Personale docente

Prof. Arturo Arduini is Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry). He is co-author of more than 100 papers, including chapters in books and 1 international patent. He has been invited to lecture at several international meetings. He was the member of the organizing committee of the First Italy-Israel congress (1991), firs Italy-Germany congress (1992), fourth International Conference on Calixarenes (1997), the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on “Supramolecular Chemistry: Where It Is and Where It Is Going” (1998) nd the IX Convegno Nazionale di Chimica Supramolecolare (2009). He took part to several national and European research projects. From 2000 to 2005 he served as a member of the Direttivo della Sezione Emilia-Romagna of the Italian Chemical Society where, from 2003 to 2005 he assumed the role of vice-president. From February 2009 to October 2012 he was a member of the administration council of the University of Parma; from 2009 to October 2012 he has been a member of the Scientific Commission of the University of Parma. He was responsible for the research unit of Parma within the national PRIN 2008 and PRIN 2011. From 1/03/1989 to 03/07/1989 he spent a period of research activity at the University of Enschede (NL) under the supervision of Prof. D.N. Reinhoudt, working on the regioselective functionalization of calixarenes and on the transfer of reactivity from their lower to the upper rim.
His research activity started at the Istituto di Chimica Organica and continued at the Dipartimento di Chimica Organica e Industriale of the University of Parma. During the first years of his academic activity he tackled the general problem of the regioselective functionalization of phenols, naphthalenes and substituted anthracenes, with the objective to deepen the comprehension of the theoretical aspects of these electrophylic aromatic substitution reactions. The knowledge gained within this frame, represented the bases for his entrance in the wider and interdisciplinary branch of supramolecular chemistry. In this latter context he gave substantial contribution to the development of synthetic procedures for the regio- and stereoselective functionalization of the macrocyclic compounds obtained from the base-catalyzed phenol-formaldehyde condensation, named calixarenes. These functionalization procedures have later been applied for the synthesis of receptors based on calixarenes for the recognition of organic molecules in the gas phase, in solution and in the solid state, with the aim to comprehend the molecular recognition processes that occur in natural processes, through the study of the nature and role of the non covalent intermolecular interactions that stabilize these complexes. These studies have been transferred to the design and synthesis of new receptors for the efficient and selective recognition of inorganic cations of environmental and biomedical concern, to the development of new separation processes and to the development of new functional materials. Through the strict control of the conformational flexibility of the calix[4]arene platform, it has been possible to point out, for the first time, and to establish in a quantitative manner the binding ability of calix[4]arene derivatives towards neutral organic molecules acetonitrile, nitromethane..) in apolar media, in which the aromatic cavity acts as the binding site. The study of the host-guest intermolecular interactions the stabilize these complexes represented the starting point for a systematic study of the general problem associated to the recognition of ion pairs (tetraalkylammonium salts) in low polar media, through heteroditopic calixarene receptors and to evaluate, in a quantitative manner, the stereoelectronic aspects related to binding processes in which the receptor is able to simultaneously and synergistically bind the cation and its counteranion. More recently the research activity have been addressed toward the transfer of the principles and methods of organic chemistry, associated with those of supramolecular chemistry to the construction of new devices and molecular machines as useful systems for the development of nanotechnology following the “bottom up” approach. In this context, it has been possible to demonstrate, for the first time, that suitably functionalized calix[6]arenes, by acting as heteroditopic and asymmetrical wheels, are able to originate oriented pseudorotaxanes with 4,4’-bipyridinium salts. In apolar media, these complexes are endowed with high thermodynamic stability. An important property of these calix[6]arene receptors within the context of molecular machines is that, by exploiting in a synergistic manner all their co-ordination domains, it is possible govern in a programmable way the direction of the di-cationic axle threading and transit. Stoppering reaction of oriented pseudorotaxanes yielded oriented rotaxanes, characterized by the univocal orientation of the two calixarene rims with respect to the two different stoppers that are present onto the axial component. The ability of these systems to work as prototype of molecular machines have been demonstrated by studying the reversible threading-dethreading and unidiractional transit of the wheel/axle dyad under the action of electrochemical stimulation. In the last few years, efforts have been made to anchor calixarene hosts on gold nanoparticles and to solid surfaces (polycrystalline Cu and Silicon).