Jean-Marie Lehn – Interview
Interview transcript
Welcome to the Nobel interview, Professor Jean-Marie Lehn. You are one of a few French Nobel Prize winners I would say. How did the prize change your life or academic work?
Jean-Marie Lehn: It didn’t change my work because when you are a scientist you have your own way of looking at things and the prize doesn’t change that so much. It may make you think about starting to change fields. That is possible. On the other hand, it changed life quite a bit. First of all one has more to speak about science and chemistry because of this resonance the Nobel Prize now has in the society, in newspapers, in media. You are supposed to be interpreter of science in some ways. To speak in more public occasions which we must do. One may or may not like it but one must do it because it’s a way to talk about your field. To talk about your colleagues. To talk about what’s going on in the area. Maybe more generally even to talk about what science is doing in society. And this is the most important I would say. I like to talk about what chemistry has been doing, which often is underestimated and very much neglected. But more generally I think just trying to tell people that science is part of culture. Not only literature and arts. Science is also part of our culture. It penetrates our life in practical terms even more than any other forms of human culture.
Science in general and chemistry in particular.
Jean-Marie Lehn: Yes, chemistry is so insidious I would say that you often don’t notice it. We are sitting here, and I think probably most of what we are wearing is chemistry. Most of the way in which … when we are sick what do we do? We use pharmaceuticals. What is pharmaceuticals? Molecules. Chemistry. So we meet chemistry all the time, all day long. It’s hidden. You don’t see it, in most cases. That’s one of the problems. Chemistry is not in the forefront. But it’s always there. People should realise that.
That’s what you are doing in France. You talk with the public.
… a rational approach to society problems would be very good for people …Jean-Marie Lehn: In my laboratory I do research, but I try when I have an occasion which is worthwhile to illustrate. I wouldn’t say defend. I don’t think science can be defended but a defensive attitude. It’s more to illustrate and say what’s going on. Also in present society having more of what I would call a scientific, maybe a rational approach to society problems would be very good for people.
After the Nobel Prize, did you consider changing fields?
Jean-Marie Lehn: Yes, you consider it but you know, on the other hand I’m of the type where I like to deduce things from one another. So the field has evolved enormously. And in fact, what we are doing now has absolutely nothing to do with what I got the Nobel Prize for. But it is deduced from it. It came out rationally by expanding it and by going to other areas. It’s a total change in subject in the type of the things we are doing in the laboratory. But it is not a change in the direction. It’s an evolution which when you look back at it looks quite logical.
Super molecular chemistry this is your field. You mean that the field has developed so fast and …
Jean-Marie Lehn: Yes, what happens it is an area which some people say a bit diffused which is true because it’s very wide. It has the interface with physics on one hand, material science. With biology, medicine, on the other hand. And of course at the core is chemistry. So because of this very large and wide interest the field makes many developments in many areas so that it may look very, very different. The general idea in this area is the following. It’s that molecules are single entities, but in the real world they are never alone. These molecules are always among other molecules. And the properties of collectivities of molecules are not the same as single ones. That’s what we’re interested in. What happens to the real world molecules which are always together with others. They interact. They do things together. And I sometimes call it molecule sociology. It happens in a society of molecules.
Let me give you an example which I think also for people who will be looking at this interview may be telling them what is the real essence of it. Water, which I have in this glass, is a very simple molecule. It’s three atoms. One H bound to an oxygen, hydrogen oxygen hydrogen. A triangle. An isolated water molecule can be studied but it has no melting point, no freezing point, no evaporation. And so if a glass of water – this can freeze. A single molecule cannot freeze. So obviously this is concerned with super molecular chemistry. What does the collection of water molecules do? These are many, many, many water molecules. They’re liquid. A single molecule is a gas. What are the properties of this? And this is what we are trying to understand. What happens when molecules are together? What are the properties? And this new property of being able to freeze is something which does not exist for the single molecule.
What is the relation between the properties? For example the society of molecules and their structure. Can you digest properties from the structure.
Jean-Marie Lehn: That’s exactly the point. You see there is this big question which is a philosophical one. Can one reduce everything to atoms and particles? I would say although I am convinced there is an explanation in everything, I don’t believe one should do the reduction. I call it a deduction. In other words, you cannot reduce the melting or the freezing of water to the single molecule. But you can deduce it from the properties of the single molecule which interacts with other single molecules. In other words reduce it I don’t think this is correct because you cannot reduce it but you can’t deduce the property of the collectivity from the properties of the single.
