1. ADVANCED NMR AND ELECTROCHEMICAL TECHNIQUES (www.nmr.unito.it)

The main area of interest concerns synthesis and characterization from the experiment and computational points of view of: a) crystal forms (polymorphs, solvates, salts and co-crystals) of pharmaceutical compounds and supramolecular adducts for hydrogen bonding analysis; b) organometallic compounds for photo- and electrochemical applications; c) hydrogen storage materials such as boron and alkaline metal hydrides.

All these subjects are investigated in collaboration with top international scientists and industrial companies which provide knowledge exchange and financial support.

a) Synthesis of new crystal forms of pharmaceutical compounds. The group is mainly interested on Crystal Engineering with a supramolecular approach to rational design, synthesis and characterization of new crystal forms (polymorphs, co-crystals, salts...) of pharmaceutical and organometallic compounds with desired properties. Particular attention has been give to the characterization (detection, strength and network analysis) of weak interactions, mainly hydrogen and halogen bonds and p-p contacts. The characterization strategy is mainly based on the NMR crystallography, i.e. the analysis of NMR parameters for achieving structural and packing information. In this context, several advanced 1D and 2D solid-state NMR (SS NMR) techniques are combined with powder X-ray diffraction and quantum mechanical computations for solving powdered microcrystalline structures. Extensive use of infrared and Raman spectroscopy and thermal methods has been also made.

b) The group develops advanced syntheses of transition metal complexes with photophysical and electrochemical properties for energy conversion and catalytic applications. Efforts are also dedicated to the solvent free synthesis and characterization of coordination polymers and Metal-Organic-Frameworks (MOFs) with luminescent or gas storage properties. Electrochemical measurements (cyclic voltammetry and impedance techniques), photophysical measurements (in adsorption and emission), powder X-ray diffraction, DFT calculation (both molecular-based and periodic), vibrational spectroscopies (IR and RAMAN), calorimetries (DSC and TGA) are commonly used for the characterization. The NMR facilities of the Department of Chemistry include a Jeol ECZR 600 (solution and solid-state studies) equipped with a 3.2 and 1 mm probes able to spin the sample up to 80 kHz, a Jeol 400 MHz Eclipse 1 (solution studies) and a Bruker 400 Avance II+ (solid-state studies) equipped with a 4 and 2.5 mm probes able to spin the sample up to 35 kHz.

Link: www.nmr.unito.it

Contacts: roberto.gobetto@unito.it, carlo.nervi@unito.it, michele.chierotti@unito.it, claudio.garino@unito.it, angelo.gallo@unito.it

 2. ELECTRON PARAMAGNETIC RESONANCE (EPR) IN SURFACE CHEMISTRY AND MATERIALS SCIENCE

The EPR lab is part of the Magnetic Resonance group at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Torino. Our research activity focuses on the application of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy in the field of surface chemistry of inorganic materials and metal oxides, with emphasis on the elucidation of structure - property relationships and surface reaction mechanisms in heterogeneous catalysis and photoactive materials. We apply a combination of CW-EPR measurements with a variety of ENDOR, ESEEM, and HYSCORE experiments at X-band (9.5GHz) and Q-band (34GHz) microwave frequencies, aimed to achieve a detailed characterization of paramagnetic sites in different areas ranging from single site catalysts to advanced functional materials and biochemical systems. A detailed description of the research carried out in the EPR lab can be found at www.epr.unito.it

Contacts: elio.giamello@unito.it, mario.chiesa@unito.it, mariacristina.paganini@unito.it and stefano.livraghi@unito.it

 3. ELECTRON PARAMAGNETIC RESONANCE (EPR) IN BIOCHEMISTRY

The research activity is focused on issues related with bioinorganic chemistry and protein chemistry. The structural characterisation of metal binding sites in metalloproteins and bioactive metal complexes is achieved by low-temperature EPR spectroscopy. Room-temperature EPR spectroscopy (associated to spin-trapping and spin-labeling techniques) is applied to the investigation of dynamic phenomena, such as conformational changes of proteins (e.g. unfolding) or the detection of  reaction intermediates and radