For decades no method was availabe, neither in textbooks nor in original literature, for the trans-hydrogenation of a triple bond, apart from the Birch reduction which is compatible only with a few functional groups. Prof. Alois Fürstner from the highly renowned MPI für Kohlenforschung in Mülheim has recently discovered such a method and thus opened up new approaches for the total synthesis of highly complex natural products.

Prof. Fürstner has reported about this and other impressive applications of his innovative, novel homogeneous catalysts at this year's Siegfried Hünig-Lecture entitled "Catalysis for Total Synthesis" in the present of a highly impressed audience in a well-filled lecture hall B in the chemistry central building at the Hubland campus.