Professors
Mateo Alajarin was born in Alhama de Murcia (Spain). He graduated in chemistry at the Universidad de Murcia, where he also received his PhD. After postdoctoral studies with Prof. Alan R. Katritzky at the University of Florida (USA) he returned to the Universidad de Murcia where he is currently Full Professor at its Department of Organic Chemistry. His research interests include ketenimines and related heterocumulenes, supramolecular chemistry, organophosphorus reagents, tandem processes promoted by H shifts, and other pericyclic and pseudopericyclic reactions.
Mateo Alajarin
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José Berná obtained his BSc (1997) and MSc (1998) degrees at Universidad de Murcia (Spain). In 2003, he completed his PhD at the same university working on phosphorus-functionalized bicyclic cage compounds under the supervision of Prof. Mateo Alajarín and Dr. Carmen Lopez-Leonardo. Between 2004 and 2007, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the group of Prof. David A. Leigh at University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom). In 2007, he returned to the Department of Organic Chemistry at Universidad de Murcia as a Postdoctoral Researcher. In 2008, he was awarded with a Ramón y Cajal contract inside of the Human Resources Hiring and Incorporation of Research National Program of the Spanish Government. Currently, he is Full Professor and his research interests are focussed on the synthesis of novel interlocked compounds oriented towards the development of new functional molecular machines.
Jose Berna
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Carmen Lopez-Leonardo was born in Murcia (Spain). She received her BSc degree at the Universidad de Murcia, and her PhD at the same university under the direction of Prof. Pedro Molina and Prof. Mateo Alajarin. She moved to the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) to work as a Postdoctoral NATO fellow in the group of Prof. Leon Ghosez. She returned to the Universidad de Murcia where she is currently Senior Lecturer in Organic Chemistry. Her research interests include organophosphorus compounds, supramolecular chemistry and mechanical bonds.
Carmen Lopez-Leonardo
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Marta Marin-Luna was born in Cartagena (Murcia). She graduated in Chemistry at the University of Murcia, where she also received her PhD (2014). After a short postdoctoral stay with Dr. Ibon Alkorta and Dr. José Elguero at the Institute of Medical Chemistry (CSIC, Madrid) she joined to the group of Prof. C. Silva and Prof. O. N. Faza at the University of Vigo. In the summer of 2016, she moved to the group of Prof. Hendrik Zipse at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität of Munich (Germany) enjoying a postdoctoral contract. In 2019, she returned to the University of Murcia as Associate Professor. Her research interests include organo- and metalcatalysis, non-covalent interactions, supramolecular chemistry, tandem processes promoted by H shifts and other pericyclic and pseudopericyclic reactions.
Marta Marin-Luna
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Alberto Martínez-Cuezva born in Burgos (Spain). He graduated in Chemistry at the Universidad de Burgos (Spain). In 2010, he completed his PhD at the same university working on the development of novel catalytic systems under the supervision of Prof. Roberto Sanz. He moved to the Max-Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung (Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany) to work as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the group of Prof. Benjamin List (2010-2013). During this time he focused in the synthesis of potential asymmetric organocatalysts. In 2013, he joined the Department of Organic Chemistry at Universidad de Murcia as a Postdoctoral Researcher (Marie-Curie and Juan de la Cierva Fellow). In 2018, he was awarded with a Ramón y Cajal contract, and in 2022 promoted to Associate Professor. His research interests are focused on the synthesis of novel interlocked compounds oriented towards the development of new functional molecular machines, including their employment as advance organocatalysts in asymmetric transformations.
Alberto Martinez-Cuezva
Aurelia Pastor graduated in Chemistry at the Universidad de Murcia, where she also received her PhD in 1997. Here after, she joined the group of Prof. Waldemar Adam at the University of Würzburg (Germany) as a postdoctoral fellow. In 1999, she returned to the Universidad de Murcia as a postdoctoral researcher and joined the group of Prof. Mateo Alajarin. She was awarded with a Ramón y Cajal contract in 2001. Currently, she is Associate Professor at the Department of Organic Chemistry. Her research interests include the study of self-assembly processes, the synthesis of interlocked compounds and the application of NMR techniques to the identification of supramolecular structures.
