Unlike the Strecker and Ugi syntheses, the Petasis reaction avoids the use of cyanide and isocyanide reagents.
He was the winner of the Conductor's Prize for Outstanding Artistic Performance at the 6th Harmonie Festival 2011 in Lindenholzhausen, Germany, and the "Pro Musica Viva Maria Strecker Daelen Preis" Conductor's Prize for the Best Interpretation of a Contemporary Choral Work at the 10th International Chamber Choir Competition 2007 in Marktoberdorf, Germany.
Born the son of a Prussian officer in Radmannsdorf, West Prussia (present-day Trzebiełuch, Poland), Strecker in 1905 joined the infantry regiment No. 152 of the German Army at Marienburg in the rank of a Leutnant, promoted to Hauptmann (captain) in World War I.