About Robert
Robert studied Chemistry and Biochemistry at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich (2012–2017), where he subsequently did his PhD studies in the group of Prof. Herbert Mayr and Prof. Armin Ofial (2017–2020). During his doctorate, he investigated the reactivity of oxygen- and sulfur-nucleophiles with physical-organic and quantum-chemical methods and developed multireference scales to rank the strengths of Lewis acids and bases. In 2021, he joined the lab of Prof. Joseph Moran in Strasbourg (France) for a Postdoc, where he investigated the origins of biochemical amino acid metabolism from prebiotic chemistry. Robert was awarded a Liebig fellowship from the Chemical Industry Found (VCI) to start his independent career at TU Munich at the beginning of 2024, where he is hosted by Prof. Job Boekhoven. In 2025, he was awarded an Emmy-Noether fellowship by the DFG. Since December 2025, he has been a Rudolf Mößbauer Tenure Track assistant professor at TUM, leading the chair for Physical-Organic Chemistry of Catalysis. In his independent research, Robert aims to merge physical-organic and computational insights to investigate complex mechanistic organic chemistry relevant to catalysis in organic chemistry, as well as the chemical emergence of life.
CV
Rudolf-Mößbauer Tenure Track Assistant Professor (W2), Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany (since 12/2025).
Independent Junior Group Leader, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany. Mentor: Prof. Job Boekhoven, Chair of Supramolecular Chemistry (01/2024-11/2024).
DFG Postdoctoral Fellow in Prebiotic Chemistry, Institut de Science et d’Ingeniere Supramolecularies (ISIS)/Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France. Advisor: Prof. Joseph Moran (02/2021-12/2023).
Postdoctoral Fellow, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (LMU), Munich, Germany. Advisor: Prof. Dr. Armin Ofial (07/2020–01/2021).
Kekulé Ph.D. Fellow, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (LMU), Munich, Germany. Advisor: Prof. Herbert Mayr, PD Dr. Armin Ofial. Thesis title: “Reactivity of oxygen and sulfur nucleophiles and basicity scales toward heteroatom Lewis acids“, summa cum laude (11/2017–06/2020).
Research Intern, Chemical Process Research and Development, Bayer AG, Wuppertal (01/2017 – 03/2017).
M. Sc. Chemistry, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Germany (10/2015-10/2017)
B. Sc. Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Germany (10/2012-06/2015)
Prices and Awards
- Emmy-Noether program by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/DFG (06/2025)
- Scholarship program of the Daimler and Benz Foundation (03/2025)
- Member of the “Junges Kolleg” of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities/Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften (03/2025)
- Liebig fellowship by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (01/2024-06/2025)
- Lindau Spirit Fellowship for participation at the 71st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting on Chemistry (2022).
- Walter Benjamin Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/DFG (05/2021-04/2023)
- Award by the Dr. Klaus Römer-Stiftung for Ph.D. students (11/2020)
- Kekulé Ph.D. fellowship by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (2017)
- Award by the Dr. Klaus Römer-Stiftung for M.Sc. students (12/2017)
Memberships
- Since 2012: German Chemical Society (GDCh)
Contact and Official Address
To contact Robert, write an email to: robert.j.mayer “at” tum.de
Prof. Dr. Robert J. Mayer
Chair for Physical-Organic Chemistry of Catalysis
Technische Universität München
Lichtenbergstraße 4
85748 Garching
Office: CH 53102 (yellow tower)
Telephone: +49 (89) 289 – 13624
Mayer lab at Technische Universität München 