Macro-area of research: Advanced Inorganic Systems and their Application. 

People: Maurizio Licchelli, Alessio Orbelli Biroli, Carlo Ciarrocchi, Carlo Mangano, Donatella Sacchi

ERC panel: PE5: Synthetic Chemistry and Materials: Materials synthesis, structure-properties relations, functional and advanced materials, molecular architecture, organic chemistry

Chemosensors and chemodosimeters.
Design of colorimetric and/or fluorimetric chemosensors and chemodosimeters for ionic and neutral substrates; study of the host-guest interactions with particular attention to metal-ligand interactions, to hydrogen bonding and to their combinations

Macrocyclic complexes and their applications.
Synthesis of novel macrocyclic complexes by template and non-template reactions involving transition metal ions; functionalization of macrocyclic ligands by introduction of appropriate functional groups or subunits displaying particular properties and providing particular functions at molecular level. Applications of the novel complexes to the design of multi-component supramolecular devices.

Porphyrins and metalloporphyrins.
Synthesis of push-pull porphyrinic photosensitizers, substituted in meso or in β-pyrrolic position, for the assembling and photo-electrochemical characterization of photovoltaic devices, and for water photooxidation in photo-electrosynthetic devices. Study of the morphological and electrochemical aspect of thin films deposited by high vacuum techniques on conductive substrates, both as functional coating and as 2D/3D self-assembling structures for the development of new inorganic/organic interfaces.

Advanced inorganic molecular materials.
Synthesis of coordination and organometallic compounds, and models of functionalized silica surface with photoluminescent or second order nonlinear optical properties for application in optoelectronics.

- Instituto Interuniversitario de Investigación de Reconocimiento Molecular y Desarrollo Tecnológico (IDM) & Departamento de Química, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spagna
- Centro de Química, Universidade do Minho, Portogallo
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Alabama, USA
- Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Molecolari del CNR (CNR-SCITEC) di Milano
- SmartMatLab Centre, Dipartimento di Chimica dell’Università di Milano
- Dipartimento di Fisica del Politecnico di Milano
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Scienze Farmaceutiche dell’Università di Ferrara

C. Ciarrocchi, D. Sacchi, M. Boiocchi , M. L. Weththimuni, A. Orbelli Biroli, M. Licchelli,
Fluorogenic Detection of Sulfite in Water by Using Copper(II) Azacyclam Complexes,
Molecules, 2022, 27, 1852.
(Read the Abstract)

C. Ciarrocchi, L. Fabbrizzi, M. Licchelli, A. Taglietti,
Electrochemically Driven Swinging of a Nitrobenzyl Pendant Arm in a Nickel Scorpionand Complex,
Chem., Eur. J. 2022, e202200462,
(Read the Abstract) 

M. Domínguez, J. F. Blandez, B. Lozano-Torres, C. de la Torre, M. Licchelli, C. Mangano, V. Amendola, F. Sancenón, R. Martínez-Máñez,
A Nanoprobe Based on Gated Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for The Selective and Sensitive Detection of Benzene Metabolite t,t-Muconic Acid in Urine,
Chem., Eur. J. 2021, 27, 1306-1310,
(Read the Abstract) 

C. Ciarrocchi, A. Tumino, D. Sacchi, A. Orbelli Biroli, M. Licchelli,
Detection of Copper(II) in Water by Methylene Blue Derivatives,
ChemPhysChem 2020, 21, 2432 – 2440,
(Read the Abstract)

S.S.M. Fernandes, M. Belsley, C. Ciarrocchi, M. Licchelli, M. M. M. Raposo,
Terpyridine derivatives functionalized with (hetero)aromatic groups and the corresponding Ru complexes: Synthesis and characterization as SHG chromophores,
Dyes and Pigments, 2018, 150, 49–58,
(Read the Abstract) 

M. Invernici, C. Ciarrocchi, D. Dondi, L. Fabbrizzi, S. Lazzaroni, M. Licchelli, M. Boiocchi, M. Bonizzoni,
Bimacrocyclic Effect in Anion Recognition by a Copper(II) Bicyclam Complex,
ACS Omega 2018, 3, 15692−15701,
(Read the Abstract)

A. Orbelli Biroli, F. Tessore, G. Di Carlo, S. Righetto, A. Forni, P. Fantucci, M. Pizzotti,
A ‘donor-free’ chromophore with a silicon-based acceptor group for second order nonlinear optics,
Inorg. Chim. Acta 2022, 533, 120745,
(Read the Abstract)

A. Orbelli Biroli, A. Calloni, A. Bossi, M. S. Jagadeesh, G. Albani, L. Duò, F. Ciccacci, A. Goldoni, A. Verdini, L. Schio, L. Floreano, G. Bussetti,
Out-of-plane metal coordination for a true solvent-free building with molecular bricks: dodging the surface ligand effect for on-surface vacuum self-assembly,
Adv. Funct. Mater., 2021, 31, 2011008,
(Read the Abstract)

M. Penconi, R. Yivlialin, G. Bussetti, L. Duò, A. Bossi, A. Orbelli Biroli,
Customised porphyrin coating films for graphite electrode protection: An investigation on the role of peripheral groups by coupled AFM and cyclic voltammetry techniques,
Appl. Surf. Sci., 2020, 507, 145055,
(Read the Abstract)

A. Orbelli Biroli, F. Tessore, G. Di Carlo, M. Pizzotti, E. Benazzi, F. Gentile, S. Berardi, C. A. Bignozzi, R. Argazzi, M. Natali, A. Sartorel, S. Caramori,
Fluorinated ZnII Porphyrins for Dye-Sensitized Aqueous Photoelectrosynthetic Cells,
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2019, 11, 32895−32908,
(Read the Abstract) 

G. Di Carlo, A. Orbelli Biroli, F. Tessore, S. Caramori, M. Pizzotti
β-Substituted ZnII porphyrins as dyes for DSSC: A possible approach to photovoltaic windows,
Coord. Chem. Rev. 2018, 358, 153–177,
(Read the Abstract)