Alois Fürstner Wins Otto Bayer Prize

Alois Fürstner, of the max planckInstitute for Coal Research in Mülheim an der Ruhr, in Germany, is the winner of the 2006 Otto Bayer Prize. The award recognizes Fürstner's outstanding achievements in the field of natural product synthesis, with specific emphasis on catalysis research. He received the prize of 50,000 euros at a ceremony on Jan. 18 in Leverkusen.

F4rstner's work involves researching new catalytic methods for synthesizing complex natural products. His studies focus on compounds with unsaturated hydrocarbons that change their bonding structure under the effect of catalysts (organometallic compounds). One key application of this procedure is ring-closing metathesis, which has enabled large ring-shaped molecules to be created in the lab.

His pioneering work in the use of catalysts has succeeded in making the methods for producing complex natural products much more efficient.