Inorganic chemistry without borders

Todd B. Marder

On 6 April 2018, Prof. Dr. Todd B. Marder was awarded a ‘Docteur Honoris Causa’ (Dr. h.c.) by the University of Rennes 1, France. The citation for this award reads as follows: Chimie inorganique sans frontières – Inorganic chemistry without borders Todd B. Marder  

Todd Marder was nominated by Véronique Guerchais and Jean-François Halet, both CNRS Research Directors and members of the Rennes Institute of Chemical Sciences (ICRH). Todd B. Marder is a recognized specialist in synthetic chemistry, homogeneous catalysis and materials chemistry.

A professor at the University of Würzburg, for more than 35 years he has been developing a remarkable scientific activity of international renown in various fields ranging from organometallic chemistry to heteroatom chemistry. His many works have resulted in nearly 20,000 citations. They cover a variety of topics ranging from reactivity to linear and nonlinear optical properties for luminescence applications. An undisputed leader in the field of boron chemistry with the discovery of several compounds currently produced industrially, he is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions. A cosmopolitan, Todd B. Marder has spent his career in the United States, Canada, England, and Germany and has been a visiting professor in many countries. He is a lover of France and French culture. For 25 years, he has forged strong links with the Rennes chemists which led to joint publications. He has also strongly contributed to the establishment of lasting relations between the University of Rennes 1 and the University of Durham (UK), leading, under his leadership, to the creation, by the CNRS, of an associated international laboratory. 

Todd B. Marder CV

Prof. Dr. Todd B. Marder is a world leader in organometallic chemistry, metal-boron and organoboron chemistry, homogeneous catalysis, and materials chemistry. Following his BSc at M.I.T. and PhD at UCLA, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Bristol University (UK) and then a Visiting Research Scientist at DuPont Central Research and Development (USA). He took up his first faculty position at the Univer¬sity of Waterloo (Canada), where he rapidly rose through the ranks to Full Professor. In 1997, he accepted the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at Durham University (UK) formerly held by Ken Wade. In 2012, he moved to his current position at Würzburg (Chair I of Inorganic Chemistry). He has published 320 papers receiving nearly 20,000 citations (h-index = 78) including 58 papers with 100 or more citations each and 130 papers with 50 or more citations each. His major awards include the Rutherford Memorial Medal of the Royal Society of Canada (1995; leading Canadian chemist under 40), the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) Awards in both Main Group Element Chem¬istry (2008) and in Organometallic Chemistry (2015), a Japan Society for the Promotion of Sci¬ence Fellowship (2010), a Royal Society (UK) Wolfson Research Merit Award (2010), and an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (senior) Research Award (2010) that laid the groundwork for his permanent move to Würzburg in 2012. He was elected to Fellowship in the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) in 1997 and to Membership in the Bavarian Academy of Science (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) in 2015. Prof. Marder has held visiting, honorary, or similar professorships in the UK, France, Ca-nada, Hong Kong, Japan, India, and China. In 2014, he was the David Craig Visiting Professor at Australian National University. He currently holds an Honorary Professorship at Durham Uni¬versity (UK), an Adjunct Professorship at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a Guest Professorship at Shandong University (China), and a Visiting Professorship at Northeast Normal University (China). He has served on the editorial boards of a broad spec¬trum of journals (Organometallics, Inorg. Chem., J. Organometal. Chem., Applied Organometal. Chem., Inorg. Chim. Acta, Can. J. Chem., Crystal Eng. and, most recently, the Wiley journal Chinese J. Chem.). Prof. Marder has always been heavily involved in international activities and has run truly international research groups at universities in three countries. He was the International Ambas¬sador for the Department of Chemistry at Durham University (UK) and is a member of the uni¬versity level Internationalization Commission of the Universität Würzburg. Among over 385 invited lectures he has presented at conferences, universities, government and industrial research facilities worldwide, he has delivered lectures on the subject of International Cooperation and Collaboration in Chemistry in the UK, South Korea, China, and India. At Durham he was the leader of the Durham University (UK) – Univer¬sity of Rennes 1 (France) CNRS PICS (International Program for Scientific Cooperation) and the subsequent CNRS LIA (International Associated Laboratory). He has organized numerous sympo¬sia and conferences around the world including, for example, the International Meeting on Boron Chemistry (Imeboron) in 1999, the RSC Dalton Discussion 12 Conference on “Catalytic C-H and C-X Bond Activation,” in 2010, both held in Durham, UK, the First Research Councils UK (RCUK) UK-China Workshop on “Metals in Organic Synthesis: Towards Cleaner, Greener Chemical Processes,” held at Peking University in 2011, and the symposium on “Novel Molecular and Supramolecular Theory and Synthesis Approaches for Sustainable Catalysis” within the program on “Green Chemistry for World Needs” at the 45th IUPAC World Chemistry Congress, Busan, Korea, in 2015. He has been a member of both the International Scientific Committee of the Imeboron Conference series and the International Organizing Committee, Euroboron Conference series for many years. Over 25 of Prof. Marder's former co-workers hold academic appointments around the world (US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and China). In the past six years alone, among many overseas students, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scientists, he has hosted 1 Fulbright Fellow (PhD, US), 1 JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow (Japan), 2 visiting professors from Nigeria, 1 visiting professor from China, 1 visiting professor from Oman, 2 DAAD visiting PhD students from India, 1 visiting PhD student from Malaysia, 1 visiting PhD student from France, 11 Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellows from China, India, the UK, Iran, and Bangladesh, and a Humboldt Bessel Award winner from France. He currently runs a research group of ca. 40 co-workers including 7 Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellows, 7 PhD students supported by the China Scholarship Council (CSC), and 1 PhD student funded by an Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education Scholarship (LPDP).