In Memoriam Arne van der Gen
On January 11, 2025, our esteemed colleague and emeritus professor Arne van der Gen passed away. Arne was a professor of Organic Chemistry from 1980 until his retirement in 2000, and was a great advocate of the integration and harmonization of European education in chemistry. Arne was 90 years old.
Arne was a gifted synthetic organic chemist who combined chemical and biochemical processes in the design of fundamentally new transformations and the synthesis of new biologically active compounds. Arne received his PhD from the University of Amsterdam in 1964 for his research on the synthesis of cholesterol derivatives. After his PhD, he further deepened his synthetic knowledge and skills as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Maine and Stanford University, before heading the synthetic research laboratory of the fragrance and flavors manufacturer Quest International (now Givaudan-Netherlands in Naarden) in 1967. In 1972, Arne returned to academia and was appointed Lector (Associate Professor) at Leiden University. In 1980, he was appointed Professor of Organic Chemistry, a chair he held until his retirement in 2000.
Arne has more than two hundred publications and eight patents to his name, and has acted as PhD supervisor on many occasions. He worked on a wide range of topics in organic chemistry: biocatalysis, asymmetric synthesis, biochemical transformations, metabolism of drugs and of toxic compounds, subjects he enjoyed teaching. Arne was a gifted and popular teacher who excelled in the meticulous presentation, with blackboard and chalk (powerpoint did not yet exist), of the most complex organic molecules and chemical reactions. Some of the transformations that Arne and his team invented are still in use, both inside and outside Leiden University. His work on the chemo-enzymatic synthesis of chiral cyanohydrins was groundbreaking, both conceptually and practically. With his use of the enzyme hydroxynitrilase from almonds, Arne was a pioneer in the now widespread field of biocatalysis. The chiral and enantiopure cyanohydrins prepared by him and his team are still used as starting materials for the preparation of a variety of biologically active compounds.
In addition to being an excellent organic chemist and passionate teacher, Arne was very committed to improving academic education. In 1999, Arne was installed as a representative of Leiden University for the European Chemistry Thematic Network Association, a position he would hold well into his retirement. He led various thematic committees, always with the quality of education as top priority, coupled with the desire to harmonize chemistry education in Europe where possible. He was one of the founders of the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), which is now common practice within the European Union and which allows students to easily obtain credits fromdifferent (chemical) education programs.
After a rich and passionate career as a teacher and researcher, Arne has enjoyed his retirement in recent years. He did this, with his partner Hannedea, in his second home in the Ardennes, where he also liked to go during his working life. He passed away on 11 January in his hometown of Ny. The Leiden Institute of Chemistry is grateful to Arne for his contributions to the development of Leiden chemistry, both in education and research, and wishes his relatives much strength in coping with this loss.