Jean-Michel Savéant, Emeritus Professor of Electrochemistry, Paris Diderot University, France, and Emeritus Research Director, French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), passed away on August 16, 2020. He was well-known for his work on molecular electrochemistry, e.g., the use of electrochemistry in the fields of electron- and proton transfers, free radical chemistry, coordination chemistry, photochemistry, solid-state physical chemistry, and the catalytic activation of small molecules.
Jean-Michel Savéant was born on September 19, 1933, in Rennes, France. He studied physical sciences at the École Normale Supérieure, Paris, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1966. He joined Paris Diderot University as Professor in 1971. There, he founded the Molecular Electrochemistry Laboratory (LEM, Laboratoire d’Électrochimie Moléculaire). In 1985, he was named CNRS Research Director.
Among many other honors, Savéant received the Faraday Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in 1983, the Palladium Medal of the Electrochemical Society (ECS), USA, in 1993, the Manuel Baizer Award of the ECS in 2002, and the Bruno Breyer Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) in 2005. He was a Member of the French Academy of Sciences and a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (NAS).
Selected Publications
- Molecular Catalysis of Electrochemical Reactions. Mechanistic Aspects,
Jean-Michel Savéant,
Chem. Rev. 2008, 108, 2348–2378.
https://doi.org/10.1021/cr068079z - A Local Proton Source Enhances CO2 Electroreduction to CO by a Molecular Fe Catalyst,
Cyrille Costentin, Samuel Drouet, Marc Robert, Jean-Michel Savéant,
Science 2012, 338, 90–94.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1224581 - Turnover Numbers, Turnover Frequencies, and Overpotential in Molecular Catalysis of Electrochemical Reactions. Cyclic Voltammetry and Preparative-Scale Electrolysis,
Cyrille Costentin, Samuel Drouet, Marc Robert, Jean-Michel Savéant,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 11235–11242.
https://doi.org/10.1021/ja303560c - Catalysis of the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide,
Cyrille Costentin, Marc Robert, Jean-Michel Savéant,
Chem. Soc. Rev. 2013, 42, 2423–2436.
https://doi.org/10.1039/c2cs35360a - Multielectron, Multistep Molecular Catalysis of Electrochemical Reactions: Benchmarking of Homogeneous Catalysts,
Cyrille Costentin, Jean-Michel Savéant,
ChemElectroChem 2014, 1, 1226–1236.
https://doi.org/10.1002/celc.201300263 - Cyclic Voltammetry of Electrocatalytic Films: Fast Catalysis Regimes,
Cyrille Costentin, Jean-Michel Savéant,
ChemElectroChem 2015, 2, 1774–1784.
https://doi.org/10.1002/celc.201500217 - Through-Space Charge Interaction Substituent Effects in Molecular Catalysis Leading to the Design of the Most Efficient Catalyst of CO2-to-CO Electrochemical Conversion,
Iban Azcarate, Cyrille Costentin, Marc Robert, Jean-Michel Savéant,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 16639–16644.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6b07014 - Molecular Electrochemistry: Recent Trends and Upcoming Challenges,
Jean-Michel Savéant,
ChemElectroChem 2016, 3, 1967–1977.
https://doi.org/10.1002/celc.201600430
