Author Archive

Meet Our Authors – February & March 2014

By Cynthia Challencin, Publishing Assistant

Éva Józsa and Katalin Ősz in front of Ernest Hemingway's house (Key West)

Katalin Ősz, Associate Professor at the University of Debrecen (Hungary), focuses her work on kinetics of inorganic (photo)reactions.

In their NJC Paper, Katalin and her colleagues studied the structure-reactivity relationships in the oxidation of water-soluble quinones, which are sensitive to light and may have an important role in utilizing solar power. It was learned that otherwise nonreactive substituents can change several redox and kinetic properties and thus tune the reactivity. She also explains that NJC seemed to be an ideal venue because it offers a nice selection of papers from all the fields of chemistry for a general audience.

During her spare time, Katalin enjoys listening to classical music, hiking (mostly downhill), reading and traveling. The latest is demonstrated by the photo picturing the first author of the article, Éva Józsa (on the left), and herself in front of Ernest Hemingway’s house in Key West (Florida), which they visited while attending a GRC conference on Inorganic Reaction Mechanisms.

Kinetic studies of hydroxyquinone formation from water soluble benzoquinones by Éva Józsa, Mihály Purgel, Marianna Bihari, Péter Pál Fehér, Gábor Sustyák, Balázs Várnagy, Virág Kiss, Eszter Ladó and Katalin Ősz, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 588-597. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ01274C (Paper)

Dr Bong-Hyun Jun and familyBong-Hyun Jun, Assistant Professor at Konkuk University (Korea), works on the synthesis of nanoparticles (metal, QDs, silica) and their applications, but also on organic synthesis and surface modification.

In their NJC Letter, Bong-Hyun and co-workers report the fabrication of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) using silica-coated quantum dot-embedded silica nanoparticles (SiO2/QD/SiO2 NPs) as a light-harvesting layer. According to them, these nanoparticles, which are brighter than single QDs, enable an easier handling because of their bigger size. The fact that they can be prepared in large quantity shows that they could be applied to several fields such solar cells, protein detection and in vivo imaging.

Bong-Hyun studied at UC Berkeley in California and traveled to several places with his family. He reports: “I was impressed by the natural landscape of California. Especially, Yosemite National Park was outstanding and we had a really great time there.” He now would like to have the chance to visit Europe!

Dye-sensitized solar cell with silica-coated quantum dot-embedded nanoparticles used as a light harvesting layer by Won-Yeop Rho, Jung-Woo Choi, Hea-Yeon Lee, San Kyeong, Sang Hun Lee, Heung Su Jung, Seunho Jung, Yung-Eun Sung, Yoon-Sik Leeb and Bong-Hyun Jun*, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 910-913. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ01345F (Letter)

Our second author, Miss Shan Peng, Ph.D. student at the South China University of Technology, focuses her work on biomimetic/fabrication and performance characterization of superhydrophobic surfaces based on an Al substrate.

After the discovery of the hierarchical macroporous alumina template, Shan and her collegues introduced a simple template-wetting method to prepare superhydrophobic PMMA macroporous surfaces with diverse water adhesion reported in their NJC Paper.

Shan’s favorite place in China is Guangzhou, one of the most developed cities. She appreciates the convenience of the public transport and the warm weather even during winter, since she does not like cold weather. Moreover, Guangzhou is famous for its variety of flowers, which has given it the name of Flower city’.

A facile approach for preparing biomimetic polymer macroporous structures with petal or lotus effects by Shan Peng and Wenli Deng*, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 1011-1018. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ01156A (Paper)

Panayiotis Andreas Koutentis (aka Pani) is Associate Professor in Organic chemistry at the University of Cyprus. His team focuses on heteroatom rich systems. There is no specific target, but rather they identify heterocyclic systems that are potentially useful but under-exploited. Students then develop their technical, theoretical and more importantly creative skills by exploring these systems. “I encourage my students to adopt an orthogonal approach to their work, except of course when they must publish!”

Dr Panayotis KoutentisIn their NJC Paper, Pani and co-workers describe the magnetic properties of a readily prepared and structurally interesting fused Blatter radical. According to them, the information provided could assist in the design of radicals with tailor-made solid-state properties, which can potentially find use in a range of organic electronic applications.

Pani would like to address special thanks to Prof. Fred Wudl as he worked for him on benzotriazinyls as a post doc. “Fred gave me his blessing to continue exploring the chemistry of the system once I started my independent career.”