… you cannot reduce the thinking to atoms. Atoms don’t think …So for me the matris is getting more and more complex. Starting from atoms, molecules, super molecular entities, and so on. And each level new properties appear which do not exist at the level below but can be deduced from the level below. So you cannot reduce to it but deduce from. For instance we think OK. You cannot say thinking can be reduced to atoms. But it can be deduced from atoms. We are thinking with the brain which is made from atoms, molecules and all that. So obviously there is a deductive relationship between the atoms which form our brains and eventual thinking. But you cannot reduce the thinking to atoms. Atoms don’t think. So this is my view of things that you can deduce more and more comparatively higher and higher levels of complexity from the ones below. But you cannot reduce it.
There is this physicist Philip Anderson, also another prize winner, who said ‘More is different’.
Jean-Marie Lehn: Yes, in some ways. You can … this is a very condensed way of saying it. For instance more water molecules is different but it’s still water.
More water molecules is different from the one.
Jean-Marie Lehn: From the single one, yes. But when you know exactly the cup of one water you can deduce the properties of the liquid water from the single molecule but you have to take into account everything that happens in the collection. So more is different. More water makes liquid water. One single water is not liquid water. More is different. I woul’d subscribe to that too.
What kind of molecules do you study? All super molecules?
Jean-Marie Lehn: Life is short. And the day is only 24 hours. That is the problem. We would like to have days with many many more hours and life’s much longer. So you have to select things. So we started with trying to understand simple processes. The idea is the following. The way I started is sort of an inductive way. It starts from something small and you see it’s wider than you initially thought. And then you go ahead with it.
When did you start?
Jean-Marie Lehn: 1967. 66/67. But it started in what you might call an awkward way. It didn’t lead to that. I didn’t call it super molecular chemistry at the start because you don’t realise when field is very broad you get the broad ideas only when you see what you are doing is more general than what you thought it was. So I was in fact interested in neuro chemistry which seems to have nothing to do with it. In fact I was interested in philosophy first. I wanted to study philosophy first.
Philosophy of science or philosophy?
Jean-Marie Lehn: Philosophy in general. Philosophy of knowledge. That’s what I was interested in. I was extremely interested when I was a youngster in the way we think. What is in there? Of course a fantastic problem. But you soon realise that I don’t think we have an answer to that. So let’s be more modest and study something where progressively we build up this area. At least approach it. And so I thought neuro chemistry, neuro system, has something to do with thinking so why not start there?
And then if you are a chemist you realise that the neuro system is extremely complicated and you cannot approach it like that. And one simple way of approaching it is to try to see if there is a process inter neural system which is simple and which one might have access to and might study. This is the following which I became interested in. In the nerve membrane the propagation of the electric influx, the neural influx occurs by pumping or by exchanging across the membrane of the nerves of two types of ions. Entities called ions. Potassium and sodium. That’s exactly how our nerves function. These run along like this.
Electric.
Jean-Marie Lehn: Bionic but it’s an electric charge. A positive charge not a negative one. And so I thought these nerve membranes must possess molecules which are able to make the difference between a sodium and a potassium. What’s the difference? Both of these entities are small spheres. And have one positive charge. But one is a little bit larger than the other one. The potassium is a little bit larger, 30% larger, than the sodium. How do the molecules make the difference? If they don’t make it we have a short circuit. We are dead. So they must make the difference. And so we tried to understand how you can distinguish a given sphere from a little bit larger one.
And you build molecules which have cavities where you can adjust the cavities. We call that crypts. Kryptons. And you can adjust the cavities so they are smaller or larger and indeed it works. When they’re smaller sodium goes in and the larger potassium goes in and so on, so you can play with this That was the start. Then you realise what have you done? You have done something. You are able to build molecular entities which are able to make the difference between smaller spheres, larger and larger and larger. In other words they recognise a given sphere.
