Rate My Professor Matthias Tamm

Matthias Tamm, born in Berlin, Germany, in 1967, is Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Technische Universität Carolo-Wilhelmina zu Braunschweig since 2005. He heads the Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, serves as an elected member of the university Senate, and previously held roles as Dean of Studies from 2009 to 2011 and Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences from 2015 to 2017. Prior to his appointment in Braunschweig, Tamm was a temporary professor at the Technische Universität München from 2002 to 2005 and Privatdozent at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster starting in 1999. He completed his Habilitation in Berlin and Münster in 1994, following a one-year stint as Visiting Research Scientist at DuPont Central Research and Development in Wilmington, DE, USA, with Anthony J. Arduengo, III. Tamm studied chemistry and received his PhD in 1992 from the Technische Universität Berlin under the supervision of F. Ekkehardt Hahn.

His research specializes in preparative organometallic chemistry and coordination chemistry, emphasizing the development of novel ligand systems, such as anionic N-heterocyclic carbenes, and their transition metal complexes for homogeneous catalysis, organic synthesis, and materials science. Tamm has earned honorary doctorates from the University Politehnica of Bucharest and the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Iași, along with the Gheorghe Spacu Medal from the Romanian Chemical Society in 2016. Key publications include "Synthesis of Conjugated Linear and Cyclic Polyynes by Alkyne Metathesis" (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2026, with J. Escudero et al.), "Zinc Hydride Complexes Stabilized by Anionic N-Heterocyclic Carbenes for the Catalytic Hydrosilylation of Aldehydes and Ketones" (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2026, with Z. Hosseinpour et al.), "Alkyne Metathesis" chapter in Comprehensive Organic Synthesis, 3rd Ed. (2025), "Gold(I) and Gold(III) Carbene Complexes from the Marine Betaine Norzooanemonin: Inhibition of Thioredoxin Reductase, Antiproliferative and Antimicrobial Activity" (RSC Med. Chem. 2024, with S.M. Mahdavi et al.), and "Photoactive Neutral Three-Coordinate Cu(I) Complexes of Anionic N‑Heterocyclic Carbenes" (JACS Au 2025, with L.E. Burmeister et al.).