Contemporary Synthetic Glycoscience: A Theme Issue Dedicated to the Memory of Hans Paulsen
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Bioorganic Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2025) | Viewed by 2367
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue of Molecules is dedicated to Professor Dr. Hans Paulsen for his contributions to the field of glycoscience.
Hans Paulsen, born on May 20, 1922 in Altona, was drafted after graduating from high school and conducted labor and military service until 1945. He returned to Hamburg seriously ill and was only able to start studying chemistry in 1948. After completing his Diploma, he received his doctorate in 1955 as Dr. rer. nat. from the University of Hamburg in the research group of Prof. Kurt Heyns. In 1962, he completed his Habilitation at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences with the thesis "Monosaccharides with Nitrogen in the Ring".
From 1953 onwards, he was employed as Scientific Assistant in Heyns' group for teaching, researching, and planning tasks in the construction of the university's new chemistry center. In 1968, the Privatdozent was appointed University Professor. He did not follow the offer to fill a chair at the University of Kiel, but instead took up the newly created Professorship for Natural Product Chemistry in Hamburg, a position he held from 1972 until his retirement in 1987.
Hans Paulsen's scientific work lies at the heart of carbohydrate chemistry. Joint publications with his academic teacher Kurt Heyns dealt with the platinum-catalyzed oxidation of saccharides. Individual topics relating to the chemistry of carbohydrates with nitrogen in the hemiacetal ring later gained particular attention because such derivatives turned out to be extremely potent glycosidase inhibitors. Other research areas dealt with acyloxonium rearrangements in carbohydrate chemistry; phosphorus-containing saccharides; carbohydrates with branched functional chains; aminoglycoside antibiotics; and oligosaccharide, glycolipid, and O- and N-glycoprotein syntheses. Early on, Hans Paulsen recognized the impact of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) for structural assignments in organic chemistry and particularly complex saccharides; he purposefully expanded this technology in Hamburg. This enabled him to make important contributions to the conformations of monosaccharide and later oligosaccharide derivatives, as well as to the understanding of the exo-anomeric effect.
Hans Paulsen's scientific work, with more than 500 publications, has received some of the most prestigious national and international awards, including the Emil Fischer Medal, the Haworth Memorial Medal, the Claude S. Hudson Award, the Heyrovsky Medal, the Biyvoet Medal, and the Riken Eminent Scientist Award. Hans Paulsen has served as a co-Editor and a member of the Editorial Boards of numerous international journals. As one of the chief reviewers at the German Research Foundation, he helped shape the field of organic chemistry in Germany for many years.
Remarkably, behind this enormous impact stands a modest and reserved personality. Never loud but always with convincing detailed knowledge, he charismatically encouraged many young scientists to write their own articles. His withdrawn private lifestyle always became somewhat transparent when he reported enthusiastically, knowledgeably, and humorously with beautiful pictures about history, architecture, countries, and their people from numerous trips to all parts of the world.
We will remember Hans Paulsen as a great scientist and highly valued colleague.
It is with pleasure that we address all his colleagues and friends and ask for contributions to this Commemorative Special Issue dedicated to honoring his achievements in glycoscience.
Prof. Dr. Joachim Erich Thiem
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- synthesis, chemical, enzymatic
- glycosylation
- mono-, di-, tri-, oligosaccharides
- carbohydrate-based
- modified carbohydrates
- glycoconjugates
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