Main Content

Congratulations on the "Masterpreis" of the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry to Ms. Sonja Bohl

As part of this year’s Bunsentagung, the annual conference of the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry in Leipzig, Ms. M.Sc. Sonja Bohl was awarded the "DBG Masterpreis 2025" for the best master's thesis of the year 2024 in the field of Physical Chemistry in Germany.
The certificate has today been handed over in Marburg by Prof. Dr. Karl-Michael Weitzel.

Sonja Bohl conducted her master’s thesis from October 30, 2023, to June 11, 2024, in the research group of Prof. Dr. Karl-Michael Weitzel at the Department of Chemistry of the Philipps-Universität Marburg. Her thesis, entitled "Ausgewählte zustandsselektive Ionen-Molekül-Reaktionen von HCl+ und NH3+", focused on investigating specific ion-molecule reactions.

During her research, Sonja selectively generated molecular ions HCl+ and NH3+ in specific rotational states using a spectrally narrowband laser and enforced chemical reactions with neutral reaction partnes inside a Guided-Ion-Beam setup. As a result, she determined cross-sections and reaction rate constants as function of collision energy and rotational state of the ion, contributing to a better understanding of plasma-chemical and astrochemical processes.

Currently, the results are being prepared for publication in collaboration with a theoretical chemistry partner at the University of Hawaii. This master's thesis would not have been possible without the close supervision of Dr. Dominik Plamper.