The 2025 Wolf Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Professor Helmut Schwarz of the Technical University of Berlin for the quantitative characterization of active gas-phase intermediates to solve fundamental problems in catalysis.
The 2025 Wolf Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Professor Helmut Schwarz "for the quantitative characterization of active intermediates in the gas phase to solve fundamental problems in catalysis."
Helmut Schwarz (born 1943, Germany) studied chemistry at the Technical University of Berlin (TUB), where he completed his doctoral thesis in 1972 under the supervision of Ferdinand Bühlmann. After completing his postdoctoral work in 1974 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Cambridge, he was appointed professor at TUB in 1978. Schwarz served as Vice President of the German Research Foundation (2007–2001), President of the Leopoldina German National Academy of Sciences (2015–2010), and President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2017–2008).
Chemistry is primarily concerned with atoms and how they are arranged in molecules, but the more important issue is how the spatial arrangement of atoms in a molecule affects their chemical activity. Although many researchers have tried to tackle this problem, it remained unsolved until the groundbreaking research of Prof. Helmut Schwartz.
Professor Schwartz has been able to explain how chemical reactions work at the most fundamental level, especially those involving metal atoms and gaseous molecules. His work explains how seemingly inert molecules, such as methane (natural gas) and carbon dioxide, participate in chemical reactions. These discoveries are of practical importance because they enable the development of new processes for producing fuels, reducing pollution, and even tackling the climate crisis. To address these fundamental questions, Schwartz has developed new research tools and methods, including advanced techniques in mass spectrometry. These techniques now allow scientists to follow the behavior of atoms and molecules during chemical reactions, in a way that resembles slow-motion video.
Helmut Schwarz's work demonstrated how we can use chemistry to solve enormous problems, such as creating sustainable energy sources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while deepening our knowledge of how nature works at the molecular level.
Schwartz's contributions have made it possible to identify parts of catalysts that are responsible for increasing their efficiency. These insights have paved the way for the development of "tailor-made" catalysts used in the chemical industry to produce clean energy and improved chemicals. Helmut Schwartz's work has demonstrated how chemists can tackle formidable challenges, such as creating sustainable energy sources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while deepening our knowledge of how nature works at the molecular level.
Schwartz was the first to reveal the crucial role of electronic structure in the selective activation of C-H bonds mediated by metal atoms. He demonstrated the existence of catalytic cycles in the chemistry of gas ions, and provided compelling examples of the crucial role of relativistic effects. From this work on gases of "naked" diatomic metal oxides, the concept of "two-state reactivity" emerged, which has become one of the pillars in understanding the intriguing mechanisms of P-450-mediated C-H bond oxidation. In recent years, his research has focused on understanding the selective activation of inert C-H bonds, mainly methane, for the conversion of hydrocarbons into value-added products in an environmentally friendly manner.
He tackled the challenge of single atom catalysis (SAC), which is a complex challenge in conventional chemistry, but simpler in the gas phase, where a single collision can be examined without secondary effects such as solvation, aggregation, and the presence of different ions.
He combined experimental studies with quantum mechanical calculations to investigate how factors such as cluster size and dimensionality, stoichiometry, oxidation state, degree of coordinative saturation, aggregation state, or charge affect the chemical process.
The DEGUSSA process, which can produce HCN from ammonia and methane under platinum catalysis, provides a compelling example of how Schwartz's mass spectrometry-based methods are impacting industrial processes. Schwartz has recently been able to produce clusters of heteronuclear oxides that exhibit a unique combination of enhanced activity and selectivity. He has found that selective adsorption on ions in a given cluster allows us to direct chemical processes as desired, with ion spectroscopy identifying the significant atoms in the active site of the catalyst. These studies open up a new field in chemistry where the importance of each atom in the process can be identified.
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