The entire ICIQ community mourns the loss of a colleague and a friend, Kilian Muñiz. Our thoughts are with his family and with those who worked closely with him.

“I’m deeply saddened by the loss of Kilian. The scientific community loses a great scientist and a friend, always eager to talk about good wines and his beloved land, Asturias,” says Prof. Miquel A. Pericàs, ICIQ Director.

Professor Muñiz joined the Institute as Group Leader in November 2009. One year later, he was appointed ICREA Research Professor.

Previously, he had obtained his Doctorate in Organic Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Carsten Bolm (RTWTH Aachen) in 1998. Afterward, he worked two years as an Alexander von Humboldt/JSPS-postdoctoral associate with Professor Ryoji Noyori at Nagoya University. In 2001, he started his independent research career at the Kekulé-Department of Bonn University and defended his Habilitation thesis in 2005. That same year he moved to the University of Strasbourg as an Associate Professor, where he was promoted to Full Professor in 2006.

Professor Muñiz’s research was focused on the discovery of novel chemical transformations to provide direct access to nitrogenated molecules, which are key players in a variety of compounds of biological, medicinal and pharmaceutical interest.