From 1979 to 1982, he completed his thesis entitled "Nitroallyl-halogenide und -ester als effiziente Verknüpfungsreagenzien" at ETH (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule) Zurich (Switzerland) in Prof. Dieter Seebach's group.
He then spent 4 years at the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) at the Pierre et Marie Curie University in Paris in the group of Prof. Jean-François Normant.
During this period, he studied carbozincation reactions using allylic reagents and prepared bimetallic compounds bearing two different metals (Lithium, Magnesium or Zinc) on the same carbon atom.
In 1987, he accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (MI, USA) where he developed the first methods for the preparation of polyfunctional organometallic zinc species.
Knochel has developed a series of new methods for the preparation of polyfunctional organometallic species of zinc[3] and magnesium, but also many other metals such as copper, aluminium,[4] manganese, indium, iron, lanthanum and samarium.