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David Rombach grew up in Karlsruhe (Germany) in 1986 and studied chemistry at LMU Munich and KIT Karlsruhe. After scientific adventures in fluorine chemistry with Tobias Ritter (Harvard University) and the synthesis of GluK2 antagonists with Lennart Bunch (University of Copenhagen), he focused on the synthesis and incorporation of photoswitches into DNA during his diploma thesis (Diplom, 2015). Inspired by photochemistry and organofluorine chemistry, he joined Hans-Achim Wagenknecht's group to work on photoredoxic catalytic activation of SF6 for pentafluorosulfanylation chemistry during his PhD (2018). In 2019, he joined Antonio Togni's group at ETH Zurich as a postdoctoral fellow to continue his work on hypervalent sulfur, iodine compounds and trifluoroacetylation chemistry. In 2020, he started his independent research (SNSF Spark) in the group of Erick M. Carreira at ETH Zurich to study novel SF5-containing molecules. In July 2023, David started as a group leader at the University of Zurich (SNSF Ambizione).
University of Zurich
Department of Chemistry
Winterthurerstrasse 190
Room Y38 K 32
8057 Zurich
Philipp was born in 1992 and raised close to Baden-Baden (Germany) and studied chemistry at KIT in Karlsruhe. In his Bachelor thesis he focused on stimuli responsive polymers obtained from multicomponent reactions under supervision of Prof. Dr. Michael Meier. He continued in the same group investigating uniform macromolecules and data storage in small molecules during his Master and PhD (2022). Since then, he is working on a ZIM project in collaboration with industry and he is part of the digitalization program of the institute. In april 2024, he moved to Zurich to join the Rombach group for three months as a postdoctoral researcher. Outside the lab Philipp is a passionate photographer, likes road cycling and travelling.
University of Zurich
Department of Chemistry
Winterthurerstrasse 190
Room Y38 K 32
8057 Zurich
Marvin was born in Kiel and grew up in a small town at the border to Switzerland. He then moved to Karlsruhe to start his studies in chemistry at Karlsruhe Institute of Technologie (KIT), where he also finished his Bachelor's degree working on cypermethrin loaded silica-nanoparticles in the group of Prof. Claus Feldmann. During his Master's studies at KIT he joined the Rombach Group for a semester abroad to follow his passion in synthetic organic chemistry. Outside the lab you can find him taking pictures in nature or doing sports.
University of Zurich
Department of Chemistry
Winterthurerstrasse 190
Room Y38 K 32
8057 Zurich
André grew up in Cham ZG next to the lake of Zug (Switzerland). He obtained his BSc and MSc in Chemistry from ETH Zurich (2014 – 2019). During his Master’s studiesin the group of Prof. Peter Chen, he worked on isolating and observing Nickel(0) alkyl complexes as potential intermediates in catalytic cyclopropanation reactions. After an internship at Lonza Specialty Ingredients (now known as Arxada), he started his PhD in physical organic chemistry in the group of Prof. Peter Chen at ETH Zurich (2020 – 2024). There he worked on catalytic homogeneous hydrogenation reactions using charge-tagged cyclopentadienone iron complexes, focusing on their synthesis and mechanistic studies using mass spectrometry. In October 2024, he joined the Rombach group as a postdoctoral researcher. Apart from research, André teaches prospective lab technicians at avocational school. In his free time, he enjoys playing the Saxophone and the Clarinet, riding freestyle BMX and mountain biking, and reading.
University of Zurich
Department of Chemistry
Winterthurerstrasse 190
Room Y38 K 32
8057 Zurich
Max Flügge was born and raised near Hamburg (Germany). In 2018 her moved to Aachen where he conducted his Bachelor and Master studies at the RWTH Aachen. He then moved to Zurich to start his master thesis in organofluorine chemistry in the Rombach group.
University of Zurich
Department of Chemistry
Winterthurerstrasse 190
Room Y38 K 32
8057 Zurich
Richard grew up in a Waldshut (Germany), close to the Swiss border. After finishing his apprenticeship as a chemical lab technician in 2021 he worked in process chemistry for one year. Then in 2022 hestarted his bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the UZH. During a short internship in our group in the summer of 2024 he became interested in the chemistryof the SF5 group. Starting in February of 2025 he returned to do his Bachelor's research on SF5 chemistry. In his free time Richard enjoys cooking and going out for a walk.
University of Zurich
Department of Chemistry
Winterthurerstrasse 190
Room Y38 K 32
8057 Zurich
Lujie was born and grew up in Jiangsu Province, China. In 2019, he moved to University of Cambridge to conduct his Bachelor’s and Master’s study. He joined Prof. Matthew Gaunt’s group to carry out his master’s project on multicomponent alkene azido-heteroarylation reactions. In 2024, he moved to Zurich and joined Rombach group as a PhD student. Apart from chemistry, Lujie enjoys photographyand music.