Award Announcement: Laureate of the International Arbuzovs Prize in Organophosphorus Chemistry for 2021

Recently, I received a correspondence from Dr. Tanya Keshner, Executive Secretary of the Awarding Committee for the Arbuzovs Prize attached to the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. The International Arbuzovs Prize in the Field of Organophosphorus Chemistry was established in memory of the outstanding Russian chemists, Alexander and Boris Arbuzovs, by the President of the Republic of Tatarstan in 1997. The Arbuzovs Prize is awarded biennially to an honored Russian or foreign chemist for a “single scientific achievement or a set of scientific results in the development of phosphorus chemistry.” Past winners of the award include: 1997 – Professors Arkady Pudovik (Russia) and Louis Quin (USA) 1999 – Professor Jan Michalski (Poland) 2001 – Professor Francois Mathey (France) 2003 – Professor Edgar Niecke (Germany) 2005 – Professor Masaaki Yoshifuji (Japan) 2007 – Professor Irina P. Beletskaya (Russia) 2009 – Professor Marian Mikolajczyk (Poland) 2011 – Professor Michael Blackburn (United Kingdom) 2013 – Professor Valerii Kukhar (Ukraine) 2015 – Professor Yufen Zhao (China) 2017 – Professor Manfred Scheer (Germany) 2019 – Professor Oleg Sinyashin (Russia) ( indicates Editorial/Emeritus Board Member of Phosphorus Sulfur and Silicon and the Related Elements) For 2021, the international committee has chosen Professor Koop Lammertsma as the winner of award. The presentation of the medal and diploma was made at the Federal Research Center, Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Dec 9, 2021. Professor Oleg Sinyashin, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Chemistry Division of the Federal Research Center (Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences), the Chairman of the Awarding Committee of the International Arbuzovs Prize, and the leader of modern Kazan Chemistry School bestowed this honor at a ceremony that included public officials, representatives of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and members of the scientific community, and was followed by a lecture by Professor Lammertsma entitled “Reactive Low-Valent Organophosphorus Complexes.” The citation indicates that the Awarding Committee recognizes [Professor Lammertsma’s] “advancement of the synthetic diversity of organophosphorus chemistry by embedding physical-organic concepts and by using quantum mechanical calculations as a guiding tool. He focused on unraveling the chemical properties of reactive intermediates and controlling their chemical reactivities. Most of his work concerned the carbene-like chemistry of low-valent phosphinidene complexes and their applications toward novel, strained, as well as dynamic organophosphorus compounds. For his research he used a uniquely integrated synthetic-computational approach. He also contributed to the synthesis of novel organophosphorus ligands for transition metal complexes, the synthesis of P-based frustrated Lewis pairs, revitalized the research on white phosphorus by direct functionalization to organophosphorus products, and advocated efforts in phosphorus sustainability.” He was also engaged in the problems arising from the heavy exploitation of phosphorus resources. He substantially increased the geopolitical awareness of the problem that the natural resources (phosphonate rock) are on the edge of depletion and that there is a need for regulation to circumvent catastrophic consequences.