] 2021 RSC Mond-Nyholm Prize,[https://www.rsc.org/prizes-funding/prizes/2021-winners/professor-holger-braunschweig/] 2024 ACS M. Frederick Hawthorne Award,[https://www.acs.org/funding/awards/m-frederick-hawthorne-award-in-main-group-inorganic-chemistry.html] 2024 Eni Advanced Environmental Solutions Prize[https://www.eni.com/en-IT/media/press-release/2024/08/eni-award-winners-named-for-2024-edition.html]

}}

File:Boron dinitrogen activation.png

Holger Braunschweig {{postnominals|country=GBR|FRSC}} is Head and Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at the Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg in Würzburg, Germany. He is best known for founding the field of transition metal-boron multiple bonding (transition metal borylenes),{{Cite journal|last1=Braunschweig|first1=Holger|last2=Wagner|first2=Trixie|date=1995-04-13|title=Synthesis and Structure of the First Transition Metal Borylene Complexes|journal=Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English|language=en|volume=34|issue=7|pages=825–826|doi=10.1002/anie.199508251|issn=1521-3773}}{{Cite journal|last1=Braunschweig|first1=Holger|last2=Kollann|first2=Carsten|last3=Englert|first3=Ulli|date=1998-12-04|title=Synthesis and Structure of the First Terminal Borylene Complexes|url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/(SICI)1521-3773(19981204)37:223.0.CO;2-Z/abstract|journal=Angewandte Chemie International Edition|language=en|volume=37|issue=22|pages=3179–3180|doi=10.1002/(sici)1521-3773(19981204)37:22<3179::aid-anie3179>3.0.co;2-z|pmid=29711330|issn=1521-3773}}{{Cite journal|last1=Braunschweig|first1=Holger|last2=Dewhurst|first2=Rian D.|last3=Schneider|first3=Achim|date=2010-07-14|title=Electron-Precise Coordination Modes of Boron-Centered Ligands|journal=Chemical Reviews|volume=110|issue=7|pages=3924–3957|doi=10.1021/cr900333n|pmid=20235583|issn=0009-2665}}{{Cite journal|last1=Braunschweig|first1=Holger|last2=Dewhurst|first2=Rian D.|last3=Gessner|first3=Viktoria H.|date=2013-03-25|title=Transition metal borylene complexes|journal=Chemical Society Reviews|language=en|volume=42|issue=8|pages=3197–208|doi=10.1039/c3cs35510a|pmid=23403460|issn=1460-4744}} the synthesis of the first stable compounds containing boron-boron{{Cite journal|last1=Braunschweig|first1=Holger|last2=Dewhurst|first2=Rian D.|last3=Hammond|first3=Kai|last4=Mies|first4=Jan|last5=Radacki|first5=Krzysztof|last6=Vargas|first6=Alfredo|date=2012-06-15|title=Ambient-Temperature Isolation of a Compound with a Boron-Boron Triple Bond|journal=Science|language=en|volume=336|issue=6087|pages=1420–1422|doi=10.1126/science.1221138|issn=0036-8075|pmid=22700924|bibcode=2012Sci...336.1420B|s2cid=206540959}} and boron-oxygen{{Cite journal|last1=Braunschweig|first1=Holger|last2=Radacki|first2=Krzysztof|last3=Schneider|first3=Achim|date=2010-04-16|title=Oxoboryl Complexes: Boron−Oxygen Triple Bonds Stabilized in the Coordination Sphere of Platinum|journal=Science|language=en|volume=328|issue=5976|pages=345–347|doi=10.1126/science.1186028|issn=0036-8075|pmid=20395506|bibcode=2010Sci...328..345B|s2cid=206525030}} triple bonds, the isolation of the first non-carbon/nitrogen main-group dicarbonyl,{{Cite journal|last1=Braunschweig|first1=Holger|last2=Dewhurst|first2=Rian D.|last3=Hupp|first3=Florian|last4=Nutz|first4=Marco|last5=Radacki|first5=Krzysztof|last6=Tate|first6=Christopher W.|last7=Vargas|first7=Alfredo|last8=Ye|first8=Qing|title=Multiple complexation of CO and related ligands to a main-group element|journal=Nature|volume=522|issue=7556|pages=327–330|doi=10.1038/nature14489|pmid=26085273|bibcode=2015Natur.522..327B|year=2015|s2cid=4454142}} and the first fixation of dinitrogen at an element of the p-block of the periodic table.{{Cite journal|last1=Légaré|first1=Marc-André|last2=Bélanger-Chabot|first2=Guillaume|last3=Dewhurst|first3=Rian D.|last4=Welz|first4=Eileen|last5=Krummenacher|first5=Ivo|last6=Engels|first6=Bernd|last7=Braunschweig|first7=Holger|date=2018-02-23|title=Nitrogen fixation and reduction at boron|journal=Science|language=en|volume=359|issue=6378|pages=896–900|doi=10.1126/science.aaq1684|issn=0036-8075|pmid=29472479|bibcode=2018Sci...359..896L|doi-access=free}} By modifying a strategy pioneered by Prof. Gregory Robinson of the University of Georgia, Braunschweig also discovered the first rational and high-yield synthesis of neutral compounds containing boron-boron double bonds (diborenes).{{Cite journal|last1=Braunschweig|first1=Holger|last2=Dewhurst|first2=Rian D.|date=2013-03-25|title=Single, Double, Triple Bonds and Chains: The Formation of Electron-Precise B-B Bonds|journal=Angewandte Chemie International Edition|language=en|volume=52|issue=13|pages=3574–3583|doi=10.1002/anie.201208189|pmid=23362015|issn=1521-3773}}{{Cite journal|last1=Arrowsmith|first1=Merle|last2=Braunschweig|first2=Holger|last3=Stennett|first3=Tom E.|date=2017-01-02|title=Formation and Reactivity of Electron-Precise B−B Single and Multiple Bonds|journal=Angewandte Chemie International Edition|language=en|volume=56|issue=1|pages=96–115|doi=10.1002/anie.201610072|pmid=27860056|issn=1521-3773|url=https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/14563}} In 2016 Braunschweig isolated the first compounds of beryllium in the oxidation state of zero.{{Cite journal|last1=Arrowsmith|first1=Merle|last2=Braunschweig|first2=Holger|last3=Celik|first3=Mehmet Ali|last4=Dellermann|first4=Theresa|last5=Dewhurst|first5=Rian D.|last6=Ewing|first6=William C.|last7=Hammond|first7=Kai|last8=Kramer|first8=Thomas|last9=Krummenacher|first9=Ivo|title=Neutral zero-valent s-block complexes with strong multiple bonding|journal=Nature Chemistry|language=en|volume=8|issue=9|pages=890–894|doi=10.1038/nchem.2542|pmid=27334631|bibcode=2016NatCh...8..890A|year=2016}}