Armin de Meijere, Professor Emeritus at the University of Göttingen, Germany, passed away on December 17, 2025. He was a great teacher, scientist, advisor, mentor, and friend, as many have expressed on social media, and he will be dearly missed.

De Meijere’s research focuses on the development of new transition-metal-catalyzed reactions for the efficient synthesis of complex organic molecules with biological activity or unusual bonding situations.

 

Armin de Meijere was born in Homberg, Germany, on May 18, 1939. He studied chemistry at the Universities of Freiburg, Germany, and Göttingen and received his Ph.D. from the University of Göttingen in 1967. After postdoctoral research with K. B. Wiberg at Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA, de Meijere returned to the University of Göttingen in 1969 as Lecturer in organic chemistry. After a stint at the University of Hamburg, Germany, he was appointed Full Professor of organic chemistry at Göttingen in 1989. He remained there until his retirement in 2006 and remains at the institution as Professor Emeritus.

Among other honors, Armin de Meijere received the Alexander von Humboldt–Gay-Lussac Prize in 1996, and the Adolf von Baeyer Medal from the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society) in 2005. He was named Professor Honoris Causa by the St. Petersburg State University, Russia, and a Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, both in 1997. He is an Honorary Member of the Editorial Board of Chemistry – A European Journal.

 

Selected Publications

• Alicia Engelbrecht, Felix Wolf, Annika Esch, Andreas Kulik, Sergei I. Kozhushkov, Armin de Meijere, Chambers C. Hughes, Leonard Kaysser, Discovery of a Cryptic Nitro Intermediate in the Biosynthesis of the 3-(trans-2′-Aminocyclopropyl)alanine Moiety of Belactosin A, Org. Lett. 2022, 24(2), 736–740. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.orglett.1c04205
• Florian J. Ritz, Lars Valentin, Anja Henss, Christian Würtele, Olaf Walter, Sergei I. Kozhushkov, Armin de Meijere, Siegfried Schindler, Syntheses, Structural Characterization, and Kinetic Investigations of Metalla[3]triangulanes: Isoelectronic Nickel(0) and Copper(I) Complexes with Bicyclopropylidene (bcp) and Dicyclopropylacetylene (dcpa) as Ligands, Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.202100045

• Valentin A Rassadin, Mirko Scholz, Anastasiia A Klochkova, Armin de Meijere, Victor V Sokolov, Synthesis of benzannelated sultams by intramolecular Pd-catalyzed arylation of tertiary sulfonamides, Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1932–1939. https://doi.org/10.3762/bjoc.13.187
• Alicia M. Dilmaç, Eduard Spuling, Armin de Meijere, Stefan Bräse, Propellanes-From a Chemical Curiosity to “Explosive” Materials and Natural Products, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 5684–5718. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201603951
• Ilfir R. Ramazanov, Rita N. Kadikova, Tat’yana P. Zosim, Usein M. Dzhemilev, Armin de Meijere, Synthesis of Spiro[2.2]pentanes and Spiro[2.3]hexanes Employing the Me₃Al/CH₂I₂ Reagent, Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2017, 7060–7067. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.201700991
• Metal Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reactions and More, Armin de Meijere, Stefan Bräse, Martin Oestreich (Eds.), Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2014. ISBN: 978-3-527-33154-3
• Alexander V. Lygin, Armin de Meijere, Isocyanides in the Synthesis of Nitrogen Heterocycles, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 9094–9124. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201000723
• Oleg G. Kulinkovich, Armin de Meijere, 1,n-Dicarbanionic Titanium Intermediates from Monocarbanionic Organometallics and Their Application in Organic Synthesis, Chem. Rev. 2000, 100, 2789–2834. https://doi.org/10.1021/cr980046z
• Armin de Meijere, Frank E. Meyer, Fine Feathers Make Fine Birds: The Heck Reaction in Modern Garb, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1995, 33, 2379–2411. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.199423791

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