Background
Diederich, Francois Nico was born on July 9, 1952 in Ettelbruck, Luxemborg.
Diederich, Francois Nico was born on July 9, 1952 in Ettelbruck, Luxemborg.
He obtained both his diploma and Doctor of Philosophy (first synthesis of Kekulene) from the University of Heidelberg in 1977 and 1979, respectively.
After postdoctoral studies with Professor Orville L. Chapman at the University of California, Los Angeles (University of California, Los Angeles) and habilitation at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, he became Full Professor of Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry at University of California, Los Angeles in 1989. In 1992 he was appointed Professor of Organic Chemistry at Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich.
His research interests cover a wide range of topics: Molecular recognition in chemistry and biology.
Modern medicinal chemistry: molecular recognition studies with biological receptors and X-ray structure-based design of nonpeptidic enzyme inhibitors. Examples of targets: plasmepsin II, IspE and IspF in the non-mevalonate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis (malaria).
T-Ribonucleic acid guanine transglycosylase (shigellosis). Trypanothione reductase (African sleeping sickness).
Supramolecular nanosystems and nano-patterned surfaces.
Advanced materials based on carbon-rich acetylenic molecular architecture: new organic super-acceptors and their interand intramolecular charge-transfer complexes, opto-electronic materials for molecular electronic circuitry, chiral macrocyclic and acyclic alleno-acetylenes, amplification of chirality and its transfer from the molecular to the macroscopic scale. Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Foreign Honorary Member) Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales (Spain, foreign member) United States National Academy of Sciences (Foreign Associate).
Member American Association for the Advancement of Science, Society German Chemists, Society German Naturalists & Physicians, American Chemical Society (Arthur C. Cope Scholar award, 1992, Ronald Breslow award for Achievement in Biometic Chemistry, 2007), New Swiss Chemical Society, Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina, American Academy Arts and Sciences (honorary member), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Real Academia Española de Ciencias, Sigma Xi.
Married, 1975; 2 children.
