The group (May 2010)

Prof. Dr. Frank Breher
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Institute of Inorganic Chemistry

Engesserstr. 15
Gebäude 30.45 (Raum 523)
76131 Karlsruhe

Frank Breher performed his Ph.D. studies at the Universities of Oldenburg and Marburg (1998 to 2001) under the supervision of Prof. W. Uhl. He spent his postdoctoral period in the research group of Prof. H. Grützmacher at the ETH Zürich, Switzerland (DFG fellowship), where he became an independent researcher in 2002 supported by a Liebig fellowship. In 2005 he accepted a faculty position at the Universität Karlsruhe (TH) and became Assistant Professor in January 2006. Subsequently, he was promoted to W3-Professor for Inorganic Chemistry at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in April 2010. His research interests centre around the synthesis, structure, bonding and reactivity of organometallic and coordination compounds of unusual Main Group element cages/clusters and transition metal complexes. Spectroscopic techniques including cyclic voltammetry, EPR spectroscopy, and advanced NMR methods as well as density functional theory calculations are also of interest.

PhD students and postdocs

Dr. Felix Armbruster

PhD thesis "Koordinationsverhalten von ambidenten, Silizium-basierten Liganden"

Dr. Matthias Löble

PhD thesis "Vergleichende Studien zwischen Lanthanoid- und Actinoid-Koordinationsverbindungen"

Ina Trapp

"Coordination chemistry of multidentate ligand systems"

Tanja Wolfer

"Synthesis and reactivity of transition metal complexes consisting of metalloligands"

Dr. Pascual Oña Burgos
Postdoc (AvH-fellow)

"Transition metal complexes in catalysis"

Dr. Sandra González-Gallardo
Postdoc

"Bimetallic complexes"

Florian Walz

"Coordination chemistry of silicon-based ligand systems"

Timo Augenstein

"Reactivity studies on heavy [1.1.1]propellanes of Group 14"

Steffen Styra

"Organometallic and coordination chemistry of ambidente ligand systems"

Delphine Garnier

"Open-shell coordination compounds"

Eric Moos
Diploma student

"Reactivity studies on heavy [1.1.1]propellanes of Group 14"

Alexander Feyrer
Diploma student

"Metal complexes of chelating N-donor ligands"

Regularly recurring stays of visiting scientists

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Former members

Dr. Ivo Krummenacher

PhD Thesis "Ambidente Ligandensysteme basierend auf Pyrazolylverbindungen der Gruppe 14"

After his PhD, Ivo joined the group of Prof. C.C. Cummins (MIT) as a postdoc, supported by a fellowship of the SNF. Subsequently, he went to the UBC Vancouver for a postdoctoral stay in the group of Prof. D. P. Gates. Ivo is now "akademischer Rat" at the University of Würzburg.

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Dr. Dastaghiri Reddy

Visiting scientist (AvH fellowship) from the Pondycherry University, India

Dr. Istemi Kuzu

PhD Thesis "Metallorganische Chemie und Koordinationschemie von ambidenten Ligandensystemen"

Istemi is now "akademischer Rat" at the Philipps University of Marburg

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Franziska Dorner

Diploma thesis „Einblicke in die Reaktivität des neuartigen Liganden Tris(3,5-dimethylpyrazolyl)fluoroborat am Beispiel zweier Kupfer-Koordinationsverbindungen“

Dr. Dominik Nied

"PhD Thesis "Metalla[1.1.1]propellane der schweren Grupp14-Elemente"

After his PhD, Dominik joined the group of Prof. Mike Fryzuk (UBC) as a postdoc, supported by a fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation.

Sabrina Capper

LA-Zulassungsarbeit „Elektrochemische Untersuchungen an metallorganischen Verbindungen unter Berücksichtigung didaktischer Aspekte“