RSC Advances Blog

We are delighted to present the 2023 edition of the RSC Advances Emerging Investigators series! Following the success of our 2022 edition, we are excited to continue highlighting the chemistry research being conducted by some of the leading investigators in our community.

This year’s Series Editors were Professor Shirley Nakagaki (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil) and Dr Fabienne Dumoulin (Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Universit, Türkiye). Eight articles were selected to support emerging researchers who are already making strides in their respective fields of research, both nationally and internationally. In this series, researchers address issues around water pollution, and develop analytical tools for the detection of biologically relevant substances. We also showcase efforts to prepare and characterize new compounds, as well as computational and theoretical research. Read all about the contributions in this accompanying Editorial.

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight an author from the series, Vanessa Nascimento.

Mother of twins Arthur and Lucca (6 years old). She graduated in Industrial Chemistry from the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (2009). Master (2011) and PhD in Chemistry from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, with a period funded by PDSE/Capes, at UNIPG, Italy (2015). She completed her postdoctoral, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Faruk Nome, also at UFSC. Since 2016, she has been an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Organic Chemistry at the Universidade Federal Fluminense, where she leads the research group: SupraSelen (SupraSelen Laboratory). She has experience in Chemistry, with an emphasis on Organic Synthesis. Her field of activity mainly covers the synthesis of compounds functionalized with organochalcogens for application in biological tests. She also works in the synthesis and applications of compounds involving Supramolecular Chemistry. She received the PeerJ Award in 2019 and, in the same year, became a Young Scientist of Our State by FAPERJ. Between 2020 and 2024, she served on the Young Researchers team of the Brazilian Chemical Society (secretary during 2022-2024) and the Latin American Network of Young Scientists working in Chemistry (LANYSC). In 2021, she joined the Núcleo Mulheres SBQ (media committee) and the International Younger Chemists Network (Public Outreach Committee). In 2022, she received the Jovem Cientista Fluminense Award from the Brazilian Chemical Society – Rio de Janeiro, where she serves as Treasurer for the period 2024-2026. ACS Premium Membership since 2023 and Full Member of the SBQ since 2008. Topical Advisory Panel and Guest Editor for Processes Journal, International board and secretary of the SeS Redox and Catalysis Network. In 2024, it received the Sustainability Star award from the American Chemical Society.

Vanessa summarises her research in the video below, check it out!

We interviewed Vanessa to find out more about her area of research and her contribution to the series.

1. Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist (in one or two sentences only) and why it is of current interest?

In this study, we employed chemical techniques to combine three distinct vital groups into a single structure. These cores include naftoquinones, natural products such as Vitamin K; selenium, an essential micronutrient for life; and triazoles, structures present in several drugs.

The aim was to investigate the electrochemical properties of this new and innovative combination. Why? Because delving into the study of such a structure holds the potential to yield sophisticated materials like optical sensors or even more potent medications.

2. How big an impact could your results potentially have? In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?

The initial impact was the development of an efficient synthesis strategy, using a cycloaddition reaction that enabled the obtention of a series of 10 molecules with diverse substituents and high yields. The second noteworthy impact was the investigation of photophysical, electrochemical, and potential generation of reactive oxygen species. Our studies have demonstrated the promise of these structures and highlighted the differences between the chalcogens S, Se, and Te, motivating us to further explore the developed molecules. The insights obtained are crucial for future applications of these derivatives in various biological assays.

3. Could you explain the motivation behind this study?

The driving force behind the research conducted by our group is to promote well-being and enhance life for society, particularly for those facing socio-economic challenges. Leveraging our expertise in synthesis and diverse applications, we aim to develop technologies that will reach the market and benefit these individuals. For instance, this includes the creation of new, more efficient and affordable pharmaceutical options, as well as innovative materials that are cost-effective and adhere to the principles of sustainability. And this study was no exception…

4. Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?

The most challenging aspect of any research endeavor, especially for young and woman researchers in Brazil, is conducting high-quality science with limited resources. From a chemical standpoint, the biggest challenge was obtaining the molecules. In other words, we knew that combining these cores held immense potential across various fields, but we needed to develop an efficient strategy to merge them and obtain them in pure form. Thus, making this strategy work was the greatest hurdle we faced.

5. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

My work fascinates me on two fronts: firstly, the opportunity to generate knowledge that will add value to society, new medicines, new materials…and secondly, the formation of high-quality human resources every day. Inspiring future generations to seek, through science, ways to aid humanity is fantastic, highlighting the motivation to woman to be scientist. I would like to be an example for them and this motivates me every single day.

6. How has your research evolved from your first article to this particular article?

My first article, as an undergraduate student, delved into the synthesis of organochalcogen-amino acid derivatives for application in asymmetric catalysis. As it is evident, my career trajectory has been dedicated to exploring the potential of organochalcogen compounds combined with other biologically compatible molecules. After completing my PhD studies in this area and falling in love with everything that involves research, I decided that this was the career I wanted to pursue. I was approved in my first competition and since then, I have been developing research in the area of chalcogens. I have already received some awards with recognition from peers and the media. I also emphasize the research lines developed by our group, involving various Nobel Prize-winning discoveries, both in the past and in contemporary times.

7. What is the next step? What work is planned?

The next step for our work, which we are already being done, is the application of these structures in biological assays, both in vitro and in vivo, particularly those involving reactive oxygen species. Additionally, we are optimizing the structure to enhance photophysical and electrochemical properties. All these works have one goal in the end of the day: to save lives and help make people’s lives better.

8. Why did you want to publish in RSC Advances?

I aimed to publish in RSC Advances because it holds a prestigious position within the academic community. The journal features articles of exceptionally high quality that garner significant citations. Moreover, the editorial support, decision-making process time, and bureaucratic procedures are all easily manageable. I would also like to highlight the support provided to us young Brazilian chemists by the Royal Society of Chemistry, which yields incredibly positive outcomes.

9. What are your thoughts on open access publishing?

I believe that open access publishing is the very near future for academic article publications worldwide. I am in favor of it because knowledge should be shared without costs for society, ultimately benefiting all of us. However, as a scientist in a developing country with limited funding, I am deeply concerned about open access because we may not have the means to publish due to the fees charged by journals. Therefore, there needs political actions in place to address this issue as well.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest  Popular Advances articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

We are delighted to present the 2023 edition of the RSC Advances Emerging Investigators series! Following the success of our 2022 edition, we are excited to continue highlighting the chemistry research being conducted by some of the leading investigators in our community.

This year’s Series Editors were Professor Shirley Nakagaki (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil) and Dr Fabienne Dumoulin (Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Universit, Türkiye). Eight articles were selected to support emerging researchers who are already making strides in their respective fields of research, both nationally and internationally. In this series, researchers address issues around water pollution, and develop analytical tools for the detection of biologically relevant substances. We also showcase efforts to prepare and characterize new compounds, as well as computational and theoretical research. Read all about the contributions in this accompanying Editorial.

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight an author from the series, Bernardo Almeida Iglesias. We interviewed Bernardo to find out more about his area of research and his contribution to the series.

First report of trans-A₂B-corrole derived from a lapachone derivative: photophysical, TD-DFT and photobiological assays

Bruna M. Rodrigues, Carlos C. Diniz, Vinicius N. da Rocha, Mateus H. Köhler, Guilherme P. Brandão, Luana A. Machado, Eufranio N. da Silva Júniorand Bernardo A. Iglesias

RSC Adv., 2023,13, 11121-11129

Bernardo Almeida Iglesias received his Ph.D. degree from Institute of Chemistry of University of Sao Paulo in 2012, under the guidance of Professor Koiti Araki. Currently, he is Assistant Professor at the Federal University of Santa Maria – Brazil and CNPq Scholarship (PQ-2). His research interests are focused on the synthesis and photobiology of tetrapyrrole macrocycles (porphyrins and corroles) for application in bioinorganic chemistry and photodynamic therapy applications. Authorized 170 research papers and actuates as Coordinator of Chemistry at FAPERGS (Rio Grande do Sul State Research Foundation).

1. Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist (in one or two sentences only) and why it is of current interest?

Research involving porphyrin derivatives (corroles) for application in photobiological processes and as a photosensitizer in photodynamic therapies.

2. How big an impact could your results potentially have?

They are huge! Once we know the behaviour of these molecules, it will be possible to use them for various applications involving light.

3. Could you explain the motivation behind this study?

Motivation is every day, as we are the only research group that works directly with the corrole chemistry!

4. In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?

I can define it in just two big words: patience and perseverance

5. Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?

Certainly the synthesis and purification of these derivatives. This is the main obstacle for anyone working in this area.

6. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

New corroles that present great stability and that are optimally generated from reactive oxygen species. In fact, it’s what all researchers are looking for!

7. How has your research evolved from your first article to this particular article?

The growth was exponential, thanks to my research group and the collaborators who help us with each work carried out.

8. What is the next step? What work is planned?

In addition to publications with a higher impact factor, we also seek to better understand what happens to these derivatives after the photo-irradiation process, whether in a cell or in a membrane.

9. Why did you want to publish in RSC Advances?

In addition to receiving an invitation, the choice was made due to RSC’s reputation in respected journals.

10. What are your thoughts on open access publishing?

I think it’s interesting, as long as the prices aren’t abusive.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest  Popular Advances articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

We are delighted to present the 2023 edition of the RSC Advances Emerging Investigators series! Following the success of our 2022 edition, we are excited to continue highlighting the chemistry research being conducted by some of the leading investigators in our community.

This year’s Series Editors were Professor Shirley Nakagaki (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil) and Dr Fabienne Dumoulin (Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Universit, Türkiye). Eight articles were selected to support emerging researchers who are already making strides in their respective fields of research, both nationally and internationally. In this series, researchers address issues around water pollution, and develop analytical tools for the detection of biologically relevant substances. We also showcase efforts to prepare and characterize new compounds, as well as computational and theoretical research. Read all about the contributions in this accompanying Editorial.

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight an author from the series, Henry Chu. We interviewed Henry to find out more about his area of research and his contribution to the series.

Unidirectional drying of a suspension of diffusiophoretic colloids under gravity

Jinjie Xu, Zhikui Wang and Henry C. W. Chu

RSC Adv., 2023,13, 34852-34865

Henry Chu is an Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering and an Affiliate Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at University of Florida (UF). He obtained a M.Phil. from The University of Hong Kong advised by Professors Chiu-On Ng and Kwok Wing Chow, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University advised by Professor Roseanna Zia. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University, working with Professors Aditya Khair, Robert Tilton, Stephen Garoff, and Todd Przybycien. The research theme of his group is heterogeneous soft matter transport and design, covering topics such as complex fluid dynamics, colloid and interface science, electrokinetics, and rheology. His group develops predictive multi-scale computational tools and fundamental theory to address National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges, emphasizing on close collaboration with experimental groups to translate knowledge into applications. His work has been recognized through awards, including UF Global Faculty Fellowship, The Royal Society of Chemistry Soft Matter Emerging Investigator, American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Grants, and the U.S. Department of Energy Geosciences Research Grants.

1. Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist (in one or two sentences only) and why it is of current interest?

The focus of our article is to simulate and understand the enhancement in the thickness of the colloidal film produced by unidirectional drying an electrolyte-colloid suspension, under normal and microgravity. This is of current interest in manufacturing microstructured materials for ground-based and in-space applications, such as thermal coatings, electrodes, and photonic crystals.

2. How big an impact could your results potentially have?

Our work demonstrates an order-of magnitude enhancement in the thickness of the colloidal film due to the enhanced colloidal transport by the solute concentration gradient generated during unidirectional drying.

3. Could you explain the motivation behind this study?

The enhanced colloidal transport by a solute concentration gradient, known as diffusiophoresis, has been ignored in prior modeling. Prior to our simulations, we envisioned that diffusiophoresis will be pivotal in the drying process, since the typical velocity of colloidal transport by diffusiophoresis is significantly larger than that by solvent evaporation in a drying cell.

4. In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?

The key design consideration for our study is to employ direct numerical simulations and develop a macrotransport theory to analyze the advective-diffusive transport of an electrolyte-colloid suspension in a unidirectional drying cell under the influence of gravity and diffusiophoresis.

5. Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?

The most challenging but enjoyable part of this work is to educate and guide my students to complete this first project of them. We are glad that we made it!

6. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

The theme of our research is heterogeneous soft matter transport and design. We are excited about developing predictive multi-scale computational tools and fundamental theory to address emerging National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges, emphasizing on close collaboration with experimental groups to translate knowledge into applications.

7. How has your research evolved from your first article to this particular article?

I am grateful to my undergraduate, master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral research mentors, who guided me from my first article in hydrophobic microchannel flows to other published work in complex fluid dynamics, colloid and interface science, electrokinetics, and rheology. This article pertains to electrokinetic flows and is a tribute to my mentors 🙂

8. What is the next step? What work is planned?

Diffusiophoresis, the novel component of our article, is one of the specializations of our research group. We are excited about disseminating more of our discoveries of the fundamentals and applications of diffusiophoresis in the future!

9. Why did you want to publish in RSC Advances?

We published our article in RSC Advances, since our work was partly inspired by a high-quality article published in the same journal.

10. What are your thoughts on open access publishing?

Open access publishing is beneficial to disseminate knowledge, especially to institutes or individuals which cannot afford the traditional subscription model.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest  Popular Advances articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

We are delighted to present the 2023 edition of the RSC Advances Emerging Investigators series! Following the success of our 2022 edition, we are excited to continue highlighting the chemistry research being conducted by some of the leading investigators in our community.

This year’s Series Editors were Professor Shirley Nakagaki (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil) and Dr Fabienne Dumoulin (Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Universit, Türkiye). Eight articles were selected to support emerging researchers who are already making strides in their respective fields of research, both nationally and internationally. In this series, researchers address issues around water pollution, and develop analytical tools for the detection of biologically relevant substances. We also showcase efforts to prepare and characterize new compounds, as well as computational and theoretical research. Read all about the contributions in this accompanying Editorial.

Please see below the biographies of some of the brilliant authors who have been published in the 2023 collection:

Henry Chu

Unidirectional drying of a suspension of diffusiophoretic colloids under gravity

Henry Chu is an Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering and an Affiliate Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at University of Florida (UF). He obtained a M.Phil. from The University of Hong Kong advised by Professors Chiu-On Ng and Kwok Wing Chow, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University advised by Professor Roseanna Zia. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University, working with Professors Aditya Khair, Robert Tilton, Stephen Garoff, and Todd Przybycien. The research theme of his group is heterogeneous soft matter transport and design, covering topics such as complex fluid dynamics, colloid and interface science, electrokinetics, and rheology. His group develops predictive multi-scale computational tools and fundamental theory to address National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges, emphasizing on close collaboration with experimental groups to translate knowledge into applications. His work has been recognized through awards, including UF Global Faculty Fellowship, The Royal Society of Chemistry Soft Matter Emerging Investigator, American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Grants, and the U.S. Department of Energy Geosciences Research Grants.

Bernardo Almeida Iglesias

First report of trans-A2B-corrole derived from a lapachone derivative: photophysical, TD-DFT and photobiological assays

Bernardo Almeida Iglesias received his Ph.D. degree from Institute of Chemistry of University of Sao Paulo in 2012, under the guidance of Professor Koiti Araki. Currently, he is Assistant Professor at the Federal University of Santa Maria – Brazil and CNPq Scholarship (PQ-2). His research interests are focused on the synthesis and photobiology of tetrapyrrole macrocycles (porphyrins and corroles) for application in bioinorganic chemistry and photodynamic therapy applications. Authorized 170 research papers and actuates as Coordinator of Chemistry at FAPERGS (Rio Grande do Sul State Research Foundation).

Moses O. Alfred

Distribution and toxicity of dihydroxybenzenes in drinking water sources in Nigeria

Dr Moses O Alfred holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Chemistry and an MSc in Environmental and Analytical Chemistry from Redeemer’s University, Nigeria, building upon his foundational BSc in Industrial Chemistry from Adekunle Ajasin University. Throughout his academic journey, Dr Alfred has garnered prestigious scholarships, including The World Academy of Science Master’s Degree Scholarship, the African-German Network of Excellence in Sciences (AGNES) mobility grant, the TWAS-CNPq Sandwich Ph.D. Fellowship and, recently, the Alexander von Humboldt Georg Forster Postdoctoral Fellowship showcasing his exceptional dedication to advancing environmental science. Renowned for his groundbreaking research in the investigation of water quality issues, water purification, and pollution control, Dr. Alfred’s innovative work not only surveys water pollution but also focuses on developing low-cost materials from waste matter to remove toxic contaminants from water sources. His contributions, including novel adsorbents and photocatalytic materials, have earned him international recognition and invitations to present at esteemed conferences and workshops. As an educator, Dr Alfred mentors and supervises students at Redeemer’s University and the African Centre of Excellence for Water and Environmental Research (ACEWATER), shaping the next generation of environmental scientists. Driven by his passion for environmental sustainability, Dr. Alfred’s research, peer review activities, and commitment to mentorship continue to leave a lasting impact on the field, inspiring future scientists.

Vanessa Nascimento

Synthesis and evaluation of photophysical, electrochemical, and ROS generation properties of new chalcogen-naphthoquinones-1,2,3-triazole hybrids

Mother of twins Arthur and Lucca (6 years old). She graduated in Industrial Chemistry from the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (2009). Master (2011) and PhD in Chemistry from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, with a period funded by PDSE/Capes, at UNIPG, Italy (2015). She completed her postdoctoral, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Faruk Nome, also at UFSC. Since 2016, she has been an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Organic Chemistry at the Universidade Federal Fluminense, where she leads the research group: SupraSelen (SupraSelen Laboratory). She has experience in Chemistry, with an emphasis on Organic Synthesis. Her field of activity mainly covers the synthesis of compounds functionalized with organochalcogens for application in biological tests. She also works in the synthesis and applications of compounds involving Supramolecular Chemistry. She received the PeerJ Award in 2019 and, in the same year, became a Young Scientist of Our State by FAPERJ. Between 2020 and 2024, she served on the Young Researchers team of the Brazilian Chemical Society (secretary during 2022-2024) and the Latin American Network of Young Scientists working in Chemistry (LANYSC). In 2021, she joined the Núcleo Mulheres SBQ (media committee) and the International Younger Chemists Network (Public Outreach Committee). In 2022, she received the Jovem Cientista Fluminense Award from the Brazilian Chemical Society – Rio de Janeiro, where she serves as Treasurer for the period 2024-2026. ACS Premium Membership since 2023 and Full Member of the SBQ since 2008. Topical Advisory Panel and Guest Editor for Processes Journal, International board and secretary of the SeS Redox and Catalysis Network. In 2024, it received the Sustainability Star award from the American Chemical Society.

Looking forward: Emerging Investigator Series 2024!

We are pleased to announce that Shirley and Fabienne will continue as the Series Editors for the 2024 Emerging Investigator series. We can’t wait to see what the next early career investigators have been working on in Chemistry!

Authors can self-nominate for participation in the Emerging Investigators Series. Articles can be submitted to the series at any time and will be accepted and published throughout the year. If you would like to be involved in our upcoming series, please look at our webpage for more information or submit now!

For any questions do not hesitate to contact us at advances-rsc@rsc.org

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Thank you so much to the Series Editors, Associate Editors and to all our reviewers at RSC Advances for their ongoing support and contribution, helping us to bring together such a fantastic collection of articles.

Welcome to our Emerging Investigators Series 2022! This series, led by Prof Shirley Nakagaki (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil) and Dr Fabienne Dumoulin (Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Universit, Türkiye), highlights the very best work from early-career researchers in all areas of chemistry. 10 papers were published as part of the collection spanning the breadth of chemistry on topics ranging from green and environmental chemistry, to biological and bioinorganic chemistry, as well as papers that propose theoretical calculations as solutions to chemistry problems. You can read all about the contributions in this accompanying Editorial prepared by Shirley.

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight an author from the series, . We interviewed Ivaldo Itabaiana Junior to find out more about his area of research and his contribution to the series.

Lipase-catalyzed acylation of levoglucosan in continuous flow: antibacterial and biosurfactant studies
Marcelo A. do Nascimento, Juan P. C. Vargas, José G. A. Rodrigues, Raquel A. C. Leão, Patricia H. B. de Moura, Ivana C. R. Leal, Jonathan Bassut, Rodrigo O. M. A. de Souza, Robert Wojcieszake and Ivaldo Itabaiana, Jr
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 3027-3035

Professor Ivaldo Itabaiana Junior holds a degree in Pharmacy from the Federal University of Rio Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil (2009), a PhD in Pharmaceutical Science from UFRJ (2013) with a sandwich period at the National Hellenic Research Foundation (Athens, Greece), as well as a post-doctorate in Biocatalysis from the Institute of Chemistry of UFRJ, and a Post-doctorate in hybrid catalysis from UCCS – CNRS (Lille, France).

Since 2014, he is an adjunct professor at the School of Chemistry of UFRJ, where he has been developing research on the application of the concepts of biocatalysis, biotransformation, photocatalysis and hybrid catalysis in the valorization of residual lignocellulosic biomass aiming at obtaining value-added compounds, such as enzymes, surfactants, polymers and building blocks, in order to obtain a zero-waste biorefinery. He has more than 58 published papers, and international collaborations, such as UCCS-Lille (France), UCL (Belgium), Universidad de Córdoba (Spain), EIE (Greece), and others. He has more than 12 graduate students, and is currently vice-coordinator of the Graduate Program in Chemical and Biochemical Process Engineering at UFRJ. In his career, he has won awards such as the best doctoral thesis at UFRJ (2014), as well as the Capes Thesis Award, at the national level. He also has projects funded by being a Young Scientist, and a research productivity fellow.

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist (in one or two sentences only) and why it is of current interest?

This article aimed to obtain a compound with antibacterial and surfactant properties from a precursor derived from agro-industrial waste, as a form of reuse, aiming at an environmentally friendly process.

How big an impact could your results potentially have?

This work can generate an industrial product that presents great biosurfactant and antibacterial capacity, produced under mild conditions of reaction, since it comes from an enzymatic way and presents as substrate the levoglucosan, originated from residual biomass pyrolysis. Therefore, our results move towards a possible construction of an integrated process of valorisation of lignocellulosic biomass, with probability of low cost steps.

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?

My research currently involves the valorization of Brazilian and worldwide residual biomass, aiming to obtain molecules that contribute to the society in general, in order to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life. The lignocellulosic residues, as a reflection of the increase in life expectancy of the world population and the consequent industrialization, have increased alarmingly, and new processes to add these components back into the productive chain are required. Our group has work in this challenging area, where this article is part of a project of valorisation of levoglucosan, a compound that has origin in the fast pyrolysis of these biomasses.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?

Levoglucosan (LG) is a challenging molecule since it is obtained through pyrolysis of residual lignocellulosic biomass. Our group has been studying better conditions to obtain LG through fast pyrolysis of several biomasses. As it is a complex mixture of compounds, pyrolysis products also challenge us to develop new technologies for the best use of these fractions, and with this, my line of research has been based on the coupling of biocatalysis, photocatalysis, and hybrid catalysis in obtaining new compounds that can add value and return the residual biomass to the production chain, as a way of establishing future zero biorefineries.
LG chemically challenges us in obtaining compounds of industrial importance, since it presents a structure with steric hindrance, and there are still few published works where this molecule is applied as a substrate or starting reagent for obtaining derived compounds. Therefore, we seek to fill a gap in the literature, and we hope to succeed.

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?

In my opinion, the characterization of the esterification reaction products were the most challenging, since levoglucosan presents a differentiated stereochemistry, generating the possibility of formation of more than one product. Thus, some previous steps of separation and characterization with different physical methods were necessary to evaluate and quantify the products formed. Moreover, the biomass pyrolysis and optimization step to obtain larger amounts of levoglucosan also deserves attention due to the complexity of lignocellulosic materials.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

At this point in our research, we were able to couple important results on photocatalysis and biocatalysis in the construction of new catalysts that managed to improve the reaction selectivity of LG with other compounds, in order to obtain new molecules with biosurfactant potential. We are advancing in this part and managing to build new catalytic systems for the valorization of other molecules from residual biomass.
We are also investing in collaborations for process modeling and building robust models for the prediction of better catalytic conditions, which are more economically viable and sustainable, and we are obtaining encouraging results.

How has your research evolved from your first article to this particular article?

My first paper in my scientific career was published demonstrating the phytochemical study of medicinal plants with antimicrobial properties. Currently, we seek, through the valorization of lignocellulosic biomass, to obtain new molecules that also have this application. It is interesting to carry out this relationship, where I could realize that over time, I could follow the evolution of science and technology, and couple the knowledge acquired in my work, without escaping my main objectives, which are to find molecules that can improve the quality of life of the world population.

What is the next step? What work is planned?

Some molecules derived from lignocellulosic biomass showed potential biological activity, and in this sense, the next steps will be to improve yields and selectivity in obtaining these compounds, increase the scale of production and perform new more specific assays to determine mechanism of action and new models of activity. We hope to continue publishing new processes, technologies and integrated results of synthesis and application.

Why did you want to publish in RSC Advances?

The publication of the article in RSC Advances came from a prior invitation from the editor, which we were very happy about. The journal has a relevant impact in the area of biocatalysis and biotechnology, with very inspiring works. Our group already has previous works in this journal, the impact was very positive.

What are your thoughts on open access publishing?

In my opinion Open Access publishing should be a standard within the academic world. The dissemination of knowledge is a fundamental pillar for science, which is the one that produces knowledge. Unfortunately, the capitalist world still imposes many barriers for scientists to know the work of other colleagues, or to carry out more grandiose research, which could improve the quality of life of the world population. And it all starts with greater access to information.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest  Popular Advances articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Welcome to our Emerging Investigators Series 2022! This series, led by Prof Shirley Nakagaki (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil) and Dr Fabienne Dumoulin (Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Universit, Türkiye), highlights the very best work from early-career researchers in all areas of chemistry. 10 papers were published as part of the collection spanning the breadth of chemistry on topics ranging from green and environmental chemistry, to biological and bioinorganic chemistry, as well as papers that propose theoretical calculations as solutions to chemistry problems. You can read all about the contributions in this accompanying Editorial prepared by Shirley.

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight an author from the series, Prof Dr Noémie Elgrishi. We interviewed Noémie to find out more about her area of research and her contribution to the series.

Impact of the choice of buffer on the electrochemical reduction of Cr(vi) in water on carbon electrodes
Callie M. Stern, Devin D. Meche and Noémie Elgrishi
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 32592-32599

Noémie Elgrishi is an assistant professor at Louisiana State University. A native of France, Noémie worked in the labs of Jonathan Nitschke (University of Cambridge) and Daniel Nocera (MIT, now Harvard University) during her Master’s degree (Sorbonne University, formerly University Pierre and Marie Curie – Paris 6). After obtaining a PhD from Sorbonne University working with Marc Fontecave (Collège de France), during which she was named a 2012 Scifinder Future Leader, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher under the mentorship of Jillian Dempsey (UNC-Chapel Hill) for 2 years. Since starting at LSU in 2017, Noémie’s group has developed a fundamental-science-first approach to interrogate environmentally relevant problems. Research centers on the intersection of electrochemistry and supramolecular chemistry to answer key questions related to water and energy challenges. Noémie Elgrishi received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation in 2021 and will be an editorial broad member for the Journal of Coordination Chemistry starting in 2023.

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist (in one or two sentences only) and why it is of current interest?

Electrochemical methods are well-suited to reduce toxic hexavalent chromium to purify drinking water, but the challenge is mitigating the energetic cost associated with the transfer of the large number of protons and electrons required all while using cheap carbon electrodes. Here we show how the choice of buffer, not simply the pH, influences the reaction and we also demonstrate a very simple way to recycle electrodes if they get fouled during use.

How big an impact could your results potentially have?

The work helps establish that in the conditions studied: 1) cheap carbon electrodes can be used instead of noble metals, 2) Cr(VI) reduction is gated by a similar proton-coupled electron transfer step in multiple buffers, 3) some buffers promote adsorption of the resulting Cr(III) on the electrode, and 4) it is possible to restore the electrode surface and regain activity with a simple rinse, without the need for re-polishing. Combined, these open the way to the development of water purification flow systems to reduce Cr(VI) in water.

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?

The motivation is to advance electrochemical water purification, specifically targeting toxic hexavalent chromium, by leveraging knowledge from the community working on Proton-Coupled Electron Transfers. At its core, the challenge of Cr(VI) reduction is the efficient transfer of multiple protons and electrons. This is thermodynamically easy but kinetically challenging. Before developing catalysts to mediate the transformation, it was important to identify the parameters influencing direct electroreduction of Cr(VI) at an electrode.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?

Realizing that buffers are not inert innocent spectators! We are so used to thinking of buffers in water as a means to work at a fixed pH, without really considering the effect of the specific acid/bases added.

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?

Experimentally, the observation of Cr(III) plating on the electrode in certain conditions significantly increased the time required for data collection as freshly polished electrodes were required for every single scan. Scientifically, realizing that the buffer was the cause of these changes in behavior was the most challenging.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

I am excited about our progress on developing electrocatalysts to further mediate the Cr(VI) reduction transformation, as well as applying lessons learned to other problematic oxyanions contaminating water supplies.

How has your research evolved from your first article to this particular article?

Our fist paper on this project demonstrated that carbon electrodes are effective for the reduction of Cr(VI) in water across a wide range of pH. We were using a citrate buffer for that work as we were covering a large pH range. In this new paper we explore how that seemingly innocuous choice of buffer actually impacts many steps of the Cr(VI) reduction process.

What is the next step? What work is planned?

We would like to develop electrocatalysts to speed up the reaction and, critically, decrease the energy required (lowering the overpotential). We have made progress in that direction and hope to be able to share more soon.

Why did you want to publish in RSC Advances?

I value the RSC as a non-profit scientific society. I also love the ease of submitting papers to the RSC when using the template, with auto-populating fields which speeds up the submission process. I chose RSC Advances specifically as it is a general journal with a broad audience.

What are your thoughts on open access publishing?

It is fantastic to hear that the RSC, and others, are moving to open access. I just hope funding follows, since the current model is to let the researcher somehow cover the costs. This could create a model where only the top funded groups are even able to consider publishing in the top journals (given the large cost), and where decisions on which journal to consider to submit a paper are based on the cost first instead, of journal audience or fit.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest  Popular Advances articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Welcome to our Emerging Investigators Series 2022! This series, led by Prof Shirley Nakagaki (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil) and Dr Fabienne Dumoulin (Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Universit, Türkiye), highlights the very best work from early-career researchers in all areas of chemistry. 10 papers were published as part of the collection spanning the breadth of chemistry on topics ranging from green and environmental chemistry, to biological and bioinorganic chemistry, as well as papers that propose theoretical calculations as solutions to chemistry problems. You can read all about the contributions in this accompanying Editorial prepared by Shirley.

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight an author from the series, Dr Kelly M. Schultz. We interviewed Kelly to find out more about her area of research and her contribution to the series.

Gelation phase diagrams of colloidal rod systems measured over a large composition space
Shiqin He, Marco Caggioni, Seth Lindberg and Kelly M. Schultz
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 12902-12912

Dr. Kelly M. Schultz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Lehigh University. She obtained her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University in 2006 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with Professor Eric Furst from the University of Delaware in 2011 as a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow. While at Delaware, she was invited to speak in the American Chemical Society Excellence in Graduate Polymers Research Symposium and was selected as the Fraser and Shirley Russell Teaching Fellow. Following her PhD, she was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral research associate at the University of Colorado at Boulder working in the laboratory of Professor Kristi Anseth. As a postdoc, she was invited to participate in the Distinguished Young Scholars Summer Seminar Series at the University of Washington. She began her position as Assistant Professor at Lehigh University in 2013, was named a P.C. Rossin Assistant Professor from 2016 – 2018 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019. Dr. Schultz was named one of TA Instruments Distinguished Young Rheologists (2014), awarded a NSF CAREER award (2018), the Lehigh University Libsch Early Career Research Award (2019), the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science Excellence in Research Scholarship & Leadership (2020), a National Institutes of Health – National Institute of General Medical Sciences Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA R35, 2022) and named the Pirkey Centennial Lecturer by the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (2022). Dr. Schultz and her research group study emerging gel materials developed for applications from consumer products to materials that can enhance and restart wound healing. Of particular interest is the development of bulk and microrheological techniques that measure how 3D encapsulated human mesenchymal stem cells degrade and remodel synthetic hydrogel scaffolds during motility.

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist (in one or two sentences only) and why it is of current interest?

This work focuses on characterizing the material properties of different formulations of a colloidal fibrous gel. These materials are used in fabric and home care products and this work provides a table where the desired material properties can be looked up eliminating trial-and-error experiments during product development.

How big an impact could your results potentially have?

This work is in collaboration with engineers at Procter & Gamble. We are working with some of their materials but also exploring new materials with similar dimensions that they are interested in using in consumer products. So there is potential for our work to inform the design of new products. To the greater scientific community, this work provides a methodology for tackling material characterization over a large formulation space, which can also have an impact.

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?

As I mentioned in the previous question, this has been a long standing collaboration with Procter & Gamble. We started working with colloidal fibers that they currently use in their fabric and home care products. Since then we have expanded the work to investigate different Fibers to determine if they can also be used as rheological modifiers. Beyond enabling the use of these materials in new products, my group is interested in developing new characterization and analysis techniques. This work uses established characterization techniques to collect data but as you can see in the presentation of the data, we aim to maximize the information we can get from a measurement and that is always a motivation behind our work.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?

The key design consideration for our study was to systematically traverse a large formulation space experimentally. Then we wanted to find a way to present this large set of data that would enable a researcher that is working in formulations to use this as a lookup table to inform the design of their product.

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?

The interpretation and presentation of the data was quite challenging. We had a large amount of data and at some point you realize that the more data you have the harder it is to interpret it. Being able to organize it in a way that we could show trends and draw conclusions was really a challenge.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

This work is evolving to use more sustainable colloidal fibers, something both my group and our collaborators are interested in. This is really exciting since it has the potential to use a waste product in new formulations.

How has your research evolved from your first article to this particular article?

Our first article on this work was developed analysis methods to interpret microrheological data to characterize a heterogeneous colloidal gel. All of the work since that time has built upon this to give us a toolbox of characterization and analysis techniques that allows us to effectively interpret our data, even in complex systems. We have also started characterizing new colloidal gel systems, which are very exciting. Using these techniques and previous knowledge to characterize the rheology of these materials, we hope to enable their use in products.

What is the next step? What work is planned?

As mentioned previously, we are moving on to a sustainable colloid, a waste product. We are characterizing this material to see if we can modify the colloid to enable it’s use as a rheological modifier in fabric and home care products. We are really excited about this work and the direction that the project is taking.

Why did you want to publish in RSC Advances?

We thought that this was not only an interesting study of these particular materials but also a really nice way to characterize, analyze and present this type of data. The reason we chose RSC Advances was because of the wide readership. We thought getting not only the results but the technique to a wider audience would have a bigger impact.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest  Popular Advances articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

Welcome to our Emerging Investigators Series 2022! This series, led by Prof Shirley Nakagaki (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil) and Dr Fabienne Dumoulin (Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Universit, Türkiye), highlights the very best work from early-career researchers in all areas of chemistry. 10 papers were published as part of the collection spanning the breadth of chemistry on topics ranging from green and environmental chemistry, to biological and bioinorganic chemistry, as well as papers that propose theoretical calculations as solutions to chemistry problems. You can read all about the contributions in this accompanying Editorial prepared by Shirley.

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight an author from the series, Prof Dr Julio Cezar Pastre. We interviewed Julio to find out more about his area of research and his contribution to the series.

Continuous flow Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley reduction of HMF and furfural using basic zirconium carbonate
Henrique Magri Marçon and Julio Cezar Pastre
RSC Adv., 2022,12, 7980-7989

Julio C. Pastre obtained his PhD in 2009 under the guidance of Professor Carlos Roque D. Correia at the University of Campinas – UNICAMP. He then worked as a research scientist at Rhodia-Solvay before moving back to UNICAMP for postdoctoral studies with Professor Ronaldo A. Pilli. In 2012, he joined the group of Professor Steven V. Ley at the University of Cambridge. Two years later, Julio established his independent research group at UNICAMP and recently became an Associate Professor. In 2019, he was recognized as an ‘Emerging Investigator’ by Reaction Chemistry & Engineering and as a ‘New Talent from the Americas’ by RSC Medicinal Chemistry. Julio was chosen by the editorial boards of Synthesis, Synlett, and Synfacts as one of their ‘Thieme Chemistry Journals Awardees’ for 2023. His research interest focuses on the development of new synthetic methods in batch under microwave irradiation and under continuous flow conditions for the synthesis of platform molecules, new chemicals and APIs.

Could you briefly explain the focus of your article to the non-specialist and why it is of current interest?

In this work, we explored the valorization of two biobased chemicals (HMF and furfural) that can, for example, be used in the synthesis of polymers and are important intermediates to reduce our fossil-dependency and mitigate environmental issues.

How big an impact could your results potentially have?

By designing new synthetic methods that take full advantage of the capabilities of new enabling technologies, one will inevitably end up with greener, cleaner processes.

Could you explain the motivation behind this study?

We are keen to develop new processes for the synthesis of high value-added compounds from biomass derivatives in continuous flow regime.

In your opinion, what are the key design considerations for your study?

Our group has already identified continuous flow processing as a fundamental technology for the valorization of biomass derivatives, so that any designed methods can be rapidly scaled to manufacture. Moreover, many of the principles of Green Chemistry can be met by embracing new technologies that are inherently cleaner when compared to the traditional approaches.

Which part of the work towards this paper proved to be most challenging?

Although the process concerns just a reduction of an aldehyde, the obtention of a selective process is quite challenging since several competitive reactions can take place leading, for example, to the formation of humins.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?

We are excited about the impact that flow chemistry can have in the valorization of biomass considering its key advantages, such as better control of heat and mass transfer, improved mixing, and safety profile.

How has your research evolved from your first article to this particular article?

Most of our previous works were done under homogeneous conditions. The use of heterogeneous catalysts in a fixed-bed reactor represents a good evolution in view of catalyst recycling, product separation and throughput.

What is the next step? What work is planned?

We want to apply these findings to other biobased chemicals and develop an integrated approach for the valorization of these materials.

Why did you want to publish in RSC Advances?

I’m a reader of RSC Advances, which publishes high impact research. So, it is a great pleasure to have our work published in such a prestigious journal.

What are your thoughts on open access publishing?

I believe open access publishing is going to be dominant soon since it gives access to a broader community and “democratize” science.

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest  Popular Advances articles, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.

We are delighted to present the 2022 edition of the RSC Advances Emerging Investigators Series! Following the success of our inaugural 2021 edition, we are excited to continue highlighting the chemistry research being conducted by some of the leading investigators in our community.

This year’s Series Editors were Professor Shirley Nakagaki (Federal University of Paraná, Brazil) and Dr Fabienne Dumoulin (Acıbadem Mehmet Ali Aydınlar Universit, Türkiye. The 10 articles featured come from various countries and continents, delving into molecular and solid-state chemistry with diverse applications, primarily in the areas of green and environmental chemistry, as well as biological and bioinorganic chemistry. Additionally, we have included papers that propose theoretical calculations as solutions to chemistry problems. You can read all about the contributions in this accompanying Editorial, prepared by Shirley.

Please see below the biographies of some of the brilliant authors who have been published in the 2022 collection:

Ashutosh Kumar Mishra

Modulating catalytic activity of a modified flavin analogue via judicially positioned metal ion toward aerobic sulphoxidation

Dr Ashutosh Kumar Mishra was born in Gorakhpur and obtained his master’s degree from Gorakhpur university. He later moved to IIT-Kanpur for his doctoral degree where he worked under the supervision of Prof Sandeep Verma on scalable structural complexities in metal-nucleobase interactions. Working as postdoctoral scholar with Prof Frederick D Lewis at Northwestern University, USA, he was involved in investigating the dynamics and mechanism of photoinduced charge transport in DNA. Ashutosh started his independent research career at IIT-Hyderabad India where he is currently working as assistant professor. His current research interest focuses on understanding and exploring bio-molecular systems through small chemical modifications, especially synthetic peptide motifs and flavin based dinucleotide systems with potential biomedical applications and for next generation biomimetic systems.

Noémie Elgrishi

Impact of the choice of buffer on the electrochemical reduction of Cr(vi) in water on carbon electrodes

Noémie Elgrishi is an assistant professor at Louisiana State University. A native of France, Noémie worked in the labs of Jonathan Nitschke (University of Cambridge) and Daniel Nocera (MIT, now Harvard University) during her Master’s degree (Sorbonne University, formerly University Pierre and Marie Curie – Paris 6). After obtaining a PhD from Sorbonne University working with Marc Fontecave (Collège de France), during which she was named a 2012 Scifinder Future Leader, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher under the mentorship of Jillian Dempsey (UNC-Chapel Hill) for 2 years. Since starting at LSU in 2017, Noémie’s group has developed a fundamental-science-first approach to interrogate environmentally relevant problems. Research centers on the intersection of electrochemistry and supramolecular chemistry to answer key questions related to water and energy challenges. Noémie Elgrishi received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation in 2021 and will be an editorial broad member for the Journal of Coordination Chemistry starting in 2023.

Lars Goerigk

Noncovalently bound excited-state dimers: a perspective on current time-dependent density functional theory approaches applied to aromatic excimer models

Lars Goerigk is an Associate Professor at the School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne, Australia. In 2011, he obtained his PhD in the group of Prof. Stefan Grimme, Münster in Germany, and then relocated to The University of Sydney to work with Prof. Jeffrey Reimers before joining his present institution in 2014. His area of expertise is Theoretical and Computational Quantum Chemistry with a focus on Density Functional Theory for ground and excited states. A/Prof. Goerigk is a former Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Fellow (Australian Research Council), a recipient of the 2017 Physical Chemistry Division Lectureship (Royal Australian Chemical Institute) and an awardee of the 2019 Le Fèvre (Australian Academy of Science) and 2020 Rennie Memorial medals (Royal Australian Chemical Institute). Recently, he won the 2022 Pople Medal (Asia-Pacific Association of Theoretical & Computational Chemists), the highest award for a theoretical and computational chemist under the age of 45 in the Asia Pacific.

Julio C. Pastre

Continuous flow Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley reduction of HMF and furfural using basic zirconium carbonate

Julio C. Pastre obtained his PhD in 2009 under the guidance of Professor Carlos Roque D. Correia at the University of Campinas – UNICAMP. He then worked as a research scientist at Rhodia-Solvay before moving back to UNICAMP for postdoctoral studies with Professor Ronaldo A. Pilli. In 2012, he joined the group of Professor Steven V. Ley at the University of Cambridge. Two years later, Julio established his independent research group at UNICAMP and recently became an Associate Professor. In 2019, he was recognized as an ‘Emerging Investigator’ by Reaction Chemistry & Engineering and as a ‘New Talent from the Americas’ by RSC Medicinal Chemistry. Julio was chosen by the editorial boards of Synthesis, Synlett, and Synfacts as one of their ‘Thieme Chemistry Journals Awardees’ for 2023. His research interest focuses on the development of new synthetic methods in batch under microwave irradiation and under continuous flow conditions for the synthesis of platform molecules, new chemicals and APIs.

Sónia P.M. Ventura

Recovery of bacterioruberin and proteins using aqueous solutions of surface-active compounds

Sónia P.M. Ventura is an Associate Professor at the Chemistry Department of University of Aveiro and coordinator of group 4 (Biorefinery, Recycling and Bio-based Materials) of the Aveiro Institute of Materials (CICECO). In 2021, Prof Sónia Ventura was invited to be part of the coordination members of European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB) and since the end of 2022, Prof Ventura is member of the Steering Board of European Algae Biomass Association (EABA).

Prof Ventura is a well-recognized researcher working on the use of alternative solvents (e.g. ionic liquids, eutectic solvents and more recently bio-solvents) and engineering technologies aiming to develop the concepts of Biorefinery and Circular Economy by following the guidelines of Green Chemistry. In the last 10 years, Prof Ventura is deeply devoted to the study of strategies to valorize marine raw materials and residues derived from several industrial sectors, these including fishery and agri-food industries.

Susmita De

Cation–π and hydrophobic interaction controlled PET recognition in double mutated cutinase – identification of a novel binding subsite for better catalytic activity

Dr Susmita De obtained her Ph. D. in 2010 from University of Hyderabad under the guidance of Prof Eluvathingal D. Jemmis. She has gained research experience in various area of theoretical chemistry by working with Prof Gernot Frenking at the Department of Chemistry, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany, Prof. Keiji Morokuma at the Fukui Institute for Fundamental Chemistry, Kyoto University, Japan and Prof Martin Zacharias at the Department of Physics, Technical University Munich, Germany. She is the recipient of Fast Track early career research award, INSPIRE Faculty award, Core research grant from Government of India and EMBO visiting scientist fellowship. Her current research focus is on the detailed molecular-level understanding of structure and mechanism of complex molecular, biomolecular and materials systems by molecular dynamics simulations and quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical methods. She applies the knowledge of chemical bonding to predict the properties and reactivities of complex systems. Her foundation in chemistry had helped her to translate the molecular level knowledge to the areas of Biology and Material science, which can establish a synergy between theory and experiment to realise fruitful prediction of theory-driven experiments and synthesis.

Kelly M. Schultz

Gelation phase diagrams of colloidal rod systems measured over a large composition space

Dr Kelly M. Schultz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Lehigh University. She obtained her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University in 2006 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with Professor Eric Furst from the University of Delaware in 2011 as a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow. While at Delaware, she was invited to speak in the American Chemical Society Excellence in Graduate Polymers Research Symposium and was selected as the Fraser and Shirley Russell Teaching Fellow. Following her PhD, she was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral research associate at the University of Colorado at Boulder working in the laboratory of Professor Kristi Anseth. As a postdoc, she was invited to participate in the Distinguished Young Scholars Summer Seminar Series at the University of Washington. She began her position as Assistant Professor at Lehigh University in 2013, was named a P.C. Rossin Assistant Professor from 2016 – 2018 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019. Dr. Schultz was named one of TA Instruments Distinguished Young Rheologists (2014), awarded a NSF CAREER award (2018), the Lehigh University Libsch Early Career Research Award (2019), the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science Excellence in Research Scholarship & Leadership (2020), a National Institutes of Health – National Institute of General Medical Sciences Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA R35, 2022) and named the Pirkey Centennial Lecturer by the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (2022). Dr Schultz and her research group study emerging gel materials developed for applications from consumer products to materials that can enhance and restart wound healing. Of particular interest is the development of bulk and microrheological techniques that measure how 3D encapsulated human mesenchymal stem cells degrade and remodel synthetic hydrogel scaffolds during motility.

Thank you so much to the Series Editors, Associate Editors and to all our reviewers at RSC Advances for their ongoing support and contribution, helping us to bring together such a fantastic collection of articles.

Looking forward: Emerging Investigator Series 2023!

We are pleased to announce that Shirley and Fabienne will continue on as the Series Editors for the 2023 Emerging Investigator series! We can’t wait to see what the next early career investigators have been working on in Chemistry.

Selection for the Emerging Investigators series comes in part from the recommendations of our Editorial Board, as well as our Associate Editors. Authors can also self-nominate for participation and review by our Associate Editors. Articles can be submitted to the series at any time and will be accepted and published throughout the year.

If you would like to be involved in our upcoming series, please look at our webpage here for more information or submit now!

For any questions do not hesitate to contact us at advances-rsc@rsc.org

Submit to RSC Advances today! Check out our author guidelines for information on our article types or find out more about the advantages of publishing in a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.

Keep up to date with our latest Popular Advances, Reviews, Collections & more by following us on Twitter. You can also keep informed by signing up to our E-Alerts.