Stefan Hecht

[1] He studied chemistry from 1992 to 1997 at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the University of California, Berkeley, where he carried out his diploma thesis research with the late William G. Dauben about "New Mechanistic Insight into the Lumiketone Rearrangement – Wavelength-Dependent Photochemistry of 4-Methoxybicyclo[3.1.0]hex-3-en-2-ones".

[2] After his diploma in chemistry, he carried out his graduate work from 1997 to 2001 on the "Synthesis and Application of Functional Branched Macromolecules – From Site Isolation and Energy Harvesting to Catalysis" in the research group of Jean Fréchet at the University of California, Berkeley.

Particular focus of his work is on the development of photoswitchable molecules to optically control of physical, chemical, and biological processes and their application in materials, (opto)electronic devices, and additive manufacturing.

Together with Leonhard Grill, Hecht has pioneered the development of "On-Surface Polymerization"[4][5] as a new precision synthesis method for 1D and 2D nanostructures, such as molecular wires,[6] graphene ribbons, and networks.

[16][17] His photoswitches enable to control and drive various processes (folding,[18][19][20] reactivity,[21][22] and catalysis[23][24][25]), materials (self-healing[26][27] and detection[28][29]), and devices (transistors,[30] memories,[31] displays[32]) and actuators.