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em.Univ.Prof. Dr.phil. Fritz Sauter (23 May 1930–18 April 2020)

“New goals in basic research; exactness of all work; involvement of students in research as soon as possible; striving for practice-orientation; integration of our subject into the neighboring sciences; strengthening the reputation of the institute and thereby of the country through publications and lectures, which must always be exact, but in addition should also make the general objective understandable.”

This is how Professor Fritz (Friedrich) Sauter described the “What, Why, and How of our daily work”, as he called it in a personal message sent in February 2020 accompanied by the words “that probably just sounds theatrical.”

At that time, the final preparations for the celebratory HetChem200 event at TU Wien were currently underway, during which Fritz Sauter was honored on the occasion of his forthcoming 90th birthday. While he could not attend in person, he expressed his gratitude and wished the audience a great event and—probably typical for Fritz Sauter—an educational time. Sadly, he was not able to celebrate his milestone birthday. Fritz Sauter passed away just two months later, on April 18, 2020.

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Professor Sauter’s name tag for the HetChem200 Symposium at TU Wien (2020) summarizes what he was most passionate about: heterocyclic chemistry and scientific gatherings to meet and exchange ideas with colleagues

Fritz Sauter began his scientific career as an organic chemist at the University of Vienna and received his doctorate in 1957. In 1963 he moved to TU Wien together with his mentor Professor Otto Hromatka. There he diversified into the research field of heterocyclic chemistry, which led him to his habilitation in organic chemistry in 1970 and a full professorship in 1978. In this position he had a decisive influence on the following 20 years, not only considering his research but also his role as a teacher and mentor for many students. In addition, Fritz Sauter was very active in several societies, in particular as vice president of the International Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry, as board member of the Austrian Chemical Society (GÖCH), as founder and chairman of the GÖCH working group Chemistry of Heterocycles, as head of the GÖCH branch Vienna, and as organizer of numerous international symposia.

Fritz Sauter always tried to combine his passion for cultural travel, especially to the Orient, with the establishment of scientific contacts and, above all, to enable knowledge transfer to less industrialized regions. He succeeded impressively by founding the Ibn-Sina Symposium in Egypt, a regularly recurring symposium in the field of heterocyclic chemistry. Likewise, as co-founder of the Blue Danube Symposium on Heterocyclic Chemistry, he succeeded in establishing lively contacts in Eastern Europe even before the opening of the Iron Curtain, thus anticipating by several years the historical developments leading to the reunification of Europe. It was precisely this vision of cross-cultural cooperation by means of scientific collaboration and symposia that always drove him and which he could arrange with strong diplomatic skills. These activities continue to influence the next generations of researchers and thus have an important lasting impact.

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Beside heterocyclic chemistry, Professor Sauter’s passion was cultural travel (seen here in Egypt)

This Memorial Issue is honoring Professor Sauter and his contributions to organic chemistry, especially in his favorite field, heterocyclic chemistry. His passion for heterocycles is reflected in many contributions, dealing with the chemistry of pyrazolothienopyridinones (Schnürch et al.), tetrahydropyridines (Schantl et al., Schantl et al.), tetrazines (Slugovc et al., Denk et al.), thieno[2,3-c]pyridines (Kotschy et al.), and imidazoquinolines (Schnürch et al.), but also natural products (Breinbauer et al., Schnürch et al., Kräutler et al.), and the application of tailored organic compounds (Gärtner et al., Trimmel et al.).

The diversity and practice-orientation of these contributions pay tribute to Fritz Sauter as a pioneering and inspiring heterocyclic chemist with a passion for scientific collaboration and crossing borders. He will be remembered as an accurate scientist, passionate teacher and mentor, visionary trailblazer, kind colleague, and friend.