Currently two junior group leaders and eight full professors are heading the research groups at the Organisch-Chemischen Institut. They are supportet by several analytical divisions belonging to the institute. Read more about the research of the individual groups and their contribution to international and interdisciplinary networks.

From the lab to the grand stage of top-level research: Armido Studer is among the ten recipients of the 2026 Leibniz Prize, which was awarded on March 19 in Berlin. He is being honored for “masterful” and “groundbreaking” work, for example in sustainable hydrogen production—and with €2.5 million to support new, including unconventional, ideas.

The Hector Fellow Academy has honored Prof. Dr. Robert Hein from the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy with the Research Career Development Award. This award includes a five‑year membership in the Academy, which provides young scientists with a platform for exchange.

A team led by Frank Glorius from the Institute of Organic Chemistry has developed a photocatalytic method for producing small, high-quality ring molecules. The method could be of interest for drug development.

The Institute of Organic Chemistry is delighted that the German Research Foundation (DFG) has awarded Prof. Dr. Armido Studer the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2026. With Germany's most prestigious research award, worth €2.5 million, the DFG is honoring his groundbreaking work in the field of organic radical chemistry.

The Rectorate of the University of Münster has awarded 13 young scientists with the Dissertation Prize of the Year 2025. In addition to scientific excellence, the dissertations must “demonstrate a high degree of originality and make a significant contribution to current research.”

Since 2021, a graduate school in chemistry established at the University of Münster has been dedicated to so-called functional pi systems. The German Research Foundation has now announced that it will continue to fund the doctoral program for the next four and a half years with around 5.5 million euros.

Chemists Prof. Dr. Frank Glorius and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Zeier are among the “Highly Cited Researchers 2025” (Clarivate Analytics). The prestigious list includes approximately 7,100 scientists worldwide in 21 categories each year. The list features researchers whose work between 2014 and 2024 ranks among the top one percent of the most cited publications in their field and year.

Dr. Line Muradi (Institute of Organic Chemistry), together with Dr. Rana Hussein Ali (Goethe University Frankfurt a. M.), Dr. Casey Paquola (Forschungszentrum Jülich), and Dr. Jingyuan Xu (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), has been awarded the L’Oréal UNESCO For Women in Science Support Prize 2025.

A research team led by Prof. Dr. Ryan Gilmour and Prof. Dr. Johannes Neugebauer (Institute of Organic Chemistry) has succeeded in opening up a completely new field of application for an enantioselective aluminum–salen catalyst.

The chemist Prof. Dr. Frank Glorius has received the Carus Medal from the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. With this award, the academy recognizes the contribution of his research to the efficiency and sustainability of catalysis, a key technology of modern society

A team led by Prof Armido Studer from the Institute of Organic Chemistry has developed an efficient skeletal editing method for frequently used heteroaromatic structures. The technique could serve as a means to chemically modify biologically active compounds.

We would like to extend our warmest congratulations to Robert Hein, project leader in the CRC 1459 and member of the Center for Soft Nanoscience, on his recent appointment as W1 Junior Professor at the Organic Chemistry Institute of the University of Münster!

The German Chemical Society (GDCh) will present Armido Studer with the Adolf von Baeyer Commemorative Medal for his outstanding scientific achievements in the field of organic radical chemistry. Recognized as one of the world's leading experts in this area, he has significantly contributed to a "renaissance" of radical chemistry.

A team headed by Prof Armido Studer has presented a new, efficient method for incorporating nitrogen into organic molecules. This method could be of interest for the production of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and materials science.

Chemist Lukas Paetow, a PhD student in the international research training group Münster-Nagoya, is currently in Nagoya, Japan, for a research stay. Buses and trains are always on time there and the convenience stores are open around the clock. A guest article.