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Welcome to the Niemeyer group!
We are glad you found us!
Our junior research group was started in June 2014 at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Our research interests are in the field of supramolecular chemistry, with the particular aim of generating functional supramolecular structures. We are excited to have started our independent research and to explore new aspects of supramolecular chemistry. Please see our research page for additional information.
Bachelor- and Master-theses 2020/2021
We are always looking for interested students! If you are interested in Organic and Supramolecular Chemistry and would like to join our group for your Vertiefungs- or Analytikpraktikum or for your Bachelor- or Master-thesis, don´t hesitate to contact us. For a short description of two possible topics, please see here!
If you would like to know more please contact Jochen Niemeyer (mail) directly! I am happy to tell you more about our research and about possible projects!
Please don´t hesitate to apply even in times of Corona if you are interested!
PhD and Postdoc-applications welcome!
Applications from highly motivated graduate students are always welcome! If you look for research opportunities in the field of organic synthesis and supramolecular chemistry, please contact Jochen Niemeyer directly (mail). I am happy to help with scholarship applications!
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News
September 2020
Now being the third PhD from the Niemeyer-group, Fabian has successfully defended his thesis. Congratulations, Dr. Fabian!
August 2020
Martha successfully defended her thesis and is now Dr. Martha! Congratulations!
July 2020
We have two new publications! Joy´s work from the AK Schmuck about the detection of hydrogen-sulfide was accepted in Chemistry Open! Also, Carel´s Minireview about rotaxanes in catalysis was accepted by Chemistry - A European Journal. Congratulations everyone!
May 2020
We have two new group members! Hongxiao and Jan start with their Master-theses in our group! Despite a slight Corona-delay, both are now in the lab and work towards novel biologically active rotaxanes (Jan) and multifuctional catalysts (Hongxiao). Welcome and good luck!
May 2020
Huibin´s work about the self-assembly of nanoparticles was accepted for publication in Small! This is another interesting application of the zwitterionic GCP-binding motif developed by Carsten Schmuck!
April 2020
We have two new publications!
Dana´s Minireview about the use of Functionalized Macrocycles in Supramolecular Organocatalysis was accepted by ChemPlusChem! Congratulations!
In the same issue, Jens, Michael and Jochen have contributed a review article about Carsten´s research ("20 years of the Schmuck binding motif"). We hope this will help in remembering Carsten and his achievements in supramolecular chemistry.
Both articles will be part of the special issue about " Young Talents and their Mentors in Supramolecular Chemistry". Thanks to ChemPlusChem and to the guest editors Anna McConnell, Cally Haynes, Claudia Caltagirone and Jennifer Hiscock for organizing this special issue!
March 2020
Dennis´ work about the importance of supramolecular acid-acid interactions in organocatalysis has been accepted for pulication in Chemical Science! Thanks to our collaboration partners and congratulations to everyone!
February 2020
We have two new group members!
Carel joins as a postdoc after finishing her PhD last year with Prof. Markus Albrecht at RWTH Aachen. She will be working on functional rotaxanes. Good luck!
After a first postdoc in the group of Prof. David Leigh in Manchester, Marcel joins the group as DFG return-fellow. He will be working on interlocked phosphoric acids. Welcome and good luck!
January 2020
Our recently published work about rotaxane catalysis in Angewandte Chemie has been selected for a back cover! Thanks to Sasha Ediger (designmodus.com) for another wonderful illustration!
January 2020
In continuation of the work started by Carsten Schmuck, two papers have now been accepted for publication. Joys work on responsive materials for drug delivery was accepted for publication in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, while Marlens work an GCP-peptide conjugates in collaboration with Prof. Xiaoyu Hu was published in Chinese Chemical Letters! Congratulations!
December 2019
After an eventful year with many good, but unfortunately also some very sad news, the group takes the chance to recap at our Christmas Dinner. Thanks to everyone for their great work!