… all the processes which occur in our organism are molecules sitting together and recognising each other …This is molecular recognition. Molecules that recognise each other. Then you say if you can recognise spheres you can recognise more complicated objects. And obviously in biology all the processes which occur in our organism are molecules sitting together and recognising each other. When we have an antibody against a given sickness our molecules recognise the antigen and they sit on it and do something with it. They hinder it and inhibit it. When a virus penetrates into our body it goes into a cell by recognising molecules on that cell. Or when in our organism killer cells, which defend our organisms against abnormal cancer cells, when they do their job they find the cancer cell. Recognise that this is a cancer cell and not a normal cell and then destroy the cancer cell. That’s what they are supposed to do.
Now these are very complicated molecules. So we thought, as often in science we have to simplify things to understand them better. So the general idea was let’s develop the area of molecular recognition. How do molecules recognise each other and develop the basic principles of that which then of course operate in all complicated molecules or biology also. Starting small. That’s where it started. Studying molecular recognition. And then if I may add one thing once you realise that molecular recognition is something you’re understanding which is a very widely important subject in biology and everywhere when molecules get together. Then you ask yourself what’s the basis of molecular recognition? The basis of molecular recognition is interaction between molecules. What happens between molecules? Not inside the molecules.
Exchange of information.
Jean-Marie Lehn: Yes exchange of information and sitting together. Just attaching to one another. Like water binds to another water. And then you realise that there is a chemistry one should develop which is not the chemistry of molecules and for the general public, let me say the chemistry of molecules deals with the way in which you construct molecules. Molecules are like houses made from bricks which are the atoms. So you connect the atoms and you build nice houses. Molecules. But in a village of many houses and people interact with each of these houses, they make a village.
This is the sociology part.
Jean-Marie Lehn: That is the area and then you get into super molecular chemistry and you consider not just the single houses, the single molecules, but the general organisation of all those when they interact with one another and so on. Sometimes I also say atoms are letter. Molecules are the words. And super molecular entities are the sentences and the chapters and of course – science is the book.
This is really a fascinating subject. My last question, when you talk about communication, language is communication, you also talk about storing information in super molecules.
Jean-Marie Lehn: Yes and this is one of my dada as one says in French.
Which means?
Jean-Marie Lehn: Which means … what I like to express and attach to this aspect. Not so much because it needs it becausein society information is such a big word. And what I usually start with, and conclude with in many of my lectures especially for public or young students and undergraduates and so on, is that chemistry of course deals with matter. Definition of chemistry can be given to science of matter.
Molecules are matter.
… molecules have information and it is stored in the structure …Jean-Marie Lehn: And its transformation. What is matter? How to transform matter? Problem. Chemists also know how to take one thing and make something else out of it. That’s one thing. Matter and energy obviously. But it also deals with information. And you immediately realise that. I told you a moment ago molecules recognise each other. How can I recognise you? I met you yesterday OK. This morning I recognised you because I had information about you. How do molecules recognise another molecule? Because they have information. So there must be information even if it is not expressed. You cannot catalogue it or quantitate it the way information theory define information. Nevertheless molecules have information and it is stored in the structure. That’s molecular. But then the way they interact, the way they get together, this is the reading of this information and that is super molecular.
So I consider chemical systems and in fact that’s one of our major interests now to study programming of molecular systems. Meaning we make molecules that store given information by their structure. You can see the structure. And then you let them interact. This is reading the information. And by this interaction there is something coming out of it. The output which is a given architecture which give some functions. And so of course obviously the basic question, I told you I was interested in philosophy. If you think about all these problems and make it even more general then you realise one thing which is quite evident but it makes you think, when you start with the big bang when the universe started. It started many many many years ago. At present, what we think is the highest evolution of the universe is the human being. Course it doesn’t end here. Things which come afterwards. That is something which is also an interesting question.
But in the meantime, starting with the beginning where there was only energy and then it cooled down and then it make particles and then it make atoms and then molecules. How come the complexification of matter has led to life and to a thinking organism? So as chemists we are dealing with what starts when it’s cold enough in the universe to make atoms and molecules. And then life started later. But from then on the moment it was cold enough to make atoms and molecules chemistry starts. So I think it’s a fantastic problem to try and understand why – what made matter become complex. I have one idea which of course is so broad that you can’t …it’s a philosophical idea. But it’s a scientific also. I think in some ways one could say it’s under the pressure of information. Because matter has become more and more complex, more and more instructed.
They had to do it.
