Introducing Dr Pablo Martinez Bulit, first author on “One-pot synthesis of porphyrin-based [5]rotaxanes”
| Pablo was born in Mexico City, where he received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, (UNAM). He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Windsor, Canada, in 2019, under the supervision of Prof. Stephen Loeb where his research was focused on crystalline materials incorporating rotaxanes and porphyrins. He is currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Glasgow. |
 Dr. Pablo Martinez Bulit |
What inspired your research in this area?
The long-term focus of this research was to prepare metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) incorporating both a rotaxane linker and a porphyrin linker. We had some initial success and characterised the solvent dependent dynamics of a rotaxane wheel in the solid-state for a porphyrin-based MOF (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.cgd.9b00669). However, it remained a challenge to synthesize complex linkers that combined multiple rotaxanes on a porphyrin backbone. This project was a nice challenge as it combined the different research areas of the Loeb Research Group: organic synthesis, supramolecular chemistry to make mechanically interlocked molecules, and crystallography.
What do you personally feel is the most interesting outcome of your study?
The fact that you can make and isolate these molecules this easily still amazes me. As the paper shows, this method is tolerant to a variety of functional groups so the potential to tailor the porphyrin-rotaxane hybrids for different applications is readily achievable.
What directions are you planning to take with your research in future?
Upscale the syntheses to make gram quantities and explore their possible incorporation into MOFs. Ideally these types of dynamic rotaxane linkers can be used as mechanically interlocked switches in the solid-state.
Read the full article: One-pot synthesis of porphyrin-based [5]rotaxanes
See the other articles showcased in this month’s Editor’s Collection
See all the full articles on our publishing platform
