In November 2006, the French Academy of Sciences awarded the Grand Prix de l'Institut du Pétrole to the chemist Professor Pierre Dixneuf. The award carries prize money of €30,500. It is awarded every year by the French petroleum institute IFP to one or more researchers for advancements in research or the development of new processes that help the petroleum industry in the broadest sense and that benefit people and the environment.
Pierre H. Dixneuf is a professor at the University of Rennes' Institute of Chemical Sciences (laboratory of catalysis and organometallic chemistry). He is a member of the editorial board of Springer's book series "Topics in Organometallic Chemistry" and editor of the book Ruthenium Catalysts and Fine Chemistry, which he and a number of other experts in this field published with Springer.
Professor Dixneuf has an international reputation as an expert in the field of homogeneous catalysis for fine chemicals, the design of molecular ruthenium catalysts and high-carbon model complexes. He devised the concept of catalytic metal vinylidene species with its applications in anti-Markovnikov additions, the synthesis of vinyl carbamates and the utilization of CO2. As a result of his pioneering activation processes, Professor Dixneuf was able to introduce innovative concepts in the development of catalysts for olefin metathesis. By creating selective carbon-carbon bonds, he managed to produce new combinations of molecules requiring fewer atoms using multi-electron catalysts. His innovative contributions have led to a significant increase in synthesis methods and have considerably enhanced our understanding of new activation processes.