Jean-Marie Lehn: In some ways yes that’s the problem. I don’t like this thing where it looks like a dogma. It had to do it. But in some ways at least without saying that it is the explanation there is a parallelism between the age of the universe, the evolution of the universe and the increase in complexity in some entities in that universe. One of them being the human being. On other planets there may be even more complicated organisms than we are, or whatever, something more complicated. We know the human being. We cannot go beyond that, at least not for the moment, maybe some day we’ll be able to go beyond it. And so I think very small tiny part of that we hope to contribute to understanding how the universe has led to this very complex state and preparing the next complex state.
I really hope we’ll get the answer.
Jean-Marie Lehn: My impression is we’ll not get it so quickly. We’d like to be around when we get it.
And the time is short. Thank you very much for taking the time. Thank you.
Jean-Marie Lehn: Very kind. And thanks to Mr Nobel because it brings people together also.
Interview with Professor Jean-Marie Lehn by Joanna Rose, science writer, 8 December 2001.
Professor Lehn talks about how the Nobel Prize changed his life; the development of supermolecular chemistry (3:52); his pathway from philosophy via neurochemistry to chemistry (9:25); and about storing information in supermolecules (16:00).
Did you find any typos in this text? We would appreciate your assistance in identifying any errors and to let us know. Thank you for taking the time to report the errors by sending us an e-mail.
Donald J. Cram – Nobel Lecture
Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1987
The Design of Molecular Hosts, Guests, and Their Complexes
Read the Nobel Lecture
Pdf 800 kB
Jean-Marie Lehn – Nobel Lecture
Nobel lecture, December 8, 1987
Supramolecular Chemistry – Scope and Perspectives
Molecules – Supermolecules – Molecular Devices
Read the Nobel Lecture
Pdf 839 kB
Charles J. Pedersen – Nobel Lecture
Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1987
The Discovery of Crown Ethers
Read the Nobel Lecture
Pdf 523 kB
Jean-Marie Lehn – Banquet speech
Jean-Marie Lehn’s speech at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 1987 (in French)
Majestés, Altesses Royales, Chers Collègues et Amis, Mesdames et Messieurs,
J’ai le grand honneur et le réel plaisir de dire, au nom de Charles Pedersen, de Donald Cram et en mon propre nom, notre profonde gratitude et notre émotion d’être ici, avec vous, ce soir. Si aujourd’hui cette agréable tâche a été confiée au plus jeune des trois lauréats, je n’en oublie pas moins qu’à mon âge Mozart était mort depuis 13 ans.
En nous attribuant le prix Nobel 1987, l’Académie Royale des Sciences de Suède et le Comité Nobel ont sans doute voulu reconnaître, à travers nous, autant la vitalité d’une Science que l’activité des équipes et la fécondité des recherches de celles et de ceux qui travaillent dans le domaine retenu cette année. C’est donc aussi en leur nom que nous vous remercions de la joie et de l’encouragement que procure à tous cette reconnaissance suprême.
Nous exprimons tout spécialement notre gratitude à nos collaboratrices et collaborateurs qui, au cours des années, ont participé a nos travaux. Nous aurions souhaité les avoir avec nous aujourd’hui.
Quand affluent les appels téléphoniques et quand se pressent les quêteurs d’entretiens, on peut se prendre à regretter le calme (relatif, il est vrai!) du laboratoire. Mais on se fait une raison (assez facilement, il faut le reconnaître!), car le Prix Nobel est chaque année une occasion unique de parler à un large public de cette science qui sans cesse réinvente son objet et se recrée à tout instant, se métamorphosant au fur et à mesure qu’elle se développe, inscrivant dans la matière les fruits de son imagination, comme le sculpteur qui modèle la pierre ou le compositeur qui organise les sons. Par la plasticité des formes et des fonctions de la molécule et du matériau, par sa puissance créatrice ainsi que par son rôle de relais, la chimie n’est pas sans analogie avec l’art, démarche de transfert par l’œuvre créée.
Par delà la chimie des liaisons fortes, qui soudent les atomes en molécules, c’est la chimie des interactions faibles qui a été distinguée cette année, celle où l’union fait la force, où les acteurs se donnent la main pour mieux étreindre l’objet de leur désir, ou l’accord des formes permet la reconnaissance de l’autre. Cette chimie, que l’on peut nommer supramoléculaire, forme en quelque sorte une sociologie moléculaire. Les interactions entre molécules y définissent le lien interspécifique, l’action et la reaction, la stabilité d’une organisation et les “affinités électives” qui y règnent, bref, le comportement des individus et des populations moléculaires.
Par Charles Pedersen, ces propriétés ont été révélées dans ses éthers-couronne, Donald Cram les a traduites dans sa chimie des molécules hôtes et des molécules invitées, dans nos travaux elles s’expriment dans les espèces supramoléculaires, les supermolécules.
A y regarder de près, il me semble apercevoir dans nos domaines d’activité une réponse à la question que tant de journalistes nous ont posée, à savoir si nous attendions à être ici, un jour, avec vous. Je soupçonne mes deux compagnons de fortune, d’en avoir posé les jalons de longue date. En effet Charles Pedersen n’a-t-il pas appelé ses molécules des éthers-couronne? Donald Cram n’a-t-il pas entrevu déjà ces hôtes illustres et tous ces invités hautement sélectionnés? Quand à moi, beaucoup moins préscient, je ne puis que m’exclamer, c’est super, super, super … molécules!
Finalement il me reste à remercier nos hôtes, nos amis et collègues suédois, de la chaleureuse hospitalité qu’ils ont prodiguée à nos familles, à nos invités et à nous-mêmes au cours de ces jours à Stockholm, de ces jours pendant lesquels, à travers quelques-uns de ses praticiens, et grâce à Alfred Nobel, est fêtée la Science, composante majeure des richesses culturelles de l’humanité, qui abolit les frontières et tisse des liens entre les peuples.
Jean-Marie Lehn – Curriculum Vitae*
| Jean-Marie Pierre Lehn |
| Born on September 30, 1939 at Rosheim, Bas-Rhin |
| Addresses |
| ISIS, Université Louis Pasteur 8 allée Gaspard Monge, BP 70028, F-67083 Strasbourg cedex Tel. +33-390-245-145 Fax +33-390-245-140 E-mail [email protected] Collège de France |
| Director |
| Laboratoire de Chimie Supramoléculaire ISIS, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg Laboratoire de Chimie des Interactions Moléculaires, Director at the Nanotechnologie Institute of the Research Center of Karlsruhe, since 1998 |
| Education |
| Undergraduate Studies, University of Strasbourg: Licence ès-Sciences (Bachelor of Sciences), Strasbourg, 1960 |
| Graduate work on “Conformational Studies of Triperpenes”; with Professor Guy Ourisson, University of Strasbourg |
| Doctorat-ès-Sciences (Ph.D.), University of Strasbourg, 1963 |
| Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University, 1964: work on vitamin B12 total synthesis with Professor Robert B. Woodward |
| Appointments |
| Member of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 1960-66 |
| Maître de Conférences (Assistant Professor) at the University of Strasbourg, 1966-69 |
| Professeur sans chaire (Associate Professor) at the University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg, 1970 |
| Professor of Chemistry at the University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg, 1970-1979 |
| Professor at Collège de France, Paris, since October 23rd 1979; Chair of Chimie des Interactions Moléculaires |
| Visiting Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University, 1972 (Spring), 1974 (Spring), and on a part time basis until 1980 |
| Visiting Professor of Chemistry at the E.T.H. Zürich, 1977 |
| Alexander Todd Visiting Professor of Chemistry, Cambridge University, 1984 |
| Visiting Professor, University of Barcelona, 1985 |
| Rolf-Sammet Gastprofessor, Frankfurt University, 1985-86 |
| Heinrich-Hertz Gastprofessor, Karlsruhe University, Nov., Dec. 1989 |
| Robert Burns Woodward Visiting Professor, Harvard University, 1997, 2000 |
| Newton Abraham Professor, Lincoln College, Oxford University, 1999-2000 |
| Adjunct Professor at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, 2005 |
| Honorary Degrees |
| Honoris Causa Doctorates |
| Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1984 |
| Universidad Autonoma, Madrid, 1985 |
| Georg-August University of Göttingen, 1987 |
| Université Libre of Bruxelles, 1987 |
| Iraklion University, 1989 |
| Università degli Studi di Bologna, 1989 |
| Charles University of Prague, 1990 |
| University of Sheffield, 1991 |
| University of Twente, 1991 |
| University of Athens 1992 |
| Polytechnical University of Athens, 1992 |
| Illinois Wesleyan University, 1995 |
| Université de Montréal, 1995 |
| University of Bielefeld, 1998 |
