Troels Skrydstrup received a BSc degree in chemical engineering from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada (1983) and his MSc and PhD degrees from the Technical University of Denmark (1985 and 1988) under the supervision of Prof. Anders Kjær. After several post-doctoral periods at l’Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles, Gif-sur-Yvette, France with Prof. Guy Ourisson (1988–1989), and Dr. David Grierson (1990–1992), and at the Carlsberg Laboratories with Prof. Klaus Bock (1989–1990), Troels Skrydstrup was employed as a Chargé de Recherche (CR1) in the CNRS both at l’Université d’Orléans and l’Université Paris XI (1992–1997). He received his Habilitation á Dirigé des Recherches (HdR) from l’Université Paris XI in 1996. In 1997, he became Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University, and was promoted full Professor of Organic Chemistry in 2002. He received his dr. scient. degree from Aarhus University in 2001.

Troels Skrydstrup is currently center leader of the Danish National Research Center, Carbon Dioxide Activation Center (CADIAC). Alongside, he is the co-director of the newly established Novo Nordisk Fundation CO₂ research center (CORC). He has been Head of Department at the Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University in the period 2001–2004, as well as the director of the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO) in 2014. Furthermore, he leads an active research group in synthetic organic chemistry with approx. 20 group members at the level of postdocs, PhD students, MSc Students and others. He has served on the committee of the Danish Council of Independent Research in the field of Natural Sciences (2009–2010), and as the Danish representative of the European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Cooperation (COST) for the Domain “Chemistry and Molecular Sciences & Technologies (2006–2010). He has been a senior staff member of the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (2001–current) and the Danish National Research Foundation Center, Center for Insoluble Protein Structures (inSPIN) (2005–2015). Troels Skrydstrup has served on numerous administrative and educational committees at Aarhus University, and has also participated in over 20 evaluation committees for various positions from assistant to full professor both in Denmark and abroad. He is an active reviewer for a number of scientific journals including top chemistry journals such as Science, Nature Chemistry, Nature Communications, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Chemistry, A European Journal, Chemical Communications and Chemical Reviews.

Troels Skrydstrup was elected as a fellow of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences in 2008, and as member of the Danish Academy of Natural Sciences in 2010 and the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences in 2015. He was knighted by the Danish Queen in 2012. In 2001, he received the Holm’s Research Prize. In 2018, he was awarded the Melvin Calvin Award for outstanding scientific contributions in the field of isotope science, and the same year he received the Science Award from the Faculty of Science and Technology, Aarhus University. In 2022, he was awarded to give the Bjerrum-Brønsted-Lang lecture in Copenhagen, where he presented the newest discoveries on plastic deconstruction. Troels Skrydstrup has been a visiting professor at l’Université de Versailles (2001), Osaka Prefecture University (2007), l’Université de Paris V (2008) and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2013) and l’Université de Bordeaux (2014).

Troels Skrydstrup has a keen interest in the application of transition metal catalysis in organic synthesis. Recent efforts have been focused on providing viable solutions for the production and application of low molecular weight gases in transition metal catalysis with applications for pharmaceutical synthesis and isotope labeling. Furthermore, his group has commenced work on the development of selective transformations with CO₂. Also, recently his group has started to look into deconstruction of plastics and polymers. He currently has over 280 publications (H-index of 60, approx. 11000 citations) of which many are in ”high impact” international chemistry journals including the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, and Nature Communications. Several papers are within the 1% most cited in the field of Chemistry since their publication.

Troels Skrydstrup is cofounder and co-owner of the spin-out company, SyTracks, which deals with handling and application of gaseous reagents in synthesis. These technologies have found wide spread use both in industry and academia.

Finally, he has been responsible supervisor for 22 Postdocs, 50 PhD students, and 75 MSc students projects in organic chemistry, and he has served on the evaluation committee of over 70 PhD and MSc theses in Denmark, Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, Australia, Switzerland, Finland, Belgium, Holland and France.