Young researchers

Federico graduated in Chemistry (cum laude) in 2018 at the Università “La Sapienza” in Rome, under the supervision of Prof. Patrizia Gentili and Dr. Francesca D’Acunzo. His thesis work involved the synthesis of (2-hydroxyimino)aldehydes and the determination of their inhibitory activity toward the enzyme Carbonyl reductase (CBR). Federico obtained his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Bologna in June 2022. During his PhD he worked on the design, synthesis and characterization of complex reaction networks in dynamic mechanically interlocked molecules. Since February 2022 Federico is a post-Doc research fellow at the University of Bologna, his research interest is focused on the synthesis and characterization of out of equilibrium supramolecular systems.

Iago Neira studied Chemistry at Universidade da Coruña. After completing his master's degree, in 2015 he joined the research group of Carlos Peinador and Marcos D. Garcia working on the Metal-Directed Self-assembly of metallocycles. In 2018, he spent 3 months doing a research stay at the University of Miami under the supervision of Prof. Angel E. Kaifer on the chemistry of cucurbiturils. He worked in 2019 with Prof. Marco Lucarini at the Università di Bologna in supramolecular radicals and he also joined Trinity University (USA) in 2020 for a short period supervised by Prof. Adam Urbach on the chemistry of peptides. He completed his PhD in 2022 focused on the supramolecular stimuli-responsive host-guest chemistry of cucurbiturils, and the self-assembly of catenanes and rotaxanes. 

Nowadays, he is working in Alberto Credi’s group at Center for Light Activated Nanostructures (CLAN) in Bologna as Margarita Salas postdoctoral researcher, developing novel photochemistry stimuli-responsive supramolecular devices.

Stefano received his MSc in Industrial Chemistry (cum laude) in 2012 from the University of Padova. He then joined the group of Prof. Helma Wennemers (ETH Zürich) for his doctoral studies on the use of peptides for controlling the formation of supramolecular nanostructures. He was awarded the title of doctor in 2017. Stefano joined the Clan team in October 2017 working on the synthesis and characterization of dissipative supramolecular systems. Since 2022 he is Junior Assistant professor at the University of Bologna. He is interested in the development of molecular and supramolecular systems operating away from thermodynamic equilibrium and their characterization mostly by nuclear magnetic resonance techniques.

Massimiliano grew up in Naples (Italy), where he carried out his BSc and MSc studies under the guidance of Prof. Francesco Ruffo. After a brief period at the Italian National Research Council (CNR-IPCB), in 2014 he moved to the University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom) to undertake doctoral studies within the CRITICAT CDT (Centre for Doctoral Training for Critical Resources Catalysis). During his time in Scotland, he studied redox-active ligands acting as mediators for electron transfer reactions in small molecule activation, under the supervision of Prof. Jason Love. In 2018, he was awarded a ScotCHEM Postgraduate and Early-Career Researcher Exchange (PECRE) grant to undertake an internship at the Technical University of Munich (Germany) and work with Dr Alexander Pöthig on transition-metal complexes of polycarbene macrocycles. He joined the CLAN team as a post-doctoral research associate in 2019, developing light-operated artificial molecular machines. In 2023, he was appointed as a Junior Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial Chemistry of the University of Bologna (Italy).