Professor Werner Nau has studied and worked in Germany, Canada, and Switzerland, and has been visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin, University of Cambridge, ICIQ Tarragona, China University of Petroleum, and IIT Guwahati.
He focuses on supramolecular and physical chemistry in water and is known for the description of high-energy water as contributor to assembly processes in aqueous solution and for the introduction of the chaotropic effect as a complementary driving force to the hydrophobic effect.
His work on fluorescent sensors, macrocycles, high-affinity binders, complexation-induced pKa shifts, and membrane/enzyme assays has found applications in pharmaceutical drug discovery and drug delivery. Since 2005, he has been working on the supramolecular chemistry of boron cluster compounds, which has led to the discovery of a new class of membrane carriers. He is author of more than 300 scientific publications which have attracted more than 20000 citations.