After earning the PhD in Chemistry at the University of Milano,
Italy (23/09/1987) she was nominated Assistant Professor
(Ricercatore Universitario) for General and Inorganic Chemistry in
1987 at the University of Urbino (with tenure from 1990). Since
1996 to 2014, at the same university, she has held the course of
General and Inorganic Chemistry at the Faculty of Science and
Technology (B.Sc in Biotechnology). Since 1999 to 2014 she has been
in charge of the organometallic chemistry research team at the
University of Urbino, Department of Biomolecular Sciences.
Since 03/11/2014 she is a CHIM/03 associate Professor at Bologna
University, Department of Industrial Chemistry “Toso
Montanari”.
She was the leader of the Urbino Research Unit for the following
Research Projects of National Interest: PRIN 1998, PRIN 2000, PRIN
2003, PRIN 2006, PRIN 2008.
Since 1997 she has been referee of the Journal of the American
Chemical Society and Organometallics.
Research experience in foreign Universities:
from 1991 to 1993 she covered the role of research coordinator
in the staff of Prof. M. Green, at the School of Chemistry of the
University of Bath (UK); later (1995-1996) she worked at the
Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination of the CNRS in Toulouse
(France) within the framework of the Human Capital and Mobility
Program of the European Union.
Main Research activities:
a) Synthesis, characterization and reactivity of transition
metal complexes.
b) Homogeneous catalysis with Pd and Pt catalysts.
c) Study of intermediates in carbonylation reactions of
unsaturated molecules
and in the olefin/CO copolymerization.
d) Synthesis of new stereoregular polymeric materials.
Initially she dealt with carbon-carbon coupling reactions
catalyzed by means of Pd(0) phosphine complexes. Within this field
of activity, she developed a novel synthesis of 2-arylalkanoic
acids, studied the regio- and stereoselectivity of allylation
reactions and, using platinum complexes, achieved a catalytic
synthesis of cyclopropanes starting from allyl acetates and silyl
ketene acetals. Successively she has concerned herself with the
chemistry of simple organic molecules coordinated with transition
metals such as Mo, Re and Nb. Over the last ten years she has
interested herself in the insertion reaction of unsatured
substrates such as olefins, alkynes and carbon monoxide in cationic
complexes of palladium with the aim of developing regio- and
stereoselective processes for the synthesis of complex molecules,
starting from simple molecules and at low cost. The analysis of the
reaction mechanisms, carried out through the isolation of the
intermediates, has become of fundamental importance for the design
of selective catalytic systems that operate in mild conditions. In
this context dedication was initially given to the isolation and
characterization of the intermediates deriving from the ordered
insertion of styrene and carbon monoxide in palladium complexes
containing alpha-diimine or bioxazoline ligands. The results of
these studies have provided important indications about
stereochemical control mechanisms dictated by the metal center and
have allowed throwing light on the mechanisms of chain growing in
alpha-olefins/CO copolymerizations, both syndiotactic and
isotactic, resulting in considerable interest to scientists of the
sector. Similar studies performed with non-cyclic 1,2-subtituted
olefins have allowed highlighting a number of important aspects
concerning the regio- and the stereochemistry of the insertion
process. On the basis of the information acquired, highly selective
alkoxycarbonylation reactions of olefins to produce chiral
gamma-ketoesters and variously substituted succinates have been
created. In addition, through cyclocarbonylation reactions of
alkynes promoted by palladium complexes, containing bioxazoline
chiral ligands, butenolides with good enantiomeric excess were
obtained. Research was conducted in parallel relative to the
synthesis of polymeric materials obtaining highly isotactic
olefin/CO copolymers in good yield. Recently a particular type of
styrene/CO copolymer was synthesized with a stereoblock isotactic
microstructure, using achiral aryl alpha-diiminie ligands having
bulky substituents in the orto-positions of the aryls. This type of
ligands is able to generate a steric barrier inducing the
enantioselective insertion of the olefin.