Pani has travelled extensively and India is by far the most exciting country he has visited. According to him, the people are friendly and hospitable, the food is excellent and there is an incredible diversity on many levels.

Effective exchange coupling in alternating-chains of a π-extended 1,2,4-benzotriazin-4-yl by Christos P. Constantinides, Andrey A. Berezin, Maria Manoli, Gregory M. Leitus, Michael Bendikov, Jeremy M. Rawson and Panayiotis A. Koutentis*, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 949-954. DOI: 10.1039/ C3NJ01235B (Paper)

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Distinctions for NJC personalities

Mir Wais HosseiniNJC Editor-in-Chief Mir Wais Hosseini was awarded the Humboldt–Gay-Lussac Prize by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for 2013. This prize, given each year to active researchers in France, recognises their contributions to French-German cooperation and their scientific projects. Wais Hosseini, professor at the University of Strasbourg and director of the Molecular Tectonics Laboratory, was proposed as a laureate by Professor Stefan Bräse of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Wais was one of 10 French scientists to receive the Humboldt–Gay-Lussac Prize in 2013. On the German side, Gay-Lussac–Homboldt Prize was discerned to two distinguished scientists.

More details (in French) on the 2013 laureates and these French-German awards can be found by clicking here.

Last December the French Academy of Sciences announced the election of 17 new members, including Odile Eisenstein and Azzedine Bousseksou to the chemistry section.

Odile EisensteinAzzedine BousseksouOdile Eisenstein, computational chemist and CNRS Director of Research working at the University of Montpellier, has been associated with New Journal of Chemistry since its founding, as Nouveau Journal de Chimie, in 1977. She served as Editor-in-Chief of NJC from 1993 to 2000 and has been a member of the editorial board since 2001, representing the CNRS.

The junior member elected to the Academy’s chemistry section is Azzedine Bousseksou, CNRS Director of Research in the Coordination Chemistry Laboratory in Toulouse. His research is focused on molecular magnetism and switchable molecular materials. Azzedine coordinated NJC‘s November 2013 issue celebrating the career of his Toulousian colleague Dr Bernard Meunier.

Congratulations to Wais, Odile and Azzedine for these honours!

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NJC issue 2 out now

NJC presents the February issue…

NJC Feb Outside cover by Mercedes Cano et al.The outside front cover illustrates an Article from Mercedes Cano (Complutense University) and her colleagues who focused on the strategic design of new liquid crystal materials based on Zn(II) coordination compounds containing pyridine-functionalised pyrazole ligands of the type 3-(4-n-alkyloxyphenyl)-5-(pyridin-2-yl)pyrazole [HpzR(n)py]. According to them, these compounds constitute one of the scarce examples of metallomesogens containing tetrahedral or octahedral metal environments, so proving that the molecular core geometry is not always the main drawback for mesomorphism.

Tetrahedral and octahedral metallomesogenic Zn(II) complexes supported by pyridine-functionalised pyrazole ligands by Cristián Cuerva, Paloma Ovejero, José Antonio Campo and Mercedes Cano*, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 511-517. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00755C.

In their Letter article, Eugene Pinkhassik (Saint Louis University) and co-workers, who NJC Feb inside cover by Eugene Pinkhassikproduced the inside front cover of the second issue of the year, highlighted new strategies leading to successful synthesis of hybrid nanostructures containing molecules entrapped in nanocapsules for the creation of functional nanodevices, such as nanosensors or nanoreactors.

Catalytic Ship-In-A-Bottle Assembly within Hollow Porous Nanocapusles by Nasim Ehterami, Sergey A. Dergunov, Yenlik Ussipbekova, Vladimir B. Birman and Eugene Pinkhassik*, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 481-485. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ01449E.

This month’s Focus review outlines emerging applications of 1,2,3-triazolium cations, including: functional ionic liquids, organocatalysts, precursors of mesoionic carbenes, components of supramolecular assemblies and molecular machines.

Triazolium cations: from “click” pool to multipurpose applications by Jesus M. Aizpurua*, Raluca M. Fratila*, Zaira Monasterio, Nerea Pérez-Esnaola, Elena Andreieff, Aitziber Irastorza and Maialen Sagartzazu-Aizpurua, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 474-480. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00667K.

