The committee has awarded this years SIEGFRIED MEDAL to Dr. Klaus Ditrich
Dr. Ditrich studied chemistry at the University of Marburg. He finished his Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. R. W. Hoffmann in the year 1986 and entered BASF in 1987. Initially he worked on herbicides, but in 1992 he entered the department of fine chemicals and biocatalysis. He is currently engaged in the fields asymmetric synthesis, enzymatic syntheses and the development of production methods für optically active intermediates.
Dr. Ditrich is currently the head of a team that has developed a new enzymatic industrial process, by which chiral amines, alcohols and acids can be prepared on a up to 1000-ton scale by biocatalysis. These products are marketed by BASF under the ChiPros® label. The major hurdle in this process was the development of immobilized enzymes, that showed high selectivities and high reactivity in a mixture of organic solvents. Normally, enzymes require an aqueous environment to be highly active, conditions, in which the organic substrates are not sufficiently soluble. This problem has been overcome by a patented process for the freeze-drying of the enzyme in a matrix of fatty acids.
The award is made biannually and consists of a gold medal, a bronze replica, and an honorarium of 10,000 CHF. This will be presented at the Siegfried Symposium scheduled for September 4th, 2008 at the Kongresshaus in Zurich.
Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland