In Celebration of Thomas M. Klapötke's 60^th Birthday

Thomas M. Klapötke, Professor at the Department of Chemistry of the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (LMU), Germany, celebrates his 60th birthday on February 24th, 2021. On the occasion of that significant birthday, this issue of Zeitschrift für Anorganische und Allgemeine Chemie is dedicated to Thomas M. Klapötke. All his students, alumni, colleagues and friends cordially congratulate! Manuscripts from authors worldwide were submitted for that special issue in order to honor his strong scientific achievements especially in inorganic and energetic materials chemistry. Thomas M. Klapötke was born in 1961 and studied chemistry at the TU Berlin (Germany). Already during his diploma thesis on zirconocene dihydride and the following PhD thesis on metallocenes under the supervision of Hartmut Köpf in Berlin he entered challenging and preparatively difficult new areas of chemistry – the enthusiasm to explore new fields and to open new horizons in science still drives and characterizes his scientific activity. After completion of his PhD in 1986 he went to Fredericton, New Brunswick (Canada) for his postdoctoral studies with Jack Passmore. Full with new exciting ideas Tom Klapötke returned for his habilitation to the TU Berlin, which he completed in 1990 with a topic on ‘Organometallic and Main Group Compounds in High Oxidation States’ with only 29 years. His work on fluorine chemistry and his impressive results on halogen azides – including the crystal structure of iodine azide - led 1995 to an appointment as Ramsay Professor of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, making him one of the youngest full professors in chemistry. Since 1997 he holds the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry at the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (LMU), Germany. In Munich Prof. Klapötke entered new fascinating fields of research, such as the isolation of heavier chalcogen azides, as well as further azido and nitro containing aliphatic and cyclic compounds. He became more and more attracted by nitrogen rich molecules and their unique energetic properties, becoming one of the world's most famous experts in the fascinating and challenging field of energetic materials. At his chair academic and applied research on energetic molecules are perfectly combined with each other. Numerous cooperations with Bundeswehr and a series of US defense organizations such as ARL, ONR and SERDP in the recent 15 years allowed him to create an excellent research infrastructure for the development of new green energetic materials. The scientific contribution of Prof. Klapötke is really impressive. He has published over 850 scientific papers in international peer reviewed journals, over 30 book chapters and 15 books – and there is still a lot more to come. His popular textbook on the Chemistry of High-Energy Materials has reached its 5th edition. For his scientific contributions, he received several important awards, among them the Winnacker award (1994), Heinz-Maier-Leibnitz Prize (1994) and the Steinhofer Prize (1996). Equally impressive is the professional activity of Tom Klapötke outside the labs of the Department. In 2009 he was appointed a visiting Professor for Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry at the Center of Energetic Concepts Development (CECD) in the University of Maryland (UMD), College Park. Aside from national and international memberships in chemical societies, Tom Klapötke is Life Member of the International Pyrotechnics Society (IPS) and of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA, USA). In 2011 he was appointed a Technical Team Member of NATO's Munitions Related Contamination Team. In addition he is executive editor of Zeitschrift für Anorganische and Allgemeine Chemie (ZAAC) and editorial board member of Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics (PEP), Journal of Energetic Materials, Central European Journal of Energetic Materials (CEJEM), International Journal of Energetic Materials, Chemical Propulsion (IJEMCP), FirePhysChem and Energetic Materials Frontiers. Numerous publications on primary and secondary explosives, rocket and gun propellants as well as on different aspects of pyrotechnics demonstrate the general efforts of Tom Klapötke in defense technology, which is safer to handle, more powerful and environmentally friendlier. One of his most promising and prominent materials developed at LMU is TKX-50, which was dedicated to him by one of his former PhD students on occasion of his 50th birthday. Hundreds of publications have appeared worldwide since then on different aspects of this dihydroxylammonium 5,5-bitetrazol-1N-oxide salt. Excellent new ideas, put them into practice, a realistic view of things, being open to new knowledge and findings, being a great supervisor and teacher – yes, it is this last characteristic to make a really great scientist like Tom Klapötke. He would always give the right advice, when chemistry is not working, listen and help, when help is needed, motivate and strengthen, when things are not going as they should, support young students and encourage them to go their way. And despite his numerous duties, Tom Klapötke will find the time and the energy to engage, together with his wife, in the protection of animals, particularly of dogs, which have become his great passion, besides chemistry. Together with all his friends and colleagues, we would like to wish him all the best for the future, as well as interesting, high performing and significant chemical results and many happy returns of that day. In 2008 he has become an editor of Zeitschrift für Anorganische und Allgemeine Chemie, which the ZAAC gratefully acknowledges. On this special occasion, we join his numerous coworkers, students, and friends all over the world in congratulating him on his 60th birthday. The laudators: Konstantin Karaghiosoff, Burkhard Krumm, and Jörg Stierstorfer. The editors: Thomas F. Fässler, Christian Limberg, and Guodong Qian. Last but not least, here is a poem from abroad colleagues to honor Thomas Klapötke: With our writings here we now wish to celebrate Prof. Dr. Thomas Klapötke's 60th birthdate (We want to share some cake, but now must wait) Tom is expressive and does not sit on the fence He is always involved, interactive and intense Tom helps others – doing nothing at others’ expense He employs all aspects of his academic experience Most definitely Tom's work centralized in Munich Is simply, powerfully, creatively, unique We can hear him say “viele N ist nicht genug” Tom, with his group, have so often been able To synthesize species that are so unstable Or otherwise, just excruciatingly labile As they span so much of the periodic table Some compounds are for fireworks, others for bombs Some “just” driven to answer a question of Tom's Some studied “just” by theory, as to do no harms As they are made, and then they decompose Some deemed ready to make, and interest grows What will Tom do in the next 60 years, “who knows?” With this we now end, knowing others have joined Us when we say “Mit vielen Dank, unser Freund” Maja Ponikvar-Svet, Kay Edwards, Joel Liebman (Ljubljana, Largo, Baltimore, Summer 2020)

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