| Honorary Professor, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 1998 |
| Honorary Professor, Southeast University, Nanjing, 1998 |
| Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot; 1998 |
| Faculté des Sciences Appliquées, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1999 |
| Nagoya University, 2000 |
| Université de Sherbrooke, 2000 |
| Università di Trieste, 2001 |
| Honorary Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 2003 |
| Honorary Professor, Nanjing University, 2003 |
| Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2003 |
| University of St. Andrews, 2004 |
| Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, 2005 |
| Technical University, St Petersburg, 2005 |
| Mazaryk University, Brno, 2005 |
| Honorary Professor, Beijing University, 2005 |
| Kyushu University, 2005 |
| Awards |
| Bronze Medal of the CNRS, 1963 |
| Adrian Prize of the Société Chimique de France, 1968 |
| Silver Medal of the CNRS, 1972 |
| Raymond Berr Prize of the Société Chimique de France, 1978 |
| Gold Medal of the Académie Pontificale des Sciences, 1981 |
| Gold Medal of the CNRS, 1981 |
| Pierre Bruylants Medal, Louvain, 1981 |
| Paracelsus Prize of the Swiss Chemical Society, 1982 |
| Alexander von Humboldt Forschungspreis, 1983 |
| Prize of the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique awarded by the Académie des Sciences, 1984 |
| Rolf-Sammet Prize, Frankfurt University, 1985 |
| Prize of the Fondation Alsace, 1986 |
| George Kenner Prize, University of Liverpool, 1987 |
| Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1987 |
| Sigillum Magnum, University of Bologna, 1988 |
| Minnie Rosen Award, 1989 |
| Vermeil Medal of the Ville de Paris, 1989 |
| Gold Medal of the Société d’Encouragement au Progrès, 1989 |
| Karl-Ziegler Prize, Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, 1989 |
| Grand Bretzel d’Or, Institut des Arts et Traditions Populaires d’Alsace, 1992 |
| Bonner Chemiepreis, 1993 |
| 1992 “Ettore Majorana-Erice-Science for Peace” Prize, 1994 |
| Gold Medal of the Société Académique Arts–Sciences–Lettres, 1995 |
| Gold Medal of Comenius University, Bratislava, 1995 |
| Golden Memorial Medal of the Faculty of Sciences, Charles University, Prague, 1995 |
| Honorary Medal of the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, 1996 |
| The Davy Medal of the Royal Society, 1997 |
| Lavoisier Medal 1997 of the Société Française de Chimie |
| Top 75 Award, C&N, American Chemical Society, 1998 |
| Allan R. Day Award of the Philadelphia Organic Chemists’ Club, 1998 |
| 1998 Messel Medal, Society of Chemical Industry, London |
| Premio Barocco, 2003 |
| Gold Medal “Giulio Natta” of the Italian Chemical Society, 2003 |
| JSPS Award (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), 2003 |
| Gold Medal of the 70th Anniversary of the Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, 2004 |
| Gold Medal of the University Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, 2005 |
| Memberships |
| Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 1980 |
| Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1980 |
| Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1983 |
| Member of the Académie des Sciences, Institut de France, 1985 |
| Foreign Member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina, 1985 |
| Foreign Member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 1985 |
| Honorary Member of the Union des Physiciens, 1986 |
| Foreign Member of the American Philosophical Society, 1987 |
| Honorary Member of the Académie Européenne des Sciences, des Arts et des Lettres, 1987 |
| Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (Belgium), 1987 |
| Honorary Fellow ot the Royal Society of Chemistry (Great-Britain), 1987 |
| Member of the Academia Europaea, 1988 |
| Member of the Académie d’Alsace, 1989 |
| Honorary Fellow of Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, 1989 |
| Foreign Associate of the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur-Mainz, 1989 |
| Honorary Member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, 1990 |
| Member of the Akademie der Wissenschaften of Göttingen, 1990 |
| Associate Member of the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten, 1990 |
| Honorary Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, 1991 |
| Foreign Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 1991 |
| Foreign Associate of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Puerto Rico, 1991 |
| Foreign Member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 1992 |
| Honorary Member, Institut Grand Ducal, Luxembourg, 1992 |
| Foreign Member of the Royal Society, 1993 |
| Honorary Member of the Romanian Academy, 1993 |
| Honorary Foreign Member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST), 1995 |
| Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 1996 |
| Foreign Member of the Third World Academy of Sciences, 1996 |
| Honorary Member of the Czech Learned Society, 1997 |
| Honorary Member of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker, 1997 |
| Foreign Member of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, 1999 |
| Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy, Section Science, 1999 |
| Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1999 |
| Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics, 1999 |
| Member of the Académie des Technologies, Institut de France, 2001 |
| Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2001 |
| Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2001 |
| Honorary Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Chemistry, 2001 |
| Member of the International Academy of Humanism, 2001 |
| Honorary Member of The Chemical Society of Japan (CSJ), 2002 |
| Honorary Fellow of the Chemical Research Society of India, 2002 |
| Consulting Honorary Member of The World Innovation Foundation, 2003 |
| Corresponding Member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2003 |
| AAAS Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2003 |
| Honorary Fellowship of IChemE Institution of Chemical Engineers, 2003 |
| President of the Academia Bibliotheca Alexandrinae, 2004 |
| Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2004 |
| Member of the Gesellschaft Österreichischer Chemiker, 2004 |
| Honorary Member of the Académie des Sciences Inscriptions et Belles Lettres de Toulouse, 2005 |
| Honorary Member of the Real Academia Sevillana de Ciencias, 2005 |
| Honorary Member of the Société Française de Chimie, 2005 |
| Decorations |
| Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite, 1976 |
| Chevalier de l’ordre de la Légion d’Honneur, 1983 |
| Officier de l’ordre de la Légion d’Honneur, 1988 |
| Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques, 1989 |
| Member of the Order “Pour le Mérite” für Wissenschaften und Künste (RFA), 1990 |
| Officier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite, 1993 |
| Commandeur de l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur, 1996 |
| Ostereischiches Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Erste Klasse, 2001 |
| Grand Officer of the Order of Cultural Merit of Romania, 2004 |
| Scientific Work |
| 790 publications; 3 books |
| “Chemia Supramolekularna”, Collection of publications by J.-M. Lehn, organised and translated into Polish under the direction of Janusz Lipkowski, Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, 1985. |
| B. Dietrich, P. Viout, J.-M. Lehn, “Aspects de la chimie des composés macrocycliques”, InterEditions/Editions du CNRS, 1991. |
| “Macrocyclic Chemistry – Aspects of Organic and Inorganic Supramolecular Chemistry”, VCH, Weinheim, 1993. |
| J.-M. Lehn, “Supramolecular Chemistry – Concepts and Perspectives”, VCH, 1995. |
| “La chimie supramoléculaire : Concepts et perspectives”, Traduit de l’anglais par A. Pousse, De Boeck Université, Bruxelles, 1997. – Japanese Version, translated by Y. Takeuchi, Kagaku Dojin, Tokyo, 1997. – Russian Version, translated by E.V. Boldyreva; coeditors, V.V. Vlassov and A.A. Varnek; Nauka, Novosibirsk, 1998. – Chinese Version, translated by X. Shen, Peking University, Beijing, 2002. |
| Fields of Research |
| Theoretical Organic Chemistry: Ab initio conformational analysis: computation of nitrogen and phosphine inversion, of the electronic structure of hydrocarbons, of stereoelectronic effects on chemical reactivity; theoretical studies of molecular receptors and recognition processes. |
| Dynamic Nuclear Magnetic Resonance: Studies of conformational rate processes, internal rotation and nitrogen inversion. |
| Molecular Dynamics and Liquid Structure from Nuclear Magnetic Relaxation data. Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance. |
| Supramolecular Chemistry: |
| Cryptates: Design, synthesis and properties of ligands forming stable and selective inclusion complexes with metal ions; di– and poly-nuclear cryptates; bioinorganic models; photoactive and electroactive cryptates; cluster cryptates; energy and electron transfer processes. |
| Molecular Recognition, Molecular Receptors and Coreceptors: Design, synthesis and properties of macropolycyclic complexing agents binding selectively one or several molecular substrates: metalloreceptors; photoactive receptors; cyclointercalands. |
| Anion Coordination Chemistry: Anion cryptates; receptors and coreceptors for anionic substrates; selective complexation of organic, inorganic and biological anions. |
| Supramolecular Catalysis: Design and properties of molecular catalysts performing a reaction on bound substrate species; enzyme models; cocatalysis. |
