Van ‘t Hoff symposium on chirality

Professor Hartwig's research group explores novel reactions of organic compounds catalyzed by transition metal complexes and artificial metalloenzymes. Their work encompasses organic and organometallic synthesis, protein design, and mechanistic analysis. They investigate small-molecule catalysts and metalloenzymes for selective organic transformations such as alkane and arene functionalization, cross-couplings, fluorination, and polymer synthesis from renewable feedstocks. Their mechanistic studies have unveiled new organometallic reaction classes, including reductive eliminations and alkane functionalization. Professor Hartwig has also authored a prominent textbook on organometallic chemistry titled "Organotransition Metal Chemistry: From Bonding to Catalysis.

Silvia Vignolini is the Director of the Sustainable and Bio-inspired Materials Department at the Max Plank for Colloid and Interfaces in Potsdam and a University Professor in Sustainability and Bio-inspired materials at the Chemistry Department in Cambridge. She studied Physics at the University of Florence, Italy. In 2009, she was awarded a PhD in Solid State Physics at the European Laboratory for non-Linear Spectroscopy and the Physics Department at the University of Florence. In 2010, she moved to Cambridge as a post-doctoral research associate working in the Cavendish Laboratory and the Plant Science Department. Her research interest lies at the interface of chemistry, soft-matter physics, optics, and biology. In particular, her research focuses on the study of how biopolymers are assembled into complex architectures within living organisms and how they can be exploited to fabricate a sustainable functional materials.

Makoto Fujita is University Distinguished Professor at The University of Tokyo, Japan.  He received his Ph. D. degree from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1987.  After working in Chiba University and Institute for Molecular Science (IMS) at Okazaki, in 1999, he was appointed as a full professor of Nagoya University. In 2002, he moved to the University of Tokyo as a full professor, where he was appointed as University Distinguished Professor in 2019.  Since 2018, he has also been appointed as a Distinguished Professor at Institute for Molecular Science.  His research interests include: (1) Coordination Self-Assembly: Construction of nano-scale discrete frameworks, including MnL2n Archimedian/non-Archimedian solids, by transition-metal ions induced elf-assembly. (2) Molecular Confinement Effects: Developing/creating new properties and new reactions in the confined cavities of self-assembled coordination cages. (3) Crystalline Sponge Method: Single-crystal-to-single-crystal guest exchange in the pores of self-assembled coordination networks is applied to a new X-ray technique that does not require crystallization of target compounds.  He has received relatively large number of domestic and international awards such as Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2018) and Grand Prix 2022 (Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie).   

Nathalie Katsonis received her PhD from the University Pierre et Marie Curie (2004). Her investigations of the interplay between motion, light and molecular machines started in the group of Ludovic Jullien, where she researched the chromophore that initiates the flagellar beat of purple bacteria. For her postdoctoral research, she moved to the group of Ben Feringa to investigate chirality and order in supramolecular assemblies. Now, in the position of Professor of Chemistry at the University of Groningen, her objective is to use a systems approach to uncover the hidden chemistry at the origin of the purposeful movement that is a hallmark of living systems. 

Cornelia Meinert is a CNRS Research Director at the Université Côte d’Azur, Nice (France). After completing her chemistry studies at the universities of Rostock and Leipzig (Germany), she obtained her PhD on characterizing complex environmental samples at the Helmholtz-Centre of Environmental Research in Leipzig. After 4 years PostDoc at the University of Nice (France) working on the interstellar asymmetric origins of amino acids, she has been nominated a permanent Research Scientist in physical chemistry by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). In 2018, she was awarded an ERC Starting Grant exploring a unified hypothesis of the emergence of biological homochirality.