Bogdan-Răzvan Bruțiu awarded the Karl Schlögl Prize 2025: Recognition for outstanding research in organic chemistry

25.03.2026

Dr Bogdan-Răzvan Bruțiu from the research group of Prof. Nuno Maulide has been awarded the prestigious Karl Schlögl Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) for his dissertation "Harnessing Carbocations for the Remote Functionalization of Alkenes and Silyl Enol Ethers". This continues the institute’s remarkable track record: following Dr Roland Barth (2008), Dr Jean-Baptiste Farcet (2014), Dr Katharina Pallitsch (2016), Dr Saad Shaaban (2018), Dr Daniel Kaiser (2020) and Dr Adriano Bauer (2021), he is the seventh recipient of this distinction.

Molecular migrations and efficient synthesis

At the heart of his dissertation – with results published in Nature in 2024 – is the development of new methods for the targeted transformation of alkenes into more complex products. These compounds are key building blocks across the chemical industry, from pharmaceuticals to petrochemicals. The new approach opens up faster and more resource-efficient synthetic routes.

“Our breakthrough came from addressing the limitations of classical methods. While most reactions occur at the two carbon atoms forming the double bond, we aimed to break this paradigm,” explains Dr Bruțiu. “Our approach enables, for the first time, the targeted functionalization of more remote positions within a molecule.”

The key concept is “charge relocation”: by introducing a reactive acyl fragment, a positive charge is generated in the alkene and can be deliberately shifted to a new position within the molecule. There, it can be harnessed for further transformations, enabling efficient access to previously difficult-to-reach structures.

Importantly, the method does not require additional molecular fragments, so-called directing groups, which often need to be removed after the reaction. Instead, the reagent simultaneously acts as both reactant and directing element. This elegant strategy significantly simplifies synthetic routes and broadens their scope: for example, the bioactive natural product 4-ipomeanol, which is used in medical research, can be synthesised in a single step rather than five.

About Dr Bogdan Bruțiu

Bogdan Bruțiu completed his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Vienna. He obtained his Master’s degree in 2019 in the group of Nuno Maulide, where he completed his PhD in 2024. His work had already been recognised in 2021 with a DOC fellowship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Since 2025, he has been a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Jeffrey Bode at ETH Zurich. In collaboration with Synple Chem AG, he is currently working on the development of automated reaction protocols, supported by a grant from the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse.

About the Karl Schlögl Award

The Karl Schlögl Prize is awarded annually by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW). It recognises outstanding doctoral theses in synthetic, physical, analytical, and theoretical chemistry, primarily carried out at Austrian universities. The award ceremony took place on 24 March at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

 

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