Aurelia Pastor
Pilar Sanchez-Andrada was born in Badajoz (Spain). She graduated in Chemistry at the Universidad de Murcia, where she also received her PhD under the supervision of Mateo Alajarin and P. Molina, focusing her work in the synthesis and reactivity of cyclic carbodiimides. After postdoctoral studies in the Instituto de Quimica Medica (CSIC), under the supervision of Ibon Alkorta and Jose Elguero, she specialized in computational chemistry and gone back to the Universidad de Murcia, focusing her work in theoretical chemistry from that date. From 2011 to 2017 she joined the University Centre of Defence at the Spanish Air Force Academy. In 2017, she joined the Universidad de Murcia as Associate Professor. Her current research interests lie in theoretical studies on the mechanism of pericyclic and pseudopericyclic reactions.
Pilar Sanchez-Andrada
Angel Vidal was born in Murcia (Spain) in 1964. He received his BSc degree at the Universidad de Murcia, and his PhD at the same university under the direction of Prof. Dr. Pedro Molina and Prof. Dr. Mateo Alajarin. After postdoctoral work with Prof. Dr. Michael E. Jung at the University of California, Los Angeles, he joined the Universidad de Murcia as Associate Professor, and was promoted to Lecturer in 1999. In 2018, he was promoted to Full Professor. His research interests focused on the study of the chemistry of ketenimines and related heterocumulenes.
Angel Vidal
Postdoctoral researchers
Dr. Syed Sibtay Razi earned his Bachelor’s, Master and PhD degree (2015) in chemistry at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. He moved to the Dalian University of Technology, China to work as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the group of Prof. Jianzhang Zhao (2015-2017). During this time he focused on Bodipy based light harvesting triplet sensitizers and applications as triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion. After that he joined an Assistant Professor since 2017, in the department of chemistry, Gaya College Gaya, Magadh University Bodhgaya, Bihar, India where he established photochemistry research lab funded by university grant commission government of India New Delhi. In 2021, he got the visiting fellow at Stanford University, USA under the supervision of Prof Tulio Valdez where he focused mainly NIR based ICG nano materials and photodynamic therapy in otitis media. In 2022, he awarded a Maria Zambrano Fellow under the supervision of Prof Mateo Alajarin group where his research interests are focused on the synthesis of building of molecular machines and study of the property changes arising from mechanical motion in stimuli responsive molecular shuttles. His main research interests are the synthesis of novel organic triplet sensitizers, triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion, photodynamic therapy, supramolecular chemistry, molecular motors and machines.
Syed Sibtay Razi
Adrian Saura-Sanmartin holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry. He is currently a Postdoctoral Junior Leader Fellow ("la Caixa" Foundation). His research interests include organic synthesis, supramolecular chemistry, mechanically interlocked molecules, metal-organic frameworks and smart materials.
Adrian Saura-Sanmartin
PhD Students
Jorge López-Sánchez was born in Granada (Spain) in 1995. He obtained his degree in Chemistry at the Universidad de Murcia in 2017. In 2018, he obtained his Master degree in Organic Chemistry at the Universitat de València (Spain). He worked in Eurofins Villapharma Research as a laboratory technician during 1 year. In 2019, he joined the group with a MINECO predoctoral fellowship. His doctoral thesis is focused on the synthesis and functionality of mechanically interlocked molecules, with remarkable interest in rotaxanes.
Jorge Lopez-Sanchez
Julio was born in Murcia (1997). He received his Chemistry degree in 2019 at the Universidad de Murcia. In 2020 he obtained his Master degree in Fine and Molecular Chemistry at Universidad de Murcia. He is currently a PhD student. His research interests lie on interlocked catalysts.
Julio Puigcerver
Guillermo was born in Cartagena (Murcia, 1997). He received his Chemistry degree in 2019 at the Universidad de Murcia. In 2020 he obtained his Master degree in Fine and Molecular Chemistry at Universidad de Murcia. He is currently a PhD student. His research interests lie on supramolecular chemistry, specially synthesis and study of intercomponent and intermolecular interactions in rotaxanes.
Guillermo Cutillas-Font
Former members
Francisco Lorca
Jesús de María Pérez Martínez
María Alfonso Navarro
Rosalia Raja
Baltasar Bonillo
Jose Cabrera
Raul-Angel Orenes
Maria del Mar Ortin
Maria del Pilar Llamas
Fulgencio Tovar
