Grand Prix 2014 de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie

Professor Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg, France, has been awarded the Grand Prix 2014 de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie. The award was presented during a ceremony at the Maison de la Chimie in Paris, France, on February 11, 2015.

The prize honors "original work in chemistry, of benefit to mankind, society, or nature" and comprises 35,000 EUR and a silver medal.

Jean-Pierre Sauvage, born in 1944 in Paris, France, received his Ph.D. from Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg, France, under the supervision of Jean-Marie Lehn in 1971. After postdoctoral research with M. L. H. Green at Oxford University, UK, he returned to Strasbourg, where he has been CNRS Director of Research from 1979 to 2009 and Emeritus Professor since 2009.

Among many other honors, Professor Sauvage has received the French Chemical Society Award in Coordination Chemistry in 1971, the CNRS Silver Medal in 1988, the Prelog Gold Medal from ETH Zürich, Switzerland, in 1994, and the Blaise Pascal Medal in Chemistry of the European Academy of Sciences in 2012. He is a Member of the French Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences.

Sauvage's research focuses on molecular topology, mechanically interlocked molecules (catenanes, rotaxanes, and molecular knots), as well as molecular machines.

Selected Publications

• Combining Topological and Steric Constraints for the Preparation of Heteroleptic Copper(I) Complexes,
  Meera Mohankumar, Filippo Monti, Michel Holler, Frédéric Niess, Béatrice Delavaux-Nicot, Nicola Armaroli, Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Jean-François Nierengarten,
  Chem. Eur. J. 2014, 20, 12083–12090.
  DOI: 10.1002/chem.201402429
• Molecular Muscles: From Species in Solution to Materials and Devices,
  Frédéric Niess, Vincent Duplan, Jean-Pierre Sauvage,
  Chem. Lett. 2014, 43, 964–974.
  DOI: 10.1246/cl.140315
• From Non-Covalent Assemblies to Molecular Machines,
  J. P. Sauvage, Pierre Gaspard (eds.),
  Wiley-VCH 2010.
  ISBN: 978-3-527-32277-0
• Ruthenium(II) and Osmium(II) Bis(terpyridine) Complexes in Covalently-Linked Multicomponent Systems: Synthesis, Electrochemical Behavior, Absorption Spectra, and Photochemical and Photophysical Properties,
  Jean Pierre Sauvage, Jean Paul Collin, Jean Claude Chambron, Stephane Guillerez, Christophe Coudret, Vincenzo Balzani, Francesco Barigelletti, Luisa De Cola, Lucia Flamigni,
  Chem. Rev. 1994, 94, 993–1019.
  DOI: 10.1021/cr00028a006
• A molecular light switch for DNA: Ru(bpy)₂(dppz)²⁺,
  Alan E. Friedman, Jean Claude Chambron, Jean Pierre Sauvage, Nicholas J. Turro, Jacqueline K. Barton,
  J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1990, 112, 4960–4962.
  DOI: 10.1021/ja00168a052

Also of interest

• The master of chemical topology,
  J. Fraser Stoddart,
  Chem. Soc. Rev. 2009, 38, 1521–1529.
  DOI: 10.1039/B819336N
• Perfect Host for Tetrathiafulvalene,
  ChemViews Mag. 2011.
  New cyclic rotaxane that encapsulates tetrathiafulvalene also opens way for new topologically interesting systems