Pierre Braunstein (born 4 October 1947) is a French chemist. He was director of the Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination (Coordination Chemistry Laboratory, CNRS-Université de Strasbourg) of Strasbourg (France) and is a member of the French Academy of Sciences.
Biography He graduated from the École nationale supérieure de chimie de Mulhouse (with rank #1) in 1969 and then obtained his doctorate (Dr.Ing.) (under the supervision of J. Dehand) in inorganic chemistry from the Université Louis Pasteur (ULP) in Strasbourg in 1971. He spent the academic year 1971/72 as a post-doctoral fellow at University College London, with Professors Sir Ronald S. Nyholm and Robin J.H. Clark. After defending his state doctorate thesis at the ULP in 1974, he was awarded an Alexander-von-Humboldt fellowship to spend the academic year (1974/75) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) with Professor Ernst Otto Fischer (Nobel Prize laureate).
He spent his career at the CNRS, where he attained the rank of Research Director, Exceptional Class. Since September 2014, he has held the title of Research Director Emeritus and has also served as a professor conventionné at the University of Strasbourg.« Pierre Braunstein », Angew. Chem. Intern. Ed., vol. 49, no 10, 2010, p. 1718, Coord. Chem. Rev., 2017, 350, p. 1-2, Coord. Chem. Rev., 2017, 350, p. 1-2Fredy Speiser, Pierre Braunstein et Lucien Saussine, « Catalytic ethylene dimerization and oligomerization: Recent developments with nickel complexes containing P,N-chelating ligands », Acc.Chem. Res., vol. 38, no 10, 2005, p. 784–93 (PMID 16231874, DOI 10.1021/ar050040d)
Scientific research His research focuses on the inorganic and organometallic chemistry of the transition metals and the main group elements, where he has (co-)authored of more than 580 scientific publications and review articles. They cover impressively diverse areas ranging from the study of metal-metal-bonded complexes, (hetero)nuclear complexes and atomic aggregates,P. Braunstein, « Clusters moléculaires: matériaux, architectures, finalités », Nouv. J. Chim., 1986, 10, p. 365-368.P. Braunstein, « Metal-metal and metal-ligand interactions in heterometallic complexes », New J. Chem., 1994, 18, p. 51-60 multisite activation of organic substrates,E. Sappa, A. Tiripicchio, P. Braunstein « Alkyne-substituted homo- and heterometallic carbonyl clusters of the iron, cobalt, and nickel triads », Chem. Rev., 1983, 83, p. 203-239E. Sappa, A. Tiripicchio, P. Braunstein, « Selective metal-ligand Interactions in heterometallic transition metal clusters », Coord. Chem. Rev, 1985, 65, p. 219-284 heterometallic clusters with metallophilic interactions between metal ions with complete electronic shells,P. Braunstein, J. Rosé « Gold in mimetallic molecular clusters. Their synthesis, bonding, chemical and catalytic reactivities », Gold Bull., 1985,18, p. 17-30S. Sculfort, P. Braunstein « Intramolecular d10 - d10 interactions in heterometallic clusters of the transition metals », Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, 40, p. 2741-2760 functional and hemilable ligands (with donor atoms N, P, O, S, N-heterocyclic carbenes,...)P. Braunstein, F. Naud « Hemilability of hybrid ligands and the coordination chemistry of oxazoline-based system », Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2001, 40, p. 680-699P. Braunstein, N. M. Boag « Alkyl, silyl, and phosphane ligands - classical ligands in nonclassical bonding modes », Angew. Chem. Int. Ed, 2001, 40, p. 2427-2433C. Fliedel, A. Ghisolfi, P. Braunstein, « Functional short-bite ligands: synthesis, coordination chemistry, and applications of N-functionalized bis(diaryl/dialkylphosphino) amine-type Ligands », Chem. Rev., 2016, 116, p. 9237-9304T. Simler, P. Braunstein, A. A. Danopoulos « Chromium(II) pincer complexes with dearomatized PNP and PNC ligands: A comparative study of their catalytic ethylene oligomerization activity », Organometallics, 2016, 35, p. 4044-4049 (front