Thieme Cheminar: Thieme Chemistry Journals Awardees 2026

This seminar presented recent advancements across diverse fields of chemical synthesis and separation technologies, as highlighted by five award-winning research contributions. One area focused on developing energy-efficient membrane systems for organic solvent recovery in the pharmaceutical industry, employing pervaporation for separating azeotropic mixtures like water-isopropanol with demonstrated energy savings and reduced CO2 footprint. Nanofiltration was also applied to curcumin extraction, identifying acetone as a superior solvent and proposing a circular solvent recovery scheme. Another contribution involved the design and synthesis of bench-stable selenium(III) sources, overcoming instability issues by promoting head-to-head oligomerization. These cationic selenuranes, prepared on a multi-gram scale and characterized by X-ray crystallography to reveal unique 2.7 Å Se–Se bond distances, exhibited diverse reactivity for preparing selenonium salts and Umemoto reagents. Further research explored novel routes to 1,2-diazepines and related complex heterocyclic structures from pyridines via photochemical rearrangements. A multi-step protocol, improved with in-situ generated isocyanates, afforded diazepines in high yields, whose reactivity was then exploited for the diastereoselective synthesis of fused β-lactams and oxazinones. The photomodulation of lanthanoid luminescence was also addressed, leveraging diazocine photoswitches to achieve up to 93% luminescence intensity switching and 1.3 ms lifetime changes in Eu(III), Tb(III), and Yb(III) dipicolinates through a combination of competitive absorption, reabsorption, and excited state depopulation mechanisms. Finally, novel catalytic strategies were presented for carbohydrate functionalization, using σ-hole-based halogen- and chalcogen-bonding catalysts to achieve high anomeric and regioselectivity in glycosylations and ring expansions, alongside asymmetric catalysis for site-selective polyfunctionalization of complex saccharides. Membrane system design for organic solvent recovery applications with a focus on the pharmaceuticals industry Talk by Yagnaseni Roy Bench-Stable Selenium Salts: Se(III) Chemistry and Organic Photocatalysis Talk by Javier Mateos Rebirth of 1,2-Diazepines: Improved protocol and reactivity Talk by Clément Ghiazza Diazocines for the reversible photomodulation of lanthanoid luminescence Talk by Elisabeth Kreidt Leveraging Non-classical σ-hole based Noncovalent Interactions and Asymmetric Catalysis: Emerging Frontiers in Stereoselective Carbohydrate Synthesis Talk by Charles Loh