Rolf Huisgen, University of Munich, Germany, celebrates his 95th birthday on June 13, 2015.

Professor Huisgen’s research interests include organic reaction mechanisms, especially 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions, and the orbital control of reactivity.

Rolf Huisgen studied chemistry at the universities of Bonn and Munich, both Germany, and received his Ph.D in organic chemistry from the University of Munich in 1943 under the supervision of Heinrich Wieland. He was Associate Professor at the University of Tübingen, Germany, from 1949 to 1952 and returned to Munich as Full Professor of Organic Chemistry in 1952. He remained there until his retirement in 1988, and continued his research as Professor Emeritus.

Huisgen is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and a Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). Among many other honors, he has received the Liebig Medal from the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh, German Chemical Society) in 1961, the Lavoisier Medal by the Société Chimique de France (SCF, French Chemical Society) in 1965, and the Adolfo Quilico Medal by the Società Chimica Italiana (SCI, Italian Chemical Society) in 1987, as well as multiple honorary doctorates.

Selected Publications

• 1,2-Bis(trifluoromethyl)ethene-1,2-dicarbonitrile: Enol Ethers and Ketene Acetals as Cycloaddition Partners,
  Rolf Huisgen, Gonzalo Urrutia Desmaison,
  Helv. Chim. Acta 2012, 95, 1049–1063.
  DOI: 10.1002/hlca.201200217
• 1-[(E)-2-Arylethenyl]-2,2-diphenylcyclopropanes: Kinetics and Mechanism of Rearrangement to Cyclopentenes,
  Johann Mulzer, Rolf Huisgen, Vladimir Arion, Reiner Sustmann,
  Helv. Chim. Acta 2011, 94, 1359–1388.
  DOI: 10.1002/hlca.201100135
• The Rearrangement of 2,2-Diphenyl-1-[(E)-2-phenylethenyl]cyclopropane to 3,4,4-Triphenylcyclopent-1-ene: a DFT Analysis,
  Willi Sicking, Reiner Sustmann, Johann Mulzer, Rolf Huisgen,
  Helv. Chim. Acta 2011, 94, 1389–1405.
  DOI: 10.1002/hlca.201100142
• 1,3-Dipolar cycloadditions. 76. Concerted nature of 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions and the question of diradical intermediates,
  Rolf Huisgen,
  J. Org. Chem. 1976, 41, 403–419.
  DOI: 10.1021/jo00865a001
• 1,3-Dipolare Cycloadditionen, XXXII. Kinetik der Additionen organischer Azide an CC-Mehrfachbindungen (in German),
  Rolf Huisgen, Günter Szeimies, Leander Möbius,
  Chem. Ber. 1967, 100, 2494–2507.
  DOI: 10.1002/cber.19671000806
• 1,3-Dipolar Cycloadditions. Past and Future,
  Rolf Huisgen,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1963, 2, 565–598.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.196305651