01 July 2009
Pierangelo Metrangolo is an associate professor of fundamentals of chemistry for electronics at the Politecnico di Milano Technical University, Italy. His research focuses on the supramolecular chemistry of fluorinated derivatives, in particular halogen bonding and fluorous interactions, crystal engineering of porous networks, and liquid crystals.
1) Why did you want to become a scientist?
My father was a pharmacist and since the very first experiments we did together when I was a child I knew I wanted to study chemistry.
2) What projects are you working on at the moment?
At the moment I am working on the use of supramolecular interactions for controlling functional properties of materials like electro-optical phenomena or solid-state reactivity.
3) What do you think will be the next big breakthrough in your field?
One of the major challenges today is the integration of biomimetics in the nanodomain. There is still a lot to do for achieving control over the formation of 10-nm nanostructures thus filling the gap between the top-down and bottom-up approaches in nanotechnology.
4) How do you think crystal engineering will develop in the next five years?
We will see, I believe, an increase in structures exhibiting an adaptive behaviour in the presence of environmental constraints or external stimuli. The use of flexible building blocks will replace that of stiff building materials.
5) What is the most rewarding aspect of your work?
I think being a university professor is one of the most rewarding jobs I know. It still surprises me how happy I always am when new scientific results are obtained or a paper is accepted.
6) What is the secret to a successful research group?
Motivation and trust. If your younger collaborators are highly motivated in the work they do, trust your suggestions and do not get frustrated just after the first failure, the whole research group benefits from it.
7) What achievement are you the most proud of?
I am very proud of the work my friend and colleague Giuseppe Resnati and I have done together in recent years on halogen bonding. Though Odd Hassel highlighted the possibilities opened in crystal engineering by charge-transfer interactions involving halogens in his Nobel lecture in 1969, halogen bonding did not receive much attention afterwards. Our recent work has drawn the interest of the international scientific community to this interaction, which is now definitely considered a useful tool to control intermolecular recognition processes.
8 ) What advice would you give to a young scientist?
Always place your research results in the broader context of the literature. I think that a very good literature search is the key to a successful research project.
9) What would you do if you weren’t a scientist?
I might be more active in politics, which still is not excluded as a future option.
10) What is your favourite place to be?
Abroad in general. It is very nice that my job offers the opportunity to travel a lot and meet people of many different countries and cultures.
Related Links
Pierangelo Metrangolo’s homepage at the Politecnico di Milano Technical University, Italy
Anion coordination and anion-templated assembly under halogen bonding control
Pierangelo Metrangolo, Tullio Pilati, Giancarlo Terraneo, Serena Biella and Giuseppe Resnati, CrystEngComm, 2009, 11, 1187
Mutual induced coordination in halogen-bonded anionic assemblies with (6,3) cation-templated topologies
Pierangelo Metrangolo, Frank Meyer, Tullio Pilati, Giuseppe Resnati and Giancarlo Terraneo, Chem. Commun., 2008, 1635
Halogen bonding and other noncovalent interactions involving halogens: a terminology issue
Pierangelo Metrangolo, Tullio Pilati and Giuseppe Resnati, CrystEngComm, 2006, 8, 946