cover)S. Hameury, P. de Frémont, P. Braunstein « Metal complexes with oxygen-functionalized NHC ligands: synthesis and applications », Chem. Soc. Rev., 2017, 46, p. 632-733V. Charra, P. de Frémont, P. Braunstein « Multidentate N-heterocyclic carbene complexes of the 3d metals: synthesis, structure, reactivity and catalysis », Coord. Chem. Rev., 2017, 341, p. 53-176X. Ren, C. Gourlaouen, M. Wesolek, P. Braunstein « Tritopic NHC precursors: unusual nickel reactivity and ethylene insertion into a Csp3-H bond », Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2017, 56, p. 12557−12560P. Ai, K. Yu. Monakhov, J. van Leusen, P. Kögerler, C. Gourlaouen, M. Tromp, R. Welter, A. A. Danopoulos, P. Braunstein « Linear Cu2Pd, CuPd2 and Ag2Pd metal chains supported by rigid N,N’-diphosphanyl NHC ligands and metallophilic Interactions », Chem. Eur. J., 2018, 24,, p. 8787−8796 (front cover)X. Ren, M. Wesolek, P. Braunstein « Nickel(II) complexes with tritopic Nimine CNHCNamine pincer ligands », Chem. Eur. J., 2018, 24, p. 14794−1480A. A. Danopoulos, A. Massard, G. Frison, P. Braunstein « Iron and cobalt metallotropism in remote-substituted NHC ligands, metallation to abnormal NHC complexes or NHC ing opening », Angew. Chem. Int. Ed, 2018, 57, p. 14550−14554A. A. Danopoulos, T. Simler, P. Braunstein « N-Heterocyclic carbene complexes of copper, nickel and cobalt. », Chem. Rev., 2019, 119, p. 3730-3961 phosphinoenolate complexes,P. Braunstein, « Bonding and organic and inorganic reactivity of metal-coordinated phosphinoenolates and related functional phosphine-derived anions », Chem. Rev., 2006, 106, p. 134-159 the activation of CO2 and organic isocyanates and their catalytic recovery,P. Braunstein, D. Matt, D. Nobel « Reactions of carbon dioxide with C-C bond formation catalyzed by transition metal complexes », Chem. Rev., 1988, 88, p. 747-764P. Braunstein, D. Nobel « Transition metal mediated reactions of organic isocyanates », Chem. Rev., 1989, 89, p. 1927-1945 silylated ligands in a heterobimetallic environment,P. Braunstein, M. Knorr « Reactivity of the metal-silicon bond in organometallic chemistry », J. Organomet. Chem., 1996, 500, p. 21-38P. Braunstein, M. Knorr, Ch. Stern « Bimetallic silicon chemistry: new opportunities in coordination and organometallic chemistry ". Coord.Chem. Rev. (Special Issue dedicated to the Inorganic Chemistry in France), 1998, 178-180, p. 903-965 the study of original quinonoid zwitterions with delocalized organic π systems, which promote electronic communication between metal centres,P. Braunstein, O. Siri, J.-P. Taquet, M.-M. Rohmer, M. Bénard, R. Welter « A 6π + 6π potentially antiaromatic zwitterion preferred to a quinoidal structure: Its reactivity towards organic and Inorganic reagents. », J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2003, 125, p. 12246-12256O. Siri, P. Braunstein, M.-M. Rohmer, M. Bénard, R. Welter « Novel « potentially antiaromatic », acidichromic quinonediimines with tunable delocalization of their 6π electron subunits », J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2003, 125, p. 13793-13803 and allow the modification of the electronic properties of the surfaces on which they are deposited.L. Routaboul, I. Tanabe, J. Colon Santana, M. Yuan, A. Ghisolfi, W. Serrano Garcia, P. A. Dowben, B. Doudin, P. Braunstein « Changes in molecular film metallicity with minor modifications of the constitutive quinonoid zwitterions », RSC Adv., 2017, 7, p. 21906-21917X. Zhang, P. S. Costa, J. Hooper, D. P. Miller, A. T. N’Diaye, S. Beniwal, X. Jiang, Y. Yin, P. Rosa, L. Routaboul, M. Gonidec, L. Poggini, P. Braunstein, B. Doudin, X. Xu, A. Enders, E. Zurek, P. A. Dowben « Locking and unlocking the molecular spin crossover transition », Adv. Mater., 2017, 29, p. 1702257 The applications of his work range from various homogeneous catalysis reactions,P. Braunstein, X. Morise « Dehydrogenative coupling of hydrostannanes catalyzed by transition-metal complexes », Chem. Rev., 2000, 100, p. 3541-3552P. Braunstein, « Functional ligands and complexes for new structures, homogeneous catalysts and nanomaterials », J. Organomet. Chem., 2004, 689, p. 3953-3967 (special volume for the 40th anniversary of JOMC) including the dehydrogenating coupling of stannanes, H-transfer reactions and ethylene oligomerization,F. Speiser, P. Braunstein, L. Saussine « Catalytic ethylene dimerization and oligomerization : recent developments with nickel complexes containing P,N-chelating ligands », Acc. Chem. Res., 2005, 38, p. 784-793A. Boudier, P.