- 1960 Woehler - Award
- 1970 Dozenten - Award of the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie
- 1985 Centenary Lecturer, Royal Society of Chemistry
- 1985 Award of the Minister of Sciences in France
- 1986 French Alexander-von-Humboldt-Award
- 1987 Leibniz-Award
- 1990 Alfred-Stock-Memorial Award
- 1994 Manfred and Wolfgang Flad Award
- 1995 Literature Award of the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie
- 1997 Carus Medal of Leopoldina
- 1998 Carus Award of the City of Schweinfurt
- 1998 Grand Prix de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie
- 1999 ACS Award for Creative Work in Fluorine Chemistry
- 1998 Wilkinson Prize
- 2004 Rao Award of the Chemical Research Society of India
- 2004 ACS Award in Inorganic Chemistry
- 2004/2005 Wittig-Grignard-Award, France
- 2015 Blaise Pascal Medal, Europ. Academy of Sciences, Belgium