December 2019
Great news! The results of the collaborative project with the group of Bettina Siebers have been accepted for publication in Nature Communications! Congratulations to Martha for the great job!
December 2019
The group receives funding from the Otto-Röhm-Foundation! We thank the comittee for the generous funding!
December 2019
The work by Noel and Dennis on heterobifunctional rotaxanes has been accepted for publication in Angewandte Chemie! Congratulations!
August 2019
Great news! Jochen receives funding from the DFG in the framework of the Heisenberg-programme!
August 2019
After more than two years as a postdoc in our group, Noel is leaving! Thanks for the great farewell-party (including a speech in German) and all the best for your next postdoc!
June 2019
The group participates in the "9. Essener Firmenlauf". It was great fun and everyone finished the 5 km despite the steep hill just before the finish line!
June 2019
Jochen, Jens and Michael win the Teaching Award of the University of Duisburg-Essen! Thanks to all the students for their great reviews and thanks to the "Fachschaft" for the nomination"!
May 2019
The group presents their research at the Münster-Symposium on Cooperative Effects in Chemistry!
May 2019
Jochen travels China to present the group´s work in Shanghai, Hangzhou (photo below), Wuhan, Hefei and Nanjing!
May 2019
The paper about Simon´s, Dennis´, Maike´s and Frescilia´s work on covalently linked phosphoric acids for organocatalysis has been accepted for publication in Eur. J. Org. Chem.! Congratulations!
April 2019
Alexander, Karina, Sebastian and Thorsten join the group for their Bachelor-theses! Welcome and good luck!
March 2019
Jan and Nidas return to the group to do their Master-internship in analytical chemistry! Welcome back!
February 2019
The paper about Martha´s work on hydrogen-bonded capsules was accepted for publication in Chem. Commun.! Congratulations!
November 2018
Frescilia is the first of the Niemeyer-group to pass her defense! Congratulations, Dr. Octa-Smolin! Well deserved for all the hard work!
November 2018
Jens, Michael and Jochen receive the 2018 Teaching Award of the Faculty! Thanks to the students for the excellent evaluation of our lecture about "Functional Supramolecular Materials"!
October 2018
Frescilia´s and Rohan´s paper about the cyclization and racemization of alkynyl-substituted BINOLs has been accepted for publication in J. Org. Chem.! Congratulations!
October 2018
Frescilia´s paper about the array-based sensing of amino-acids was accepted for publication in Chem. Eur. J.! Congratulations to Frescilia and thanks to our collaboration partners in Israel, Prof. David Margulies and Dr. Leila Motei, for their help throughout this project!
October 2018
Maike joins the group for her PhD-thesis. She will be working on double-helical structures and novel chemosensors. Welcome and good luck!
October 2018
Noel´s minireview on the active-template synthesis of interlocked molecules will soon appear in Nachrichten aus der Chemie. Good work, Noel!
September 2018
Frescilia´s, Maike´s and Rohan´s work on chiral receptors for lysine-binding has just appeared in Org. Lett.! Congratulations, everyone!
August 2018
Dana and Stefan join the group! Dana will work on heterocatenanes for her Vertiefungs- and Master-work, while Stefan will look at the metal-detection with novel fluorescence sensors during his analytical internship. Welcome and good luck!
July 2018
The group receives additional funding by the DFG for the development of novel sensors for methylated amino-acids!
July 2018
Fabian´s Minireview on "Asymmetric catalysis with DNA" has appeared in Nachrichten aus der Chemie! Congratulations, Fabian!
June 2018
The junior research groups go on their annual group retreat. Everyone bravely joined for the climbing and relaxed at the BBQ afterwards! On top of that, the Niemeyer-group managed to depict a polyrotaxane in the world´s nerdiest group picture...
April 2018
Charlotte and Jan join the group for their Bachelor-theses. Jan will be working on the synthesis of functional rotaxanes, while Charlotte is investigating the synthesis of nanocapsules for catalysis. Welcome and good luck!