Access the February issue Now…

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Meet Our Authors – January 2014

By Andre Cobb, NJC Advisory Board member

In an excellent review on the chemistry and applications of nanodiamonds (diamondoids), our first authors—Professors Peter Schreiner of the Justus-Liebig University, and Jean-Cyrille Hierso of the Institut Universitaire de France—explain how these fascinating structures are the next generation sp3-carbon materials supplied by nature (in gas and petroleum). These long overlooked “carbon gems” close the gap to the popular sp2-materials such as carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, and graphenes that have complementary properties.

Prof. Peter Schreiner playing tennis

Peter’s goals for 2014 are to establish two recently introduced concepts more firmly. The first is the tunneling control of chemical reactions, where he has shown in a series of papers that tunneling can override kinetic and thermodynamic considerations, and should therefore be considered as the third paradigm to rationalize chemical reactivity. His second goal is to decipher the role of London dispersion interactions for chemical structures and in chemical reactivity. At a personal level, he would like to become a better tennis player, although he believes he has already begun struggling with typical age limitations!

Prof. Jean-Cyrille Hierso

 

 

For his part, Jean-Cyrille plans to continue to promote science and to continue contributing to the “blossoming” of his co-workers.

Diamondoids: functionalization and subsequent applications of perfectly defined molecular cage hydrocarbons by Maria A. Gunawan, Jean-Cyrille Hierso,* Didier Poinsot, Andrey A. Fokin, Natalie A. Fokina, Boryslav A. Tkachenko and Peter R. Schreiner, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 28-41. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00535F (Perspective)

Prof. Masanari Kimura

 

  

 

Professor Masanari Kimura of the Nagasaki University in Japan is interested in the development of new reactions based on transition metals and heterocyclic chemistry, as is demonstrated by his January contribution on the formation of C—C bonds using allylzinc species and carbonyls.

Masanari says his inspiration for this work comes of course from Philippe Antoine Barbier and François Auguste Victor Grignard.

A major goal for Professor Kimura in 2014 is the development of novel and efficient organic syntheses of useful compounds from carbon dioxide.

C–C bond formation via 1,2-addition of a tert-butylzinc reagent and carbonyls across conjugated dienes by Yuki Ohira, Maya Hayashi, Takamichi Mori, Gen Onodera and Masanari Kimura, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 330-337. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00992K (Paper)

 

Prof. Katarzyna OstrowskaProfessor Katarzyna Ostrowska of Jagiellonian University in Poland and co-workers have published an investigation on the design and sensing abilities of a range of integrated azaheteroarene fluorophores designed to recognize a variety of different ions. Katarzyna says that, “As an organic chemist, I was fascinated to see how the minor modifications of structure affect the fluorescence emission and recognition of zinc and indium metal ions.”

As for goals for the coming year, Professor Ostrowska comments, “In a recent publication I described the two different mechanisms of ligand binding to zinc and indium ions. In 2014 I hope to find out why these receptors selectively recognize zinc and how resonance effects can influence the quantum yields of different substituted fluorophores”.

Ratiometric fluorescent Zn2+ and In3+ receptors of fused pyrazine with an aminopropanol chain in acetonitrile by Katarzyna Ostrowska,* Alicja Kaźmierska, Maria Rąpała-Kozik and Justyna Kalinowska-Tłuścik, New J. Chem., 2014, 38, 213-226. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00750B (Paper)

Many thanks to all our authors who contributed photos and comments for this article.

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NJC call-for-papers: Suprabio themed issue

Bioinspired systems in supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology

Supramolecular systems involving bio and/or bioinspired molecules offer an alternative route for the fabrication of nano-objects. Recent advances in such systems should lead to progress in molecular sensing, controlled release, signaling, etc., and to new developments in numerous fields ranging from soft materials to medicinal chemistry. A good number of supramolecular assemblies featuring natural and/or synthetic molecules are now available.

This themed issue will focus on all aspects regarding the description of new approaches and methodologies, which can usefully be applied to the exploration of bio and/or bioinspired supramolecular systems. Research papers and reviews dealing with the presented fields are welcome for the preparation of this themed issue of the New Journal of Chemistry.

Scope
Biomolecules and their synthetic analogues forming supramolecular systems. Recent progress in the area of bio-inspired materials and/or colloids based on biomolecules and/or bio-inspired derivatives such as nucleosides, nucleotides, oligonucleotides, aminoacids, peptides, lipids, sugars, etc. Smart self-assemblies, nanosystems, biosensors, bioimaging tools, etc.

Guest Editors
Professor Mark Grinstaff (Boston University, USA)
Dr Michel Camplo (University Aix-Marseille, France)
Dr Jean-Manuel Raimundo (University Aix-Marseille, France)
Professor Philippe Barthélémy (INSERM, University of Bordeaux, France)

How to submit and deadline
Contributions to this themed issue are to be made through the NJC manuscript submission website.
• Please clearly indicate in the comments to editor that the contribution is intended for the “Suprabio” themed issue.
• Please  select the correct format for your contribution. These are defined in the table below. More details are given in the January 2014 editorial.
• All contributions will undergo the usual evaluation process.
Download the January 2014 editorial for more information.

The deadline to submit is May 7, 2014.
Contributions received after this date will be considered but inclusion of late papers in the themed issue is not guaranteed.


For further information:
Read NJC
More news

Submit to NJC

Contact us: NJC “at” univ-montp2.fr

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Announcing the 2014 NJC Symposia in Sweden

2014 NJC Symposia: New Directions in Chemistry

Following on 2012’s NJC Symposia in 3 Chinese cities, NJC editorial board members and editors will be travelling to Sweden for two 2014 NJC Symposia: New Directions in Chemistry. Each one-day symposium will feature presentations by NJC editorial board members and invited guest speakers.


Please join us and meet... 
Members of the NJC Editorial Board who will be participating in the 2014 NJC Symposia are:
Co-Editor-in-Chief Professor Mir Wais HOSSEINI (University of Strasbourg, France)
Associate Editor Professor Jaïrton DUPONT (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)
Associate Editor Professor Peter JUNK (James Cook University, Australia)
Professor Len BARBOUR (University of Stellenbosch, South Africa)
Professor Debbie CRANS (Colorado State University, USA)
Professor Odile EISENSTEIN (CNRS, Montpellier, France)
Professor Christina MOBERG (KTH, Stockholm, Sweden)
Professor Sijbren OTTO (University of Groningen, The Netherlands)
Professor Dai-Wen PANG (Wuhan University, China)
NJC Managing Editor Dr Denise PARENT (CNRS, Montpellier, France) will also be present.

Dates:
May 21 at the KTH in Stockholm (Host: Professor Christina MOBERG)
May 23 at Lund University (Host: Professor Ola WENDT)
Full details and the scientific programs will be available soon. Please check this blog in the coming weeks.
These symposia are free and open to all interested persons.
We all look forward to meeting you in Stockholm or Lund in May!
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Meet Our Authors from December 2013

Dr Santa Chawla of the CSIR - National Physical Laboratory in New DelhiOur first author, Dr Santa Chawla, works at the CSIR National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi (India), where she is Associate Dean of Physical Sciences and also professor of the Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research. Her research centres on the development of phosphor nanoparticles for the enhancement of solar cell efficiency through solar full-spectrum conversion.

With several colleagues, Santa’s paper reports their latest efforts to develop materials for efficient energy harvesting. In this paper, a single phosphor with dual excitation and dual emission properties has been fabricated. Their material also shows plasmonic enhancement of the fluorescence. Such a material with intense red and green emission can be very useful for simultaneous conversion of solar UV and IR to visible radiation.

When not in the lab, Santa enjoys both reading and travelling.

Fabrication of dual excitation dual emission phosphor with plasmonic enhancement of fluorescence for simultaneous conversion of solar UV and IR to visible radiation
by Santa Chawla,   M. Parvaz,   Vineet Kumar and   Zubair Buch,
New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 3991–3997. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00889D (Paper)

Julia Bayne, student at the University of OttawaJulia Bayne co-authored the Focus review on pigments with Prof. Ian Butler. While participating in the Inorganic Chemistry Exchange Program during the summer of 2013, Julia worked in Ian’s materials science laboratory at McGill University (Montreal, Canada), which specialises in variable-temperature and high-pressure micro-Raman spectroscopy of artists’ pigments. Temperature and pressure-dependent structural changes of artists’ pigments play an instrumental role in art conservation and the determination of forgeries. Additionally, the stability of the pigments noted in their paper reinforces their continued long-term use in artwork.

Julia is currently a 4th year undergraduate student at the University of Ottawa (Canada) in the chemistry honours programme. She is conducting research in an organometallic laboratory, exploring the synthesis and reactivity of transition metal catalysts with respect to perfluoroalkene polymerization.

When not in the lab or immersed in a chemistry textbook, Julia practices yoga or weight-lifting, aiming to improve her “physical” chemistry.

Effect of temperature and pressure on selected artists’ pigments
by Julia M. Bayne and Ian S. Butler,
New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 3833–3839. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00955F (Focus)

Dr Igor Sivaev of the A.N.Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement CompoundsOur last author for this month is Dr Igor Sivaev, who is a senior researcher working in the area of boron chemistry at the A.N.Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds in Moscow (Russia).

Igor’s current research project is the synthesis of functional derivatives of carboranes for incorporation in various bio- and nano- molecules. Igor explains the significance of this work by quoting one of his countrymen:
“Chemistry has widely spread his hands in human affairs” said Mikhail Lomonosov, famous Russian scientist encyclopedist in the middle of the 18th century. Today these words are associated in the best way with the chemistry of polyhedral boron hydrides (boranes, carboranes, metallacarboranes, etc.) that find applications in such different fields as cancer diagnostics and treatment, liquid crystals, nonlinear optic materials, catalysts, molecular machines and many others. Therefore I chose NJC to publish this research work because the journal is addressed to a cross-disciplinary and wide readership.

In his free time (when he has some) Igor reads non-fiction works and enjoys travelling to different places with historical or cultural significance.

Synthesis of new ω-amino- and ω-azidoalkyl carboranes
by Marina Yu. Stogniy, Igor B. Sivaev, Ivan A. Godovikov, Zoya A. Starikova, Vladimir I. Bregadze and Shicheng Qi,
New J. Chem., 2013, 37, 3865–3868. DOI: 10.1039/C3NJ00677H (Letter)

A very warm thanks to our three authors who agreed to play the game and reply to a few questions.

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Andre Cobb named to NJC Board

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Andre Cobb to New Journal of Chemistry‘s International Advisory Board.

Alexander John Andre Cobb chemistAndre is an Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Reading. He graduated from King’s College London in 1997 and moved to UCL to conduct his Ph.D. research with Professor Charles Marson on the design of new asymmetric catalytic processes. From there he moved to Cambridge to undertake postdoctoral research, first with Dr Florian Hollfelder in the Biochemistry Department, working on the development of synthetic enzymes, and then with Professor Steve Ley in the Chemistry Department in the areas of medicinal chemistry and asymmetric methodology.

In 2005, Andre moved to a faculty position at the University of Reading where he investigates new methods in the synthesis of biologically relevant molecules—particularly unnatural amino acids. He was awarded a university prize for Best Research Output in 2010, and a Thieme Chemistry Journals award in 2011. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012.

As a member of the Editorial Board, Andre is interested in using social media to promote NJC. We welcome Andre and look forward to the first tweet!

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Peer Review and Editorial Responsibility

Last month I attended the joint meeting of two societies for scientific editors (EASE and ISTME) that took place in the seaside resort town of Blankenberge in Belgium. Two days filled with presentations, discussions and networking attracted about 85 participants from around the world. Most were scientific editors who occupy a variety of positions in the public or private sector or work as freelance editors. But there were also consultants in the publishing field, translators, and an internet content expert.

I was particularly inspired by the presentation of Dr Irene Hames (member of COPE, the Committee on Publication Ethics) who was the opening keynote lecturer. Dr Hames spoke on peer review: what is it? what problems does it face? how to improve it? what does the future hold?

Here I will focus on just one aspect of her presentation, adding some of my own views (the full presentation can be viewed here).

Quality peer review, highly valued by authors, depends on reviewers and editors working together. The time and effort furnished by voluntary reviewers are indispensible for the good functioning of the peer review system. Editors expect reviewers to be able to judge the quality of a manuscript, and ideally to give an opinion on the suitability of the work for the particular journal that has sent it out for review. But this is a lot to ask for! It is indeed difficult for any reviewer to master in detail the editorial policies of all journals that they review for so as to determine what is a suitable manuscript for a given journal.

An editor who knows his or her journal well is the best placed to judge what is suitable for publication in the journal. An editor who simply counts “votes” is abdicating their responsibility towards their journal. Editors need to read the manuscript, fashion their own opinion, then analyse the reports they receive to make a decision that takes into consideration their journal’s scope and editorial policy. Reviewers give advice and recommendations, but the final decision rests with the editor, who needs to fully shoulder that responsibility.

The dedication of scientific reviewers allows the peer review system to function. The skill, insight and judgement of the editor are essential factors in making it function well. Peer review does not absolve an editor from taking responsibility for the editorial decisions that she or he makes.

NJC‘s editors all strive to offer fair and impartial peer review of high quality to our authors, while respecting the work of the voluntary peer reviewers.

“Reviewers advise, editors decide.”

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Profiles of the 18th ESOC Bursary Awardees

NJC, committed to supporting the younger members of the chemistry community, underwrote student bursaries at this summer’s 18th European Symposium on Organic Chemistry, held in Marseille this past July. The 8 young awardees, from 8 European countries, are briefly profiled here.

Szilvia Deak is a second year Ph.D. student in the research group of Prof. Ferenc Faigl at Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Department of Organic Chemistry and Technology (Hungary). The group develops novel regio- and stereoselective metallation processes for the synthesis of atropisomeric functionalised biaryls (1-phenylpyrrole derivatives) and optically active heterocyclic compounds (oxiranes, oxetanes, pyrrolidines) as potential chiral ligands and organocatalysts.
Szilvia’s poster was entitled “Atropisomeric amino alcohols as new chiral ligands in asymmetric synthesis”.

Paulina Hamankiewicz is currently finishing her Ph.D. thesis on molecular and chiral recognition of organic compounds using carbohydrate derivatives, decorated with urea moieties. She will be graduating from the University of Warsaw (Poland), where she is in the group of Prof. Janusz Jurczak (Laboratory of Stereocontrolled Organic Synthesis).
Paulina’s poster: “Benzene, naphthalene, and anthracene urea derivatives as convenient tools for chiral recognition”.

Maria Riala is from the Department of Chemistry of the University of Cyprus in Nicosia (Cyprus). After her undergraduate degree she completed her Ph.D. studies in the Research Laboratory of Fullerene and Supramolecular Chemistry under the supervision of Asst. Prof. Nikos Chronakis and graduated in June 2013. Maria’s research is focused on the synthesis of bis- and trisadducts of C60 with an inherently chiral addition pattern utilizing enantiomerically pure tethers.
Maria’s poster: “Synthesis of chiral Th-symmetrical hexakis adducts of C60.

Ekrem Kaplan is a Masters chemistry student at Istanbul Technical University (Turkey). Under the supervisor of Prof. Esin Hamuryudan, Ekrem is preparing peripheral and non-peripheral substituted manganese(III) phthalocyanine bearing carboxylic side groups and investigating their electrochemical properties.
Ekrem’s poster: “Synthesis and Electrochemical Studies of Carboxylic Acid Functionalized Phthalocyanines”.

Tatiana Dias is a Ph.D. student in the Chemistry Research Centre at the University of Minho (Portugal) in the group of Prof. Fernanda Proença. The research group’s work is focused on the synthesis of new drug candidates, mainly nitrogen and oxygen-containing heterocyclic structures. Tatiana’s research has been centred on the development of new synthetic methodologies to prepare chromene derivatives to be tested as anticancer agents.
Tatiana’s poster at ESOC was “2-Hydroxychalcones and carbon acid derivatives: Reactivity studies in acid media”.

Kostas Voreakos is writing up his Master’s dissertation, after completing his research in the group of Dr. Dimitris Georgiadis of the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece). The research group focuses on the design and synthesis of metallopeptidase inhibitors and the development of synthetic methodologies for medicinal applications. Previously, Kostas earned first degrees in both chemistry and food technology.
Kostas’s poster at ESOC was entitled “Conformationally Constrained Phosphinic Peptides: Synthesis of α,β-Disubstituted Phosphinyl Propanoates and Development of δ-lactam Phosphinic Surrogates”.
Phosphinic Peptides
Agnese Stikute is a 4th year undergraduate student in Chemical Engineering at the Faculty of Material Science and Applied Chemistry of Riga Technical University (Latvia). She works in the Institute of Technology of Organic Chemistry/Department of Chemical Technology of Biologically Active Compounds under the supervision of Prof. Mara Jure. Agnese’s research is devoted to the synthesis of analogues of natural antioxidants, focused on the discovery and optimization of the synthesis of cinnamoyl anilines and their derivatives.
Agnese’s poster: “Cyclization of monoanilides of arylidene malonic acid”.

Kärt Reitel is a Ph.D. student in Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia). She works in the organic synthesis group under the supervision of Prof. Tõnis Kanger. Kärt’s main research topic is the synthesis of cyclopropane-containing compounds and their application in organocatalytic reactions.
Kärt’s ESOC poster was entitled “Aminocatalytic Michael addition of cyclopropane-containing aldehydes to nitroolefins”.

Congratulations to all the awardees! (Check out “who is who” in the photo montage below.)

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