-A. R. Breuil, L. Magna, H. Olivier-Bourbigou, P. Braunstein « Ethylene oligomerization using iron complexes: beyond the discovery of bis(imino)pyridine ligands », Chem. Commun., 2014, 50, p. 1398-1407 (Feature article). to the first use of bimetallic nanoparticles derived from molecular clusters in heterogeneous catalysis.P. Braunstein, J. Rosé « Heterometallic clusters in catalysis», in « metal clusters », in Chemistry, P. Braunstein, L. A. Oro and P. R. Raithby (Eds.); Wiley-VCH, Weinheim (Germany), 1999, vol. 2, p. 616-677P. Buchwalter, J. Rosé, P. Braunstein « Multimetallic catalysis based on heterometallic complexes and clusters », Chem. Rev., 2015, 115, p. 28-126
He has given more than 480 plenary lectures and invited guests to international conferences and institutions and has received numerous awards and honours from France, Germany, China, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. He holds or has held many editorial positions and is regularly called upon to participate in the evaluation of major foreign research programs.
Pierre Braunstein has mentored countless young scientists including ca. 70 PhD students and an equal number of post-doctoral researchers.
He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, a corresponding member of the Zaragoza Academy of Sciences (Spain) and the Lisbon Academy of Sciences (Portugal). He is also a member of the Academia Europaea and the European Academy of Sciences. Since 2015, he is head of the Chemical Sciences Division of the European Academy of Sciences.
Distinctions
Prizes
Prize of the Division of Physical and Mineral Chemistry of the French Chemical Society 1975 Aumale Prize of the French Institute on the proposal of the French Academy of Sciences, 1983 Alexander-von-Humboldt Forschungspreis, 1988 Silver medal of the CNRS, 1989 Max-Planck Forschungspreis (jointly with H. Vahrenkamp, Germany), 1991 Raymond Beer Grand Prize of the French Chemical Society 1995 1st winner of the Paul Sabatier - Miguel Catalán Franco-Spanish Prize between the French Chemical Society and the Royal Spanish Chemical Society, 1998 Grignard - Georg Wittig Prize between the French Chemical Society and the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, 1999 Otto-Warburg Prize (Germany) 2002 Visiting Professor at the Academia Sinica Taipei, Taipei (Taiwan), 2002 Grand Prize of the French Institute of Petroleum (IFPEN) of the French Academy of Sciences, 2004 Descartes-Huygens Prize (Dutch Academy of Sciences), 2008 International Prize of the Japanese Society of Coordination Chemistry, 2013 Prize of the International Foundation for Organic Chemistry (Kyoto, Japan), 2013 Pierre Süe Grand Prize of the French Chemical Sociéty, 2013 Sacconi Medal (Italian Chemical Society), 2013 1st Awardee of the Portugal-France Chemistry Bilateral Lectureship Award between the Sociedade Portuguesa de Química and the French Chemical Society, 2019 China-France Chemistry Bilateral Lectureship Award between the Chinese Chemical Society and the French Chemical Society, 2020 European Prize for Organometallic Chemistry of the European Chemical Society (EuChemS), Division of Organometallic Chemistry, 2021
Honours
Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Konstanz (Germany), 1984 1st Great Manchester Inorganic Chemistry Conference - UMIST - Manchester (United Kingdom), 1985 Weissberger Williams Lecture - Kodak Research Laboratories - Rochester (United States), 1986 John van Geuns Lecture, Amsterdam (Netherlands), 1993