Personale docente

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0025-1104

Position
Associate Professor at the SCVSA Department (Chemistry Unit) - University of Parma.

Education
December 1998 – January 2002 University of Parma, Ph.D. in Chemistry.
Final dissertation and graduation: 31/01/2002.
October 1992 – July 1997 University of Parma. Degree in Chemistry.
Final dissertation and graduation: 14/07/1997. Final mark 110/110 cum laude.

H-index (SCOPUS): 29. Total citation SCOPUS: 3002
H-index (WOS): 28. Total citation WOS: 2759

Projects and awards
-2017. Recipient of FABBR-2017 award.
-2016. Galileo Project (Università Italo-Francese, G15-78). Principal Investigator. Preparation of metal-organic frameworks for electro-catalysis.
-2013-2017. EU FP7/2013-2017 Marie Curie IRSES. Member. Project title: Metallacrowns-based innovative materials and supramolecular devices. (https://sites.google.com/site/metallacrowns/).
-2007-2009. MIUR project PRIN. Local Unit coordinator. Project Title: Design and synthesis of copper complexes for developing bioinorganic target-specific drugs.
-2004-2006. MIUR project PRIN. Member. Project Title: Sviluppo di potenziali farmaci a base metallica e approfondimento dei meccanismi d'azione su specifiche linee tumorali.

Research periods spent abroad
-2000. Department of Chemistry of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
Project: Tripodal ligands for asymmetric catalysis. Supervisor: Dr. Philip J. Bailey.
Recipient of a Short Term Mobility Grant (Italian National Research Council, C.N.R.)
-2003. Visiting Researcher at the Department of Chemistry of the Columbia University, New York, USA. Project: Development of novel boron-centerd tripodal ligands. Host: Prof. Gerard Parkin.
-2005. Visiting periods within the cooperation agreement framework between the Italian C.N.R and
the Spanish C.S.I.C. at the Departamento de Quimica Inorganica, Organica y Bioquimica, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Spain. Research group: Prof. Antonio Otero and Prof. Antonio Antinolo.

Scientific Collaborations since 2002.
1) Prof. Piero Sozzani, Department of Material Sciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy. Collaboration for the preparation and evaluation of absorption properties of porous coordination polymers.
2) Prof. Paola Deplano, Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, University of Cagliari, Italy. X-ray data collection and theoretical calculations (DFT) on organometallic systems.
3) Prof. Dolores Fregona. Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padua, Padua, Italy. X-ray data collection on metal-based compounds with potential anticancer properties.
4) Prof. Carlo Santini. School of Science and Technology, Chemistry Division, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy. Joint project for the evaluation of the anticancer properties of copper complexes.
5) Prof. Antonio Otero. Departamento de Quimica Inorganica, Organica y Bioquimica, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Spain. Design and preparation of N,S tripodal ligands as functional biomimetics of copper containing proteins; a Ph.D. student under my direct supervision was involved in the project.
6) Prof. Miguel Ruiz. Departamento de Quimica Organica e Inorganica. Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain. X-ray data collection and theoretical calculations (DFT) on organometallic systems.
7) Prof. Vincent Pecoraro. Department of Chemistry. University of Michigan. Ann Arbor. USA. Design and X-ray characterization of metallacrown systems.
8) Prof. Tobin J. Marks. Department of Chemistry. Northwestern University. Evanston. USA. Synthesis and characterization of silver complexes as lubricant precursors.
9) Dr Marcello Gennari and Dr Carol Duboc. Département de Chimie Moléculaire, Univ. Grenoble Alpes. Grenoble. France. Characterization of hybrid materials for catalysis.

Academic responsibilities and activities
From January 2020, S.C.V.S.A. Department research delegate.
Member of the “Consorzio Interuniversitario di Ricerca in Chimica dei Metalli nei Sistemi Biologici”, CIRCMSB (http://www.circmsb.uniba.it/index.html). 2009-2012. Representative of the University of Parma within the Executive Council of the CIRCMSB.
From the academic year 2001-2002 to the present, member of the Teaching board of the Department of Chemistry (from 1st January 2017 S.C.V.S.A. Department) of the University of Parma. Teaching: Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, Inorganic stereoisomerism, Molecular structure determination (X-ray), Inorganic Chemistry.
Supervision/tutoring of more than 20 students for the first and second level degrees in Chemistry and 6 PhD theses for the PhD course in Chemistry.

Publications
More than 130 publication on peer reviewed journals. More than 40 presentation at National and international conferences.

Scientific activities
The research interests are divided into three main fields of investigation:
1. Design and preparation of novel ligand systems that are suitable for the preparation of functional coordination compounds, for the construction of coordination polymers and for the preparation of supramolecular arrangements based on metal complexes. A variety of specifically designed ligands were prepared with the purpose of producing supramolecular structures endowed with robustness and microporosity. The structural and functional features of these systems were investigated by means of single crystal X-ray diffraction and powder X-ray diffraction [Inorg. Chem. 2020, 59,4140-4149, Inorg. Chem., 2011, 50, 10786-10797]. Particular interest was dedicated to the elucidation of the supramolecular assembly in solution (1D, 2D, NMR spectroscopy) and how this was reflected into the solid state structural arrangement. The porosity of the systems was investigated by measuring absorption isotherms for different gases (nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon dioxide). Particular care was given to the molecular factors governing the formation of porous materials, such as supramolecular interactions and metal-counteranion interactions [ACS Omega, 2022, 7, 6104–6112; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 9142-9145, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 14883-14895, Chem. Eur. J., 2016, 22, 6482-6486].

2. Computational chemistry. Use of density functional theory (DFT) methods for the characterization of the electronic properties of transition metal complexes. Particular interest was dedicated to: a) the characterization of the magnetic state of mononuclear and polynuclear complexes (high spin – low spin states, ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic coupling) [Cryst. Growth Des. 2014, 14, 5938-5948; Dalton Trans. 2014, 43, 7006-7019], b) investigation of the luminescent properties of metal complexes by means of time-dependent DFT [J. Phys. Chem, A, 2020, 124, 10687-10693; Inorg. Chem. 2017, 56, 2017, 6763-6767; Inorg. Chem. 2016, 55, 2016, 5118-5126], c) investigation of weak interaction such as hydrogen and halogen bonds [Cryst. Growth Des. 2020, 20, 3611-3616, ACS Sust. Chem. Engin. 2017, 5, 4359-4370].

3. Investigation of the anticancer potential of metal-based complexes. Preparation and evaluation of the biological properties of metal complexes [Curr. Med. Chem., 2009, 16, 1325-1348]. The mechanism of cell death induced by the complexes was investigated from morphological (confocal scanning light microscopy) and biomolecular (microarray, western blot, PCR analyses) approaches [J. Biol. Chem., 2009, 284, 24306-24319]. We investigated the different types of cell deaths (apoptosis, paraptosis) triggered by intracellular excess of endogenous metal ions in the cell [Dalton trans., 2019, 48, 16017-16025; J. Med. Chem., 2012, 55, 10448-10459, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 6235-6242].