March 2018
The group presents the current work at the MS_CEC conference in Münster with poster from Dennis, Fabian, Martha and Noel. On top of that, Dennis wins the poster prize for his poster on catenanes with different ring-sizes. Congratulations, Dennis!
February 2018
Raja´s minireview in ChemCatChem was highlighted with a frontispiece. Congratulations, Raja!
February 2018
Rohan joins the group as a postdoctoral researcher. He will work on the detection of metals in live cells, within a project funded by the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation. Welcome, Rohan!
January 2018
Noel´s Minireview on "Applications of Chiral Mechanically Interlocked Molecules" was accepted as a Synpacts article in Synlett! Congratulations, Noel!
January 2018
Maike and Simon return to the group for their Master-theses. Welcome and good luck!
December 2017
Jochen wins the Thieme Chemistry Journal Award 2018! Congratulations to the group for their great work and a big thank you to the Editors of Synlett, Synthesis and Synfacts for choosing our group!
December 2017
Dennis and Martha have contributed a short overview on the use of Pd(I)-dimers in cross-coupling reactions for Nachrichten aus der Chemie. Nice work, Martha and Dennis!
November 2017
Raja´s Minireview on "Dual Brønsted-acid organocatalysis" has been accepted for publication in ChemCatChem. Congratulations, Raja!
September 2017
Our recent article in Angewandte Chemie has been highlighted in Synfacts as a "Synfact of the month"! Thanks to the Editors for picking our paper!
September 2017
Fabian, Frescilia, Martha and Noel present their work at the 2nd CRC1093 International Symposium. Well done, everyone!
September 2017
The group receices additional funding by the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation. Our project "Development of new chemosensors for detection of labile iron in live cells" will be funded by an Exploration Grant!
August 2017
Our artwork for the paper on catenane-catalysis was accepted as a back cover for Angewandte Chemie! Thanks to Sasha for the beautiful picture!
Juli 2017
Frescilia, Martha and Jochen present their results at the ISMSC-conference in Cambridge! Great conference in a beautiful city!
June 2017
To celebrate our last two papers, the group enjoyed a BBQ (and possibly some beers alongside with the food)! Thanks for everyone´s hard work!
June 2017
Raja´s most recent work has been accepted for publication in Angewandte Chemie! In a combined experimental and theoretical study (together with Hui Zhu and Stefan Grimme from the University of Bonn), this paper shows the first example of a catenane-catalyst for asymmetric organocatalysis. Congratulations, Raja and Hui!
Mai 2017
Within the Global Young Faculty, Jochen and other young scientists interviewed 20 professors from 16 countries around the world. Their personal views on university teaching, together with background information about the respective countries, have now been collected in a book! If you are interested in a copy, please contact Jochen directly!
April 2017
Frescilia´s , Raja´s and Maike´s paper about covalently linked bisphosphates has been accepted as a full paper in Chemistry - A European Journal! You can find it here. Congratulations!
March 2017
Dennis joins the group as a Master student. He will work on modified catenane-systems. Welcome, Dennis!
March 2017
Raja has presented our work at the RSC twitter poster event. Watch the poster and the wonderful cartoon abstract by Errant Science here!
February 2017
As a member of the Global Young Faculty, Jochen has participated in the project "Lust auf Wissenschaft". This project aims at enhancing the visibility of science in the Ruhr-area with the help of paintings and drawings in the public space. Check it out here!
February 2017
The group presents the current research at the SupraChem 2017 in Aachen and Martha wins a prize for her poster on molecular capsules. Congratulations, Martha!
January 2017
The group has received additional funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG-Sachbeihilfe)!
December 2016
We enjoy some mulled wine at the Christmas market in Essen. Thanks to everyone for their hard work in 2016!
November 2016
Fabian joins the group as a PhD-student! He will work on DNA-templated catalyst systems in collaboration with the Brunschweiger-group in Dortmund. Welcome, Fabian!
