Computational Chemistry

Rudi van Eldik was born in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) in 1945 and grew up in Johannesburg (South Africa). He received his chemistry education and DSc degree at the former Potchefstroom University (SA), followed by post-doctoral work at the State University of New York at Buffalo (USA) and the University of Frankfurt (Germany). After completing his Habilitation in Physical Chemistry at the University of Frankfurt in 1982, he was appointed as Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Private University of Witten/Herdecke in 1987. In 1994 he became Professor of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, from where he retired in 2010. At present he is Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, and Visiting Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the N. Copernicus University in Torun, Poland. His research interests cover the elucidation of inorganic and bioinorganic reaction mechanisms, with special emphasis on the application of high pressure thermodynamic and kinetic techniques. In recent years his research team also focused on the application of low-temperature rapid-scan techniques to identify and study reactive intermediates in catalytic cycles, and on mechanistic studies in ionic liquids. He is Editor of the series Advances in Inorganic Chemistry since 2003. He serves on the Editorial Boards of several chemistry journals. He is the author of over 880 research papers and review articles in international journals and supervised 80 PhD students. He has received honorary doctoral degrees from the former Potchefstroom University, SA (1997), Kragujevac University, Serbia (2006), Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland (2010), University of Pretoria, SA (2010), and Ivanovo State University of Chemistry and Technology, Russia (2012). He has developed a promotion activity for chemistry and related experimental sciences in the form of chemistry edutainment presentations during the period 1995-2010. In 2009 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit (‘Bundesverdienstkreuz’) by the Federal President of Germany, and the Inorganic Mechanisms Award by the Royal Society of Chemistry (London). His hobbies include music, hiking, jogging, cycling and motor-biking. He is the father of two and grandfather of four children. Ralph Puchta, born in Munich (Germany), studied chemistry at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and obtained in 2003 his Ph.D. in organic chemistry on a quantum chemical and experimental study in the field of supramolecular chemistry under the supervision of Tim Clark and Rolf W. Saalfrank. In 2004 he joined the team of Rudi van Eldik at the Institute for Inorganic Chemistry in Erlangen, working computationally on mechanistic problems in coordination chemistry. In addition, he continued his theoretical studies on supramolecular chemistry. Since his habilitation in 2013 he is Privatdozent at the Chair of Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry in Erlangen, continuing his independent research and a number of national and international co-operations.

1. Metal–metal interactions in binuclear cyclopentadienylmetal carbonyls: Extending insight from experimental work through computational studiesR. Bruce King2. Novel aspects of element–element bonds in main group chemistryChristina Poggel and Gernot Frenking3. The beryllium bondM. Merced Montero-Campillo, Otilia Mó, Manuel Yáñez, Ibon Alkorta and José Elguero4. Cation affinities throughout the periodic tableZakaria Boughlala, Célia Fonseca Guerra and F. Matthias Bickelhaupt5. Stacking interaction potential energy surfaces of square–planar metal complexes containing chelate ringsJelena P. Blagojevic Filipovic, Michael B. Hall and Snežana D. Zaric6. Quantitative descriptors of electronic structure in the framework of molecular orbital theory Serge I. Gorelsky7. Toward accurate spin-state energetics of transition metal complexesMariusz Radon8. Structure and bonding in endohedral transition metal clustersXiao Jin and John E. McGrady9. Molecular modeling of transition metal and rare earth coordination compoundsPeter Comba and Bodo Martin10. Bifunctional aliphatic PNP pincer catalysts for hydrogenation: Mechanisms and scopeZhihong Wei and Haijun Jiao11. Schrock vs. Fischer carbenes: A quantum chemical perspectiveJoonghee Won, Hoimin Jung, Manoj V. Mane, Joon Heo, Seongyeon Kwon and Mu-Hyun Baik12. Prediction of ion selectivity by quantum chemical calculations X: A recent (personal) reviewRalph Puchta, Svetlana Begel and Rudi van Eldik13. Molecular simulations of crystal growth: From understanding to tailoringPatrick Duchstein, Philipp Ectors and Dirk Zahn