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 PD Dr. 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 his independent research, Robert aims to merge physical-organic and computational insights to investigate complex mechanistic organic chemistry relevant to organic synthesis or the chemical emergence of life.
You can learn more about me in my author profile in Angewandte Chemie!
CV
Independent Junior Group Leader, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Munich, Germany (since 01/2024).
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: PD 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
- Liebig fellowship by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (2024)
- Award for the best oral presentation titled “Metal Ions Facilitate Chirality Transfer in Non-Enzymatic Reductions with NADH” at the REGIO Symposium, Freiburg, Germany, August 20, 2023.
- Awarded lecture titled “A Mechanistic Approach to Amino Acids and Reduction Reactions in the Emergence of Metabolism” at the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Physical Organic Chemistry, Holderness, USA, June 30, 2023.
- Lindau Spirit Fellowship for participation at the 71st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting on Chemistry, 2022. I was the selected participant nominated by the Bavarian Academy of Science for the meeting in 2020, which was held online in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, I could participate in person in 2022.
- Walter Benjamin Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (2021)
- Award by the Dr. Klaus Römer-Stiftung for Ph.D. students (11/2020). Received from the faculty of chemistry of the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München for an outstanding Ph.D. thesis.
- Kekulé Ph.D. fellowship by the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (2017)
- Award by the Dr. Klaus Römer-Stiftung for M.Sc. students (12/2017). Received from the faculty of chemistry of the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München for an outstanding M.Sc. thesis.
Memberships
- Since 2012: German Chemical Society (GDCh)
Contact and Official Address
To contact Robert, write an email to: robert.j.mayer “at” tum.de
Dr. Robert J. Mayer
Lehrstuhl für Supramolekular Chemie
Technische Universität München
Lichtenbergstraße 4
85748 Garching
Office: CH 53103 (yellow tower)
Telephone: +49 (89) 289 – 13624
Mayer lab at Technische Universität München 