PERSONAL
Born: July 30, 1929, Gießen, Germany
Married: Margot Kimpel; two children (Ulrike, Martin)
Home Address: Kehlweg 41, 55124 Mainz, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)6131 472884
Office Address: University of Mainz, Institute of Organic Chemistry,
Duesbergweg 10-14
D-55099 Mainz, Germany
Office Phone: +49 (0)6131 3922402
Office Fax: +49 (0)6131 3923145
Office-email: ringsdor@mail.uni-mainz.de
EDUCATION
1951 Chemistry, Universities Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Freiburg
1953 B.S. (Vordiplom), Technical University, Darmstadt
1955-1956 M.S. (Diplom), University Freiburg Research Assistent of H. Staudinger
1956-1958 Ph. D., Chemistry, University Freiburg Research Assistant of H. Staudinger and E. Husemann
1958-1959 Research and Teaching Assistant, University Freiburg
PROFESSIONAL
1960-1962 Research Associate, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, NY, USA (C.G. Overberger, H.F. Mark, Research Directors)
1962-1966 Assistant Professor, University Marburg
1967 Habilitation, University Marburg
1967-1968 Associate Professor, University Marburg
1969-1970 Professor of Polymer Science, University Marburg
1971-1994 Professor of Organic Chemistry, University Mainz, Mainz
1988- Adjunct Professor of Polymer Science, Jilin University, Changchun/China
1994-2000 Adjunct Professor of Pharmacy, University of London, London
1995-2000 Courtauld Visiting Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
2000 Adjunct Professor of Pharmacy, Cardiff University, Cardiff, U.K.
UNIVERSITY and OTHER SERVICE
1973-1975 Dean of Science, University Mainz, Mainz / Germany
1971-1976 A. von Humboldt-Foundation Committee, Bonn/Germany
1976-1989 DAAD -(German Academic Exchange Service) Committee for the Exchange of Scientists, Bonn/ Germany
1978-1984 Member of the WHO-Committee on Fertility Regulation, Geneva/ Switzerland
1976-1979 Member of the Kuratorium of Fonds der Chemie, Frankfurt/Germany
1990-1993 Member of the Kuratorium of Fonds der Chemie, Frankfurt/Germany
1989-1994 Member of the Comité Scientifique, Paris/France
1975-present Editorial Board of Scientific Journals: Advances of Polymer Science, Anti-Cancer Drug Design, Biological Macromolecules, Chimia, Colloid and Polymer Science, Die Makromolekulare Chemie, Liquid Crystals, Macromolecules, Molecular Engineering, New Polymeric Materials, Polymers, Nanotechnology, Member of the Advisory Board of „Science Spectra“, Member of the Advisory Board of „The European Physical Journal E - Soft Matter“
1998-2000 Member of the „Conseil National de La Science“ of the Ministère de l´Education, de la Recherche et de la Technologie, Claude Allègre, Paris/France
2000-2001 Member of the « Conseil Nat. de la Sci.” of the Ministère de l`Education, de la Recherche et de la Technol., R.G. Schwartzenberg, Paris/France
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Organic Chemistry, Undergraduate, Graduate
Polymer Chemistry and Materials Science
Structure and Properties of Liquid Crystals
Polymeric Liquid Crystals as New Materials
Photoreactions in Oriented Systems
Molecular Architecture and Function of Mono- and Multilayers
Liposomes and Supported Bilayers as Models for Biomembranes
Molecular Selforganization and Molecular Recognition
Functional Supramolecular Systems
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
1960 Carl Duisberg Fellowship, Bonn; Germany
1969 K. Winnacker Award, Farbwerke Höchst; Germany
1979 Member of the Academy of Science and Literature, Mainz; Germany
1980 H.F. Mark- Award for Polymer Science, Austrian Chem. Soc., Austria
1981 J.S.P.S.-Fellowship for Polymer Science, Kyoto, Japan
1985 H. Staudinger-Award, German Chemical Society, Frankfurt, Germany
1988 Chaire Francqui, University of Liège, Belgium
1991 Corresp. Member, Nordrh.-Westf. Academy of Science, Düsseldorf
1992 G. Smets Chair, Universities of Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
1992 A. von Humboldt-Award / Ministère Français de la Recherche, Paris
1993 Polymer Award, Society of Polymer Science, Japan
1993 Doctor honoris causa, Université Sud, Paris
1993 Chevalier dans l'ordre des Palmes académiques, Paris, France
1994 ACS-Award in Polymer Chemistry, American Chemical Society, USA
1994 Rothschild Professor, Curie Institute, Paris/France
1995 Doctor honoris causa, Trinity College University Dublin/Ireland
1996 Centenary Lectureship Award, The Royal Society of Chemistry, London
1996 A. Cruikshank Lecture Award in Chemical Sciences, Gordon Conference/USA
1996 Distinguished Professorship, Kyoto University, Kyoto/Japan
1997 / 1998 Eminent Scientist of RIKEN, RIKEN-Toyko/JAPAN
1999 Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
1999 Doctor Honoris Causa, ETH Zürich / Switzerland
2000 Honored Member of the Liquid Crystal Society
2001 Friendship Award of the P.R. China, Beijing
2002 Prize for Technology and Applied Science, C.F.-Pastor-Foundation, Aachen / München, Germany
2004 Doctor Honoris Causa, University Strasbourg / France
