I Organic Chemistry Department
team of UPV/EHU

A research study from the Organic Chemistry Department of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU has been included by the Journal of the American Chemical Society editors in the compilatory review of best research papers on organocatalysis, the chemistry branch dealing with non-metal catalysed organic reactions, for the last years.

The study, lead by Prof. Claudio Palomo and involving a six-researcher team, yields diamines and aminoacids, key compounds in many bioactive substances, through organic catalysis.

Most currently used chemicals (pesticides, drugs, cosmetic products) derive from chemical synthesis. In order to achieve less polluting and more sustainable synthesis processes, chemists focus on the development of specific compounds, the so-called catalysts, which transform the raw materials into new products.

Organocatalysis uses non-metal catalysts to yield faster and less polluting production processes. This topic has shown a rapid development in the last years: while in 2000 there was very scarce work in this field, just a dozen publications. In 2009 more than 1,000 papers were published on this topic.

“We are extremely proud to have our own research work published in the chemistry journal with the widest dissemination. And if the editors of the journal decide to include one of our studies in their compilatory review, we are doubly satisfied”, remarks Prof. Claudio Palomo, Euskadi Prize for Research 2008.

Currently, the research team keeps on developing new efficient and practical organocatalysis processes and aims at providing catalysts causing multiple reactions rather than single, specific ones.