Professor Reinhard Brückner, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany, celebrates his 60th birthday on May 5, 2015.

Brückner’s research interests include the total synthesis of natural products and their biologically active analogs, such as alkylidenbutenolides, lactones, and polyene macrolide antibiotics, as well as the development of efficient synthetic methodology. He has authored several textbooks on organic chemistry.

Reinhard Brückner, born 1955 in Braunschweig, Germany, studied chemistry at the University of Munich, Germany, where he received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry under the supervision of Rolf Huisgen in 1984. After post-doctoral research with Paul A. Wender at Stanford University, CA, USA, he returned to Germany and completed his habilitation with Reinhard W. Hoffmann at the University of Marburg. He became Professor for Organic Chemistry at the University of Würzburg, Germany, in 1991, and joined the University of Göttingen, Germany, in 1992. Since 1998, Brückner is Professor for Organic Chemistry at the University of Freiburg, Germany.

Among other honors, Professor Brückner has received the Society of Synthetic Organic Chemistry Japan Lectureship in 1996, the Literature Prize of the Chemical Industry Fund (Fonds der Chemischen Industrie, FCI) in 1998, and the Novartis Chemistry Lectureship in 2008.

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Selected Publications

• Symmetric Diarylsulfoxides as Asymmetric Sulfinylating Reagents for Dialkylmagnesium Compounds,
  Simon Ruppenthal, Reinhard Brückner,
  J. Org. Chem. 2015, 80, 897–910.
  DOI: 10.1021/jo502417j
• Total Synthesis of Quercitols: (+)-allo-, (–)-proto-, (+)-talo-, (–)-gala-, (+)-gala-, neo-, and (–)-epi-Quercitol,
  Reinhard Brückner, Johannes Aucktor,
  Synlett 2014, 26, 250–258.
  DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1379603
• Organic Mechanisms,
  Reinhard Brückner,
  Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2010.
  ISBN: 978-3-642-03650-7
• Total Synthesis of the Light-Harvesting Carotenoid Peridinin,
  Thomas Olpp, Reinhard Brückner,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 4023–4027.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.200600502
• Asymmetric Dihydroxylation of β,γ-Unsaturated Carboxylic Esterswith Trisubstituted C=C Bonds – Enantioselective Syntheses of Trisubstituted γ-Butyrolactones,
  Tobias Kapferer, Reinhard Brückner,
  Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2006, 2006, 2119–2133.
  DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.200500963
• Enantioselective Butenolide Preparation for Straightforward Asymmetric Syntheses of γ-Lactones – Paraconic Acids, Avenaciolide, and Hydroxylated Eleutherol,
  Stefan Braukmüller, Reinhard Brückner,
  Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2006, 2006, 2110–2118.
  DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.200500961