Clip-off Chemistry: Synthesis by Bond Cleavage
Historically, innovations in synthetic methods and reactions have changed the way scientists think about designing and synthesizing materials and molecules. Indeed, novel synthetic methods not only unlock access to previously unattainable structures, but also inspire new concepts as to how we design and build materials to address global social, economic and industrial needs. In this talk, I will present the concept of bond breaking as a new synthetic methodology that we have named Clip-off Chemistry. Unlike most state-of-the-art synthetic approaches, which use bottom-up strategies to link atoms and molecules through the formation of new bonds, Clip-off Chemistry is based instead on the selective cleavage of existing bonds in molecules and materials, providing precise spatial control over bond cleavage. Therefore, Clip-off Chemistry represents a new synthetic methodology, whereby the programmed selective disassembly affords new molecules and materials. This disassembly occurs at the molecular level through a chemical reaction; in a first approach, through ozonolysis, a gas/solid reaction that enables cutting of constituent organic molecular building blocks or linkers via direct cleavage of their alkene bonds. In this talk, I will show the principles of Clip-off Chemistry and the first examples of structures and molecules synthesized through controlled bond fission in reticular materials (ie. MOFs and cages).
Speaker
-
Daniel MaspochInstitut Català de Nanociència i NanotecnologiaDr Daniel Maspoch is a chemist who has always maintained a rewarding balance between fundamental and applied research, with pioneering developments in the field of porous reticular materials and delivery systems. He is author of over 185 articles and 6 book chapters. In 2021 and 2022, he got the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant and a second ERC Proof-of-Concept Grant, respectively. In addition, he was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2014, and his first ERC Proof-of-Concept Grant in 2019. In 2015, he was bestowed with the Premio Marcial Moreno Mañas Lectureship and in 2020 with the Research Excellence Award from the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry, while in 2022 he was appointed new Corresponding Academician of the Physical and Chemical Sciences Section, in the specialty of Materials Science, by the Royal Spanish Academy of Science (RAC).
From the technology transfer side, several technologies and materials developed by his group have been transferred –through licensing patents or signing technology transfer contracts– to various companies. The high technological and socioeconomical impact of his research is supported by: the co-development of three technologies based on delivery systems that are available on the market (LuctaCaps®, Fungipol@CP and a product of LipoferTM family); the signature of 4 technology transfer contracts; the filling of 12 patents, from which 4 have been licensed; the co-founding of the spin-off company Ahead Therapeutics; and the collaboration with 15 private companies (e.g. KAO Co.., LG Display, CEPSA, LACER, etc.) through bilateral projects/contracts.
Dr Maspoch graduated in Chemistry at the Universitat de Girona< and obtained his PhD in Materials Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona & Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona working in the group of Prof. Jaume Veciana and Prof. Concepció Rovira. He then moved to Northwestern University, where he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the group of professor Chad A. Mirkin. Since September 2011 he is ICREA Research Professor and Group Leader at the ICN2.