| Transport Processes: Design of selective carriers; transport of anions, cations and molecules; thermodynamic and kinetic properties; transport regulation; coupling to chemical potentials (protons, electrons) and to light. |
| Selfassembly and Selforganisation: Design of systems generating given supramolecular architectures by molecular recognition directed spontaneous assembly of the components; programmed chemical systems; hydrogen bonding and coordination interactions; selforganisation of organic and inorganic entities; polymolecular assemblies. |
| Supramolecular Materials: Recognition materials, supramolecular polymers, liquid crystals, vesicles, inorganic materials. |
| Chemionics: Molecular Photonic, Electronic and Ionic Devices: Photoactive and electroactive cryptates; energy and electron transfer processes; light conversion; photo-antenna; ion transfer; molecular and ionic switching and amplifying processes; molecular protonics. |
| Semiochemistry: Generation and processing of optical, electronic and ionic chemical signals; ion detection; ion pulses; non-linear optical properties. |
| Photochemistry and Solar Energy Storage: Photochemical activation of small molecules by means of transition metal complexes; photogeneration of hydrogen and oxygen; water photolysis; photoreduction of CO2; design of photoinduced charge separation systems. |
| Structural and Dynamic Studies by Multinuclear NMR on supramolecular complexes (in collaboration with the NMR Laboratory). |
| Bioorganic Chemistry and Biological Applications: Models of biological receptors, of enzymes and of biological transport processes; immunological labelling agents, selective nucleic acid reagents, helical and metallo-nucleic complexes; artificial gene transfer vectors. |
| Dynamic Combinatorial Chemistry: Design of virtual combinatorial libraries; application to biological targets and to materials. |
* This CV was provided by the Laureate in January, 2006.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2006
Speed read: Getting chemistry into shape
For natural biological molecules to interact effectively they need to identify that they are at the correct location, and the most effective means for achieving this lies in recognising their partner’s shape and the chemistry of their interaction. The best-known instance of this molecular recognition is the way in which enzymes are shaped exactly to suit their own substrates, so that they can act like flexible locks that will only accept and embrace the appropriate shaped key. The 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry rewarded three chemists who constructed the first artificial chemicals whose in-built shape began to mimic the selective behaviour of biological molecules.
Charles Pedersen provided the initial breakthrough by synthesizing a group of chemicals that he called crown ethers on account of their structure – two-dimensional and flexible rings shaped like a royal crown that consist of chains of carbon atoms with oxygen atoms appearing at regular intervals. Pedersen discovered that introducing more or less atoms into a ring to vary its size affected which metal element the ring could house within its centre. The molecular accommodation process was exquisitely sensitive; smaller rings were able to distinguish between even closely related elements like potassium and sodium.
Pedersen’s flat crown ethers provided the platform for Jean-Marie Lehn and Donald Cram to develop increasingly sophisticated compounds that selectively recognised the type of chemicals found in a living cell. Lehn succeeded in creating three-dimensional crown ethers from multiple layers of atoms with interconnected chains, which contained an internal cavity that could completely encapsulate a molecule. He also constructed a compound that interacts in a specific manner with acetylcholine, one of the major chemicals transmitted along nerves. Cram designed a series of progressively complex prototype molecules and then successfully synthesized them in the laboratory. Among the hundreds of chemicals he created, Cram successfully built a set of crown ethers that attach to specific amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Lehn and Cram defined their research using different names – Lehn called it supramolecular chemistry, while Cram termed the field guest-host chemistry – but what both have in common is that they helped shape the ways in which chemists could reproduce life’s selection processes.
Jean-Marie Lehn – Other resources
Links to other sites
Jean-Marie Lehn’s page at Université de Strasbourg
Biography from Collège de France (in French)
Charles J. Pedersen – Other resources
Links to other sites
On Charles J. Pedersen from DuPont
Donald J. Cram – Other resources
Links to other sites