Prof. Alessandra Tolomelli is associate professor in Organic Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry “G.Ciamician”, University of Bologna since 2018, where she developed her career as researcher since 2007. In 1997 she worked at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), in the Organic Chemistry Lab of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry with a NATO fellowship, under the supervision of Prof. Joseph Konopelski and in 1999 she obtained the Ph.D. title presenting a thesis on the synthesis of polyfunctionalized bioactive compounds under the supervision of Prof. Giuliana Cardillo.
From 2021 to 2025 she has been the Italian coordinator of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Degree “Chemical Innovation and Regulation”, involving University of Bologna, University of Barcelona (ES) and University if Algarve (Faro, PT) and she has been Member of the Evaluating Committee of the final Ph.D. exams in several Italian and international universities. She has been teaching several courses in the field of organic chemistry and biocatalysis for the master degrees in Chemistry and Molecular and Industrial Biotechnology
She has taken part to several research projects, founded by national and international level (PRIN 2010-2015-2020, participant of ERC granted projects, bilateral international projects), and supported by private foundations (Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Bank Foundation Monte di Bologna e Ravenna). She has established collaborations with pharmaceutical companies (Newchem, Fresenius-Kabi, Chiesi, Procos, Recordati, Flamma), chemical companies (METCO) and industries developing technologies (FluidAir). Since 2023 she is representative of the University of Bologna in the CINMPIS consortium (National Consortium for innovative methods and processes in synthesis). She is a referee of the Reprise Italian referees’ panel, and she has been a member of the FCT National Portuguese referees’ panel for 2021 R&D projects in scientific domain. She is also reviewer for high IF journals of the following publishers: American Chemical Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, Wiley, Thieme, Bentham Science and Elsevier.
She is author of 130 papers, and 4 patent with an h index = 33 (updated in September 2026)
Her main research interests are focused on the synthesis of bioactive peptides and peptidomimetics as receptor ligands (for integrins and opioid receptors) and antiinfectives (targeting both bacteria and viruses). In the selection of synthetic procedures particular attention has been devoted to the environmental impact of the processes and their scalability to industrial size. Enzymatic approaches are explored to modify natural molecules introducing lipophilic/hydrophilic chains to modulate physicochemical properties and pharmacokinetic profile. Moreover, by using asymmetric synthesis, Pd catalyzed cross-coupling reactions and biocatalysis, enantiomerically pure non coded amino acids are synthesized as building blocks for peptide/peptidomimetic preparation and for their insertion into conjugates with biomaterials, fluorescent tags or drug delivery systems. The group is also involved in research activities on peptides and peptidomimetics purification and characterization by using HPLC and NMR spectroscopy.
