Dieter Enders

Who is Dieter Enders?

Dieter Enders is an organic chemist who has done work developing asymmetric synthesis, in particular using modified prolines as asymmetric auxiliaries.

The most widely applied of his chiral auxiliaries are the complementary SAMP and RAMP auxialliaries, which allow for asymmetric alpha-alkylation of aldehydes and ketones. In 1974 he obtained his doctorate from the University of Gießen studying under Dieter Seebach and followed this with a postdoc at Harvard University studying with Elias James Corey. He then moved back to Gießen to obtain his Habilitation in 1979, whereupon he became a lecturer, soon obtaining Professorship in 1980 as Professor of Organic Chemistry at Bonn. In 1985 he moved to Aachen, where he has remained as Full Professor of Organic Chemistry and Director. He is editor-in-chief of Synthesis and is on the advisory boards of many other journals including Letters in Organic Chemistry and SynLett.

During his career he has won many awards. These include:

1993 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

1995 Yamada Award, Japan

2000 Max-Planck-Forschungspreis for Chemistry

2002 Emil-Fischer-Medaille of the GDCh