Natural gas (primarily methane, CH4) is still a major energy source that is often simply flared into the atmosphere without being harnessed. As a cumulative result, unprecedented CH4 spikes have been reported lately in Earth’s atmosphere. Combined with the already existing Global warming concerns posed by other greenhouse gases such as CO2, CO, NOx, etc., […]
Design of Bioinspired Chromophore-Protein Complexes for Color Converting Layers of Organic Light Emitting Diodes
In deBioLED, I seek to design bioinspired chromophore-protein complexes of high red emission efficiency to fabricate the next generation of eco-friendly color converting layers (CCLs) of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Despite OLEDs already consume 70% less energy than typical lighting sources, their production still depends on a high input of energy and use toxic components […]
Photocatalyzed enantiodivergent synthesis of homoallylic and carboxylic acids featuring heterodiaryl quaternary carbon stereocenters
The synthesis of heterodiaryl-based quaternary stereocenters is a very challenging task in organic synthesis, especially in the creation of highly functional scaffolds. Tetrahedral, congested carbons centers bearing two different aryl moieties have great importance for structure−activity relationship (SAR) studies in pharmaceutical discovery programs. Their presence in biological active natural products makes them fundamental for the […]
The development of bio-supported homogeneous organocatalysts with improved recycling potential through sequential de- and re-polymerization and their use in CO2 valorization catalysis
The use of homogeneous catalysis is currently limited as they lack the ability to be easily recycled, and thermal deactivation of the catalyst cannot be always avoided. These features present important hurdles for the application of homogeneous catalysts in commercial processes and represents an open challenging. Designing ways to bridge the advantages properties of homogeneous […]
Development of new sp3 C–H carboxylation strategies via interrupted Ni-catalyzed chain-walking catalysis
While originally designed to control the topology of polymers, catalytic chain-walking reactions have recently offered new vistas for forging carbon-carbon bonds at previously unfunctionalized C(sp3)–H sites by formally translocating the metal catalyst throughout the alkyl side-chain of a substrate. In particular, nickel catalysis has positioned at the forefront of this emerging field due to its […]
Gold(I)-Catalyzed Polymerization of Acetylene Gas
GASGOLD aims for the development of efficient Au(I)-catalysed methodologies for the challenging intermolecular synthesis of important monomers, oligomers and polymers of acetylene gas. Au(I)-catalysts allow for the formation of cyclopropyl Au(I)-carbenes after reaction with an alkyne and alkene. The carbenes are reactive towards rearrangement to form 1,3- dienes, which are important building blocks for a […]
Electrochemical stereoselective radical cascades for accessing natural-like compounds
Identifying successful lead drug candidates is a significant and current challenge to society. The ELECTRO-ASYMMETRIC project seeks to provide some solutions through assisting the development of more effective drug discovery technologies. Specifically, we aim to use electricity-driven organocatalytic cascade processes for the stereocontrolled synthesis of chiral lactones and polyfunctionalized heterocycles, which are common motifs in […]
Advanced simulations in electrocatalysis for efficient production of C3+ by carbon dioxide reduction
The climate change has raised concerns about closing the carbon cycle by converting CO2 and renewable electricity to chemically stored energy in the form of fuels and commodity chemicals. Among these, long-chain hydrocarbons and alcohols are more attractive because of their high energy density and value. Recently, reconstructed oxide-derived Cu (OD-Cu) catalysts have shown the […]
Dual Co/Photoredox Catalysis for the Synthesis of Fluorine-Containing Skipped Dienes Featuring a Quaternary Carbon Stereocenter
Fluorine-containing functional groups have become of crucial importance for medicinal and agrochemical applications. The incorporation of these moieties into molecular structures allows for significant opportunities to take advantage of bioisosterism as well as to fine-tune the chemical or pharmacological properties of a desired molecule. The objective of the FUSE project is to pioneer a novel […]
Photoexcitation for New-to-Nature Enzymatic Reactions
Enzymatic catalysis plays a centrally important role for the preparation of chiral molecules and in the transition towards a more sustainable chemistry. In spite of their potential, natural enzymes use only a relatively small section of ‘reaction space’. This implies that only a limited number of stereocontrolled reaction classes, which are characterized by a similar […]
Solar Fuel Generation through Photoelectrochemical Reduction of CO2 Using Copper Porphyrins in Molecularly Designed Reaction Environments
Solar fuels can be synthesized by integrating electrocatalysts with semiconductors, using sunlight to drive endergonic chemical reactions. Employing molecular electrocatalysts allows the tunability, selectivity, and three-dimensional architectures associated with molecular components to be combined with the solar energy capture and conversion properties of solid-state semiconducting materials. However, there is a lack of understanding of how […]
Electrophilic aromatic substitution of azines catalysed by Frustrated Lewis pairs
Synthetic chemistry faces numerous reaction barriers to what is actually possible compared to what is theoretically possible. Catalysts are critically important to overcoming many of these barriers by reducing the energy required for a reaction to proceed, often enabling a substitution or functionalisation of simple feedstocks that can lead to high value products. Aromatic substitution, […]
Carbyne transfer catalysis for C(sp2)–C(sp2) bond (radio)fluorinations
This proposal aims to develop a new C–F bond-forming strategy that exploits C–C double bonds as functional groups by means of carbyne transfer catalysis. We want to develop a general and functional group tolerant process that can use petrochemical feedstocks, fine chemicals as well as complex molecules containing alkene functionalities. The new reaction introduce asymmetry […]
Photon induced Spintronics on Hybrid Organic-inorganic Perovskites: Effect of Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling
In the Last few years, hybrid organic-inorganic trihalide perovskite (HOIP) solar cells an imperative and motivating research field and this is an interesting multifunction material owing to their high carrier mobility, semiconducting properties, and extremely high performance in solar cells (achieved solar power conversion efficiency is >25%). On the other hand, a numerous theoretical and […]
Merging enantioselective isothiourea catalysis with visible-light photoactivation for the synthesis of biologically-relevant chiral molecules
The quest for successful lead candidates in drug discovery has challenged synthetic chemists to develop innovative strategies to rapidly generate screening collections of chiral molecules. In this context, cascade processes provide a powerful tool for rapidly increasing, in one step, structural and stereochemical complexity, while fulfilling the requirements for atom and step economy. The development […]
Late-stage C–H bond construction of cyclopropanes to impact drug discovery
The cyclopropane ring is the 10th most commonly observed core in small-molecule drugs. This is due to the fact that cyclopropanes can positively influence metabolic stability, conformation, pKa, entropy, membrane permeability or pharmacokinetics in drug leads. The cyclopropane ring is often introduced in drug candidates at the early stages of the synthesis, however, the late-stage […]
Renewable Energy through New Electrolysis catalysts for water splitting
Inexpensive, renewable energy storage is vital for the future of humanity. Generating H2 via water splitting in proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis is a promising route for renewable fuel production. Wide-spread use of PEM electrolysis is limited by the high cost of the electrocatalysts which are composed of rare-earth metals such as Ir, Ru, and […]