October 2017
Following this year´s Nobel prize, David Leigh´s group in Manchester set up a map of groups working on Catenanes, Rotaxanes and Molecular Machines (and kindly included our group). Check it our here!
September 2016
The Niemeyer group visits the EuCheMS conference in Sevilla! Frescilia and Martha present their work on posters, Raja and Jochen show some recent results in their talks. And everyone meets this year´s Nobel Laureate Ben Feringa!
July 2016
Frescilia has won a travel grant for the EuCheMS conference in sevilla. Congratulations, Frescilia!
July 7th 2016
Jochen´s Minireview on "Interlocked molecules for catalysis" was published in Nachrichten aus der Chemie!
July 4th 2016
Together with the Giese, Voskuhl and Hirschhäuser groups, we spent a sunny day on the river Ruhr for some canoeing! Please find two pictures below!
May 23rd 2016
Jasmine joins the group as a visiting student from UBC Vancouver. She obtained a RISE-fellowship from the DAAD to fund her stay. Welcome, Jasmine!
April 2016
Jochen receives a startup grant from the Mercator Research Center Ruhr (MERCUR)! This funding scheme supports promising young researchers from the "ruhr-area" at an early stage of their career.
March 31st 2016
Frescilia obtains additional funding for her PhD from the Professor Werdelmann-Foundation.Congratulations, Frescilia!
March 2016
On a trip to beautiful Japan, Jochen visits the annual CSJ meeting and presents the group´s work at the universities of Nagoya and Tokyo!
March 29th 2016
The very first publication of the Niemeyer group has been accepted for publication in Chemical Communications! This paper describes Raja´s work on the synthesis of a chiral [2]catenane and its application for host-guest binding! Congratulations, Raja!
February 1st 2016
Martha joins the group! After finishing her Master in Bath (UK) she will work towards her PhD in our group, funded by a PhD-fellowship from Evonik Industries! Welcome, Martha!
January 2016
Looking for a challenging Bachelor-, Vertiefungs- or Master-project? Check out our posters with new topics for 2016! You can find them on S07 S04, opposite the elevators!
September 8th 2015
We have a new group member! After a first postdoc at the Max-Planck-Institute in Mühlheim, Raja joins the group as a postdoc. Welcome!
July 29th 2015
Jochen was selected as a member of the Global Young Faculty 4! This joint initiative consists of young researchers from Essen, Bochum and Dortmund and promotes the scientific exchange between the members.
July 27th 2015
Maike joins the group for her Bachelor thesis. She will be working on the synthesis of new catenane-systems. Welcome, Maike!
July 1st 2015
Yagmur joins the group as an Erasmus student! She is currently a chemistry student in Istanbul (Turkey) and will be working on the synthesis of substituted guanidines. Welcome and good luck!
June 28th 2015
Jochen attended the 65th Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting. He presented the current projects in a short talk in the Master Class hosted by Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn!
April 20th 2015
We have a new group member! Simon has joined for his Bachelor-thesis. He will be working on the synthesis of interlocked organocatalysts. Good luck, Simon!
Feburary 11th 2015
Jochen´s paper about the synthesis and reactivity of iminoborylene-complexes was accepted in Dalton Transactions (see here). These results from Jochen´s postdoctoral work will be featured on the cover of Dalton Transactions!
January 5th 2015
Frescilia joins the group as the very first PhD student! Welcome and good luck!
December 10th 2014
Jochen receives a "Startup Grant" from the University of Duisburg-Essen! This internal program supports excellent young researchers at an early stage of their career.
June 30th 2014
The first reactions are running! After some organizational work at the beginning, the research can finally start!
June 2nd 2014
First day at work! The Niemeyer Group officially starts!
Jochen has obtained a Liebig-Stipendium of the German Chemical Fund (Fonds der Chemischen Industrie).
The research group will be associated to the group of Prof. Carsten Schmuck - meaning it can be found on the fourth floor of the chemistry building S07 at the Campus Essen.