2006 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Journal of Drug Targeting
2007 Member of the Accademia Gioenia Catania/Sicily / Italy
SPECIAL LECTURESHIPS
1982 R.T. Major Lectureship, University of Connecticut, Stoors, Conn./USA
1986 Semon Lectureship, University of Kent, Kent, Ohio/USA
1987 Frontiers in Chemistry Lectureship, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio/USA
1987 Mobay Lectures / P. Debye Lectureship, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY/USA
1989 IMS-Distiguinshed Lectureship, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Conn./USA
1990 O.K. Rice Lectures, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC/USA
1990 CMSE-Distinguished Visiting Scholarship, Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, Boston, Ma. /USA
1990 IBM-Almaden-Research Centre Lectureship, San Jose, Ca./USA
1991 W.P. and D.N. Harris German-Dartmouth Distinguished Professorship, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H./USA
1992 C.B. Purves Lectures, McGill University, Montreal/Canada
1992 Melvin Calvin Lectureship, University of California at Berkeley/USA
1993 Miles Lectureship, University of Pittsburgh/USA
1993 A.v.H.-Prof., Charles Sadron Inst. of Polym.Sci., Strasbourg/France
1994 Ziegler-Natta Lectureship, Italien Chem.-Soc., Italy
1994 G. M.J. Schmidt Lecture, Weizmann Inst. of Science, Rehovot/Israel
1995 Pirkey Lecture, University of Texas, Austin
1996 Pierre Duhem Lectures, University Bordeaux/France
1996 Otto M. Smith Lecture, Oklahoma State University/USA
1996 Rushmer Lecture, University Washington, Seattle/SA
1996 Aggarwal Lectures, Cornell University, Ithaca/USA
1996 Meyerhoff Visiting Professorship, Weizman Institute, Rehovot/Israel
1997 E. Gordon Young Memorial Lectureship, The Chemical Institute of Canada, Canada
1998 Distinguished Shipley Lecturer, Clarkson University, Potsdam/USA
2000 Rohm and Haas Polymer Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley/USA
2003 Abbé-Lectureship, Abbé-Foundation, University Jena, Jena / Germany
2004 Distinguished H. Morawetz Science Lecture, Polytechnic Institute of New York / USA
RESEARCH TOPICS and PUBLICATIONS
(Original papers, Short Communications, Reviews, Book Contributions) 1956-1962 (Publikations: 1 - 9) Functional monomers and polymers: polymerizable Schiff-bases, reversibly crosslinked polymers; O- and S-vinylsystems, cyclopolymerization of vinyl-monomers and dialdehydes, transannular reactions; .
1963-1975 (Publications: 10 - 65) Kinetic of O- and S-vinylpolymerization, monomeric and polymeric ylids, N-vinylpyridinium salts, Mass-Spectrometry of polymers, polymeric radiation prophylactics , polymeric drug delivery systems, polymer liquid crystals, polymerization in monolayers
1976-1985 (Publications 66 - 199) Pharmacologically active polymers; drug carrier systems; polymeric antitumor agents on a molecular and cellular level; Cell Specific Uptake of Polymers and Cell Membrane - Polymer Interaction Polymerization reactions in oriented systems: liquid crystals, micelles, monolayers and liposomes; liquid crystalline polymers;
1986 - 2007 (Publications: 200 - 517) Based on the concept of molecular engineering of functional polymers and of molecular assemblies, investigations are centered around the attempt to bridge the gap between Life Science and Materials Science as shown in the following figure describing Functional Supramolecular Systems. The main themes are: molecular architecture of liquid crystals, structure and properties of functional supramolecular systems and attempts to mimic biomembrane processes
Molecular Architecture and Functionalization of Polymeric Liquid Crystals: synthesis, structure and property of liquid crystalline side group and main chain polymers; variation of the type of mesogens (rods, discs, boards) and variation of phases. Dye
containing and photoreactive liquid crystalline polymers for reversible information storage and
non linear optic materials. Phase induction and phase variation of liquid crystalline systems via CT-interaction and metal complexation. Photoconductive discotic systems. Synthesis, Structure and Properties of Functional Supramolecular Systems: Polymerizable and functional amphiphiles (detergents, lipids), polymeric monolayers and multilayers via the Langmuir-Blodgett technique and via selfassembly on various surfaces. Liposomes, Black Lipid Membranes, mobile supported bilayers, H-Bond induced band structures in water, organization and recognition induced functionality. Multicompartment polymer micelles.
Attempts to Mimic Biomembrane Processes: Synthetic and natural receptors in molecular assemblies; molecular recognition, 2Dcrystallization and function of proteins on monolayers and liposomes, e.g. lectins, streptavidin, monoclonal antibodies, phospholipase A2 and acetylcholinesterase, tailoring of bioreactive surfaces; mixed protein multilayers. Protein-DNA-interaction at ligand lipid monolayers. Polymer therapeutics, polymer antitumor agents on a molecular and cellular level.