chemistry

Ilan Marek

Ilan Marek is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ilan Marek rather than just read about it. In short: Ilan Marek (Hebrew: אילן מרק; born 15 February 1963 in Haifa) is a bi-national French-Israeli chemist. He is particularly interested in the design and development of new stereo- and enantioselective strategies for the creation of several contiguous stereogenic centres and by the functionalization of organic molecules at the least reactive position.

Key takeaways

Ilan Marek belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ilan Marek to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ilan Marek from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Ilan Marek (Hebrew: אילן מרק; born 15 February 1963 in Haifa) is a bi-national French-Israeli chemist. He is particularly interested in the design and development of new stereo- and enantioselective strategies for the creation of several contiguous stereogenic centres and by the functionalization of organic molecules at the least reactive position. These processes are carried out in a single chemical step and lead to the synthesis of complex molecular structures. Understanding reaction mechanisms provides insight into the origins of stereoselectivity and governs optimization for the development of the most effective and general methodologies possible.

Biography He studied at the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris (BsC 1983 and obtained his MsC in chemistry in 1986 and his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Jean Normant in December 1988). He then spent a year at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, for a postdoctoral stay with Professor Leon Ghosez (1989). He was recruited at the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in 1990 at the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, received his habilitation in 1995 and moved in September 1997 to the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 2000 and professor in 2004. Since 2005, he holds the Sir Michael and Lady Sobell Academic Chair. He has been Visiting Professor at Tokyo University Institute of Technology (Japan), the University of Montreal (Canada), the University of Strasbourg (France), the University of Paris-Descartes (France), the California Institute of Technology (Caltech, United States), the University of Montpellier (France), Taïwan Science Council, the University of Osaka Prefecture (Japan), Wilhems-University Munster, (Germany), Taïwan National Council, University of Ottawa, (Canada). Since 2022 Prof. Marek is distinguished university professor and director of the Stewart and Lynda Resnik Sustainability Center for Catalysis (Technion) Ilan Marek is the author of numerous publications (more than 285 in international journals), and have edited 15 books in the Patai’s series. He is the recipient of numerous international awards for academic excellence and for excellence in teaching. He is a member of the editorial board of more than ten scientific journals.

Member of scientific committees and associate publisher Ilan Marek was serving as editorial board member in many different journals such as Chemical Communications, (RSC); Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, (RSC); European Journal of Organic Chemistry, (WILEY-VCH); and is still active member in The Chemical Record, (Wiley-VCH); Advanced Synthesis and Catalysis, (Wiley-VCH); Synthesis, (Thieme ); Synlett, Thieme; Angewandte Chemie International Edition, (WILEY-VCH); Chemistry, A European Journal, (WILEY-VCH); Helvetica, (WILEY-VCH); Chemical Reviews (ACS); ACS Central Science (ACS), Chem Catalysis (Cell). He is editor of numerous journals and revues : Comprehensive Organic Synthesis (Second Edition. Elsevier); Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry; Israel Journal of Chemistry, (Wiley-VCH); Tetrahedron (Elsevier); “The Chemistry of Functional groups” Patai series, (WILEY-Chichester).

International administrative functions He was a member of the Scientific Council of the European Symposium on Organic Chemistry (ESOC) from 2005 to 2009 and chairman of this Scientific Council from 2007 to 2009. He has been a member of the Scientific Council for the Development of Chemistry of the Institute of Natural Substances, GIF/Yvette, France. He was the Israeli president of the Scientific Commission of the France-Israel Foundation from 2007 to 2011. Since 2007 he has been the Israeli representative of the Organic Chemistry Division of EUCHEM (European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences) from 2009 to 2011, he became its vice-president and was elected president from 2012 to 2015. In 2009, he was a member of the evaluation committee of the University of Bordeaux, France; of the Chemistry Department of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS), France and chairman of the evaluation committee of the Chemistry Department of the University of Cyprus in 2012, Member of the International board to evaluate the CNRS, France (2022); Chairman evaluation Committee Department of Chemistry, University of Vienna (2023), member of the evaluation committee of the department of Chemistry of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2024), member of the evaluation committee of IBM, Daejeon, Korea (2024). Since 2016 Marek is a member of the Jury Grand Prix de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie, Paris, France, was a member of the Rothschild Committee (2016-2023). Since 2021, he serves as a member of the Aaron and Ephraim Katzir Scholarship Fund and a member of the advisory committee of the Batsheva Rothschild Foundation, both of the Israel National Academy of Sciences.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ilan Marek

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ilan Marek claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ilan Marek before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ilan Marek ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ilan Marek

In research: Ilan Marek appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ilan Marek in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ilan Marek is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1963 births, 20th-century French chemists, 21st-century French chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ilan Marek outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Ilan Marek in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ilan Marek means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ilan Marek out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ilan Marek in simple terms?

Why does Ilan Marek matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ilan Marek?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ilan Marek.