Background
Education
1992 PhD Thesis at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, Technical University (RWTH), Aachen, Germany (supervisor: H.-D. Scharf).
1992 – 1993 Postdoctoral research at the Institut of Organic Chemistry, Technical University (RWTH), Aachen, independent research projects in the field of photochemical induced stereoselective radical reactions and bioorganic transformations.
2000 Habilitation (HDR) at the University of Reims, France.
Professional career
1988 – 1993 Teaching assistant at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, Technical University (RWTH), Aachen, Germany.
1993 – 2004 Chargé de Recherche at the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research), mixed research units of the CNRS and the University of Reims, France.
2004 – 2023 Research Director (Directeur de Recherche) at the CNRS, mixed research units of the CNRS and the University of Reims, France.
2022 – 2024 President of the European Photochemistry Association
Since 2023 Research Director (Directeur de Recherche) at the CNRS, Institute of Physics and Chemistry of Materials of Strasbourg (IPCMS), University of Strasbourg, France
Awards and Lectureships
Thieme Journal Award 2002
Guest professorship at the Osaka Prefecture University, Japan, 2012
EPA PPS Prize, 2014 (European Photochemistry Association)
Current reseach activities
Photochemical reactions (photochemically induced radical reactions, photocycloaddition of aromatic compounds, photoinduced electron and hydrogen transfer, mechanistic investigations, stereoselectivity, application to organic synthesis, development sustainable “green” chemical methods, photochemical transformations in micro structured and continuous flow reactors)
Biomass as new substrate for the production of fine chemicals (chemistry of furans, synthesis of key intermediates for organic synthesis in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, surfactants, chemical transformations of carbohydrates).
Dye chemistry (chemistry of perylene derivatives and polymethine dyes).