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Merging visible-light photocatalysis and C-H activation: new strategy towards all-carbon quaternary stereogenic centres – 2al-VisPhot-CH
Developing conceptually novel, more eco-reliable transformations, building up molecular scaffolds inaccessible via standard methodologies and designing unprecedented catalytic systems: these are urgent challenges of the fundamental research in organic chemistry. The objective of the herein presented
Finding Accurate and Scalable Theories for Electronic Correlation – FASTcorrelation
Quantum mechanics can comprehensively describe the matter that surrounds us and of which we are made. However, applications to realistic materials require approximate numerical schemes that involve a compromise between accuracy and numerical efficiency. These properties are essential to address the
Carbohydrates Nucleophiles, New Partners in Transition Metals Catalysis – CarNuCat
Our project deals with the use transition metal-catalyzed approaches to imagine and explore new ways to build glycoconjugates. The chemistry in this proposal involves the development of a series of processes concerning N-, S- , O- or C-glycosidic bonds forming reaction under transition metal catalys
Mountains to Climb in the Chemistry of Highly Complex Indole Alkaloids: Methodology for Total Synthesis – Mount-Indole
This molecule is considered a mountain to be climbed by total synthesis. It is indicative of nature's ability to assemble very simple molecular bricks into extremely refined and functionalized molecular architectures. Pleiocarpamine is a key intermediate in its biosynthesis and in those of related n
SHAPE-SELECTIVE GROWTH AND ORGANIZATION OF INORGANIC NANO-MATERIALS WITHIN PORES OF REUSABLE CRYSTALLINE SUPRAMOLECULAR MATRIXES – InsidePores
An essential step of the overall process is the insertion of the molecular precursors of the NPs into the porosity of the matrix. To achieve efficient and fast loading, it is desirable that the incoming guests have weak interactions with the matrix. For this reason, the selected matrixes have the wa
Phospha-helicenes. Development of a new class of chiral phosphorus compounds – HelPhos
Aim of this project is the development of phosphahelicenes as a new family of helical compounds. The targeted phosphahelicenes are ortho-fused polyaromatic compounds terminated by a phosphole or benzophosphole unit. This project is founded on the well-recognized importance of helicenes in areas
Probing the ultrashort-lived and powerful oxidizing radical cation H2O•+ – H2O°+-Rad
Chemical reactions triggered by the radiation change profoundly the composition of the medium through the destruction of existing bonds and the build-up of new chemical bonds. Knowledge of the mechanisms of these reactions is of principal importance. Among the reactions induced by ionizing radiation
2D UV spectroscopy: A new tool for the investigation of ultrafast processes in biomolecules – Femto-2DNA
Femtosecond two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES) is a novel nonlinear optics technique holding promises to track the interactions in a multichromophoric systems with unprecedented time and spectral resolution. By spreading the information content of the nonlinear signal on two frequency ax
Dynamic Constitutional Systems-toward selection of functions – DYNAFUN
The key objective of DYNAFUN is to provide a research programme with a deep knowledge and expertise on Dynamic Constitutional Systems, with new insights into the basic features that control multivalent recognition towards natural selection of functions. Research will be guided by the ambitious scien
Delay transition to turbulence by mimicking lotus leaves – DETAIL
The lotus leaf is known for its self-cleaning properties that are due to its high water repellence, also called superhydrophobicity (SH). This interesting property is due to the nanostructure of its surface, which is composed by a hierarchical structure of microepidermis covered in hairlike nanowaxe
A Great Challenge for Mass Spectrometry Imaging – DEFIMAGE
A new massive argon cluster ion source that will deliver clusters of thousands of argon atoms will be evaluated in three directions: depth analysis of thin tissue sections, improved sensitivity, and cleaning of the surface of samples by soft sputtering of the surface with the argon clusters. Particu
Chiral Molecular Conductors – ChiraMolCo
Chirality is one of the most important attributes of molecules and this concept has inspired major advances in physics, in chemistry and in the life sciences. The controlled preparation of chiral functional structures is a contemporary challenge for materials science because of the interesting prope
Very High Field DNP / MAS NMR – VHF-DNP-NMR
The proposed project will lead to the development of new polarizing agents and new methodologies that will make clearly beneficial the use of DNP at high field (18 T) and/or at higher temperature (above 200 K). Our initiatives will bring advances with efficient polarizing agents, a better understand
innoVative DNA-hybrid asymmetric CatalYSis – D-CYSIV
The practical application of DNA-based asymmetric catalysis (DAC) for real synthetic purposes is on its way. Accessibility to new anchoring modes and to non-aqueous solvents will tremendously expand the scope of DAC. The use of high-order secondary structures of DNA will open new avenues to the ap
C-F activation involving lanthanides: new concepts and applications – ACTIV-CF-LAN
The main issues and objectives of this project are: a) Preparation of new fluorine-containing starting materials, esp. trifluoromethylated fulvenes and dienes b) Optimization and exploration of the scope of C-F activation in polyfluoromethylated fulvene and diene systems c) Mechanistic studies on
Electron Transfer Reactivity of Organolanthanides: Insights from Spectroscopy and Theory – ReDivaLan
The project follows these objectives: i) First of all it is necessary to carry out the synthesis of so-called «classical« divalent lanthanide complexes, namely ytterbium, samarium and europium, but also those very reducing, called «non-classical«, such as thulium, and dysprosium with simple ligands
Electrochemically-driven Pi-extension of porphyrins – PORFUSION
Currently, numerous works on oxidative intramolecular C-C fusion of aromatic molecules, in particular for porphyrins, shed light on the impact of the extension of the conjugation path on the electronic properties of these derivatives. For porphyrins, these C-C couplings are generally performed wit
Original Sub-millimeter Chirped pulse instrumentation for Astrochemical Reactivity – OSCAR
The development and validation of a novel spectroscopic method to study the formation of a wide range of product species from reactions which are considered to be important in astrochemical environments. The aim is to investigate the rotational spectroscopy of a wide range of radicals and stable mol
Mechanocatalytic Responsive Surfaces: Catalysis controlled by mechanical forces – MECHANOCAT
Smart materials which change their properties on command are currently of considerable interest because of their potential uses in a large variety of applications. Among all responsive materials developed so far, very few of them allow controlling a chemical reaction by a mechanical stress. Yet, nat
Excited States and Dynamics of Functional Re(I) Complexes Embedded in Metalloproteins-Development of New Theoretical Methods for the Simulation and Control of Excited-State Properties and Reactivity in Biological Environments – DeNeTheor
Describing non-adiabatic dynamics of different chromophores (organic, inorganic) in various complex environments (DNA, proteins) Interface bewteen SHARC, a program for non-adiabatic molecular dynamics including spin-orbit-coupling, and time-dependent density fucntional theory - Exploitation of th
Small – sized analytes biosensing on resonant nanostructures – NanoBioSensor
In this project, we developed a new biosensing concept based on the combination of piezoelectric response (Quartz Crystal Microbalance, QCM) with spectroscopic information from surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) employing a nanopatterned QCM gold electrode. The objective is thus to improve t
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR, EPR) for Polymerization Catalysis – MRCAT
The development of more efficient catalysts in terms of activity, selectivity and stability is one of the main challenges today, due to the need to optimize the use of resources in the context of a more sustainable development. In the search for more efficient chemical processes, an essential step i
POLY(DIHYDROGEN) COMPLEXES AND HYDROGEN TRANSFER – 3H2
Dihydrogen interaction with a transition metal center stands midway between metallic hydrides and physisorption in binding strength, and for this reason, may be ideal for hydrogen storage systems designed for low temperature applications. We have thus been working on three different goals: 1) to est
Chemo- & Enantioselective Intermolecular Nitrene Additions – INTER-NIT
The search for new bioactive compounds often results from the screening of a large number of molecules. In this context, a high degree of diversity can be achieved through the design of chemoselective reactions that could be applied to complex products. The discovery of catalytic C-H functionalizati
Mechanical response of polymer nanotruss scaffolds – MechNanoTruss
Nanotruss lattice structure are constructed starting from elementary 3D arrangements of nanotrusses of 100-nanometer size one can build complex scaffolds, in centimeter scale size, by repeating the elementary arrangement periodically. The fabrication of macroscopic samples of these hierarchical
Multiscale Investigations of the impact of Mineral Impurities on gas trapping within Clathrate Hydrates – MI2C
Clathrate hydrates are nanoporous crystalline solids composed of hydrogen-bonded water molecules forming cages within which (gaseous) guest molecules are encapsulated. Since their initial discovery about two centuries ago, interest in clathrate hydrates has grown exponentially from being of mere sci
Molecular motors and gears in action – ACTION
One of the main current challenges in nanosciences is the exploitation of single molecular machines for mechanical applications in the real world. In the proposed project, molecular design, chemical synthesis, theory and STM experiments will be combined to investigate the mechanical properties of si