# Kay Severin
**Kay Severin** (born 1967) is a German supramolecular and inorganic chemist who has been a full professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) since 2009, where he became head of the Laboratory of Supramolecular Chemistry.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Field | Supramolecular chemistry, organometallic synthesis, and catalysis, nitrous oxide chemistry[2](https://www.epfl.ch/labs/lcs/) |
| Position | Full professor, Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, EPFL, since 2009[1](https://people.epfl.ch/kay.severin) |
| Training | PhD in natural sciences, University of Munich, 1995 (group of Prof. W. Beck); postdoctoral fellow with Prof. M. R. Ghadiri at the Scripps Research Institute, 1995–1997[1](https://people.epfl.ch/kay.severin) • [3](https://obelis.unil.ch/p/82874) |
| Major prizes | Werner Prize of the Swiss Chemical Society (2003); Otto Roelen Medal of the DECHEMA (2005)[1](https://people.epfl.ch/kay.severin) |
| Laboratory | Laboratory of Supramolecular Chemistry (LCS), EPFL, established 2001[4](https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2011.680) |
| Signature work | ["A Chemosensor Array for the Colorimetric Identification of 20 Natural Amino Acids"](https://doi.org/10.1021/ja042363v), *Journal of the American Chemical Society*, 2005 |
## Education and career
Severin was born in Germany in 1967 and obtained his PhD in 1995 at the University of Munich, with a thesis in the group of Prof. W. Beck.[1](https://people.epfl.ch/kay.severin) He then spent 1995 to 1997 as a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Prof. M. R. Ghadiri at the Scripps Research Institute.[1](https://people.epfl.ch/kay.severin) • [3](https://obelis.unil.ch/p/82874) In 1997 he returned to Munich and began independent research through the [Habilitation](https://www.edgepedia.org/habilitation) (German post-PhD qualification for professorship) at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Munich.[1](https://people.epfl.ch/kay.severin)
In 2001 he moved to EPFL as assistant professor at the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, and he has been full professor there since 2009.[1](https://people.epfl.ch/kay.severin) His laboratory, the Laboratoire de chimie supramoléculaire, sits within EPFL's Institut des sciences et ingénierie chimiques, as the [German Research Foundation](https://www.edgepedia.org/german-research-foundation)'s GEPRIS registry also records.[5](https://gepris.dfg.de/person/1411993)
## Representative work
**Peptide self-replication.** During his postdoctoral years with Ghadiri, Severin contributed to a series of Nature papers that showed how short peptides can copy themselves.
**Self-assembled receptors and cages.** At EPFL, Severin's group, established in 2001, produced in its first year a ruthenium-based metallamacrocycle with high affinity and selectivity for small alkali metal ions.[4](https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2011.680) A 2003 review in *Coordination Chemistry Reviews* gathered this line of work on self-assembled organometallic receptors for small ions.[7](https://doi.org/10.1016/s0010-8545(03)00028-6) A 2006 feature article set out the group's method: organometallic half-sandwich complexes of the late transition metals serve as building blocks for metallamacrocyclic receptors and coordination cages, for adaptive dynamic combinatorial libraries, and for [indicator displacement assays](https://www.edgepedia.org/indicator-displacement-assay) that detect peptides and aminoglycosides.[8](https://doi.org/10.1039/b606632c) By combining dynamic covalent chemistry with metal–ligand interactions, the group has built cage structures with up to 12 metal centers in a stereoselective fashion.[4](https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2011.680) A 2016 JACS study showed that ligand aspect ratio is a decisive factor for whether such cages self-assemble.[6](https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=k8vPSWAAAAAJ)
**Boronic acid macrocycles.** A second structural program uses reversible condensation reactions of boronic acids, which yield macrocycles, cages, dendritic structures, rotaxanes, and one-, two- and three-dimensional polymers in one-pot reactions from simple starting materials.[9](https://doi.org/10.1039/b902849h) Examples include a cylindrical cage obtained by ball milling, a prismatic cage, a rotaxane, and a pentameric macrocycle.[4](https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2011.680)
**Nitrous oxide chemistry and sensing.** The laboratory's stated research areas are supramolecular chemistry, the chemistry of nitrous oxide, and organometallic synthesis and catalysis.[2](https://www.epfl.ch/labs/lcs/) Its work on N2O falls under small-molecule activation within a catalysis program that has also included atom transfer radical addition and polymerisation.[4](https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2011.680)
## Recent work
The group's 2025 publications point in three directions: ambiphilic reactivity of iridium complexes bearing N-heterocyclic vinylidene ligands (*Journal of the American Chemical Society*, 2025), vincinal Sandmeyer-type reactions enabled by 1,2-bis-triazenylarenes (*Angewandte Chemie International Edition*, 2025), and selective recognition and extraction of short-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylates by a supramolecular receptor (*Angewandte Chemie International Edition*, 2025).[2](https://www.epfl.ch/labs/lcs/)
## Honors and recognition
Severin received the Werner Prize of the Swiss Chemical Society in 2003 and the Otto Roelen Medal of the DECHEMA in 2005.[1](https://people.epfl.ch/kay.severin) His earlier German awards include the Bayerischer Habilitations Förderpreis (1997), the ADUC award of the year, the [Heinz Maier-Leibnitz](https://www.edgepedia.org/heinz-maier-leibnitz) award of the DFG, the Karl-Ziegler foundation award, and the [Arnold Sommerfeld](https://www.edgepedia.org/arnold-sommerfeld) award of the Bavarian Academy of Science, all in 2001, followed by the award for chemistry of the Academy of Sciences, Göttingen (2007) and the Dalton Transactions European Lectureship (2008).[1](https://people.epfl.ch/kay.severin)
## References
1. [Kay Severin, EPFL People (faculty page)](https://people.epfl.ch/kay.severin)
2. [Laboratory of Supramolecular Chemistry (LCS), EPFL](https://www.epfl.ch/labs/lcs/)
3. [Base de données des élites suisses, Severin, Kay (1967–)](https://obelis.unil.ch/p/82874)
4. [Research in the Laboratory of Supramolecular Chemistry, CHIMIA, 2011](https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2011.680)
5. [DFG GEPRIS, Professor Dr. Kay Severin](https://gepris.dfg.de/person/1411993)
6. [Kay Severin, Google Scholar profile](https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=k8vPSWAAAAAJ)
7. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0010-8545(03)00028-6
8. [Supramolecular chemistry with organometallic half-sandwich complexes, Chem. Commun., 2006](https://doi.org/10.1039/b606632c)
9. [Boronic acids as building blocks for molecular nanostructures and polymeric materials, Dalton Transactions, 2009](https://doi.org/10.1039/b902849h)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Physical and mathematical scientists › Chemists › Researchers in polymer, supramolecular, and materials chemistry › Supramolecular chemistry and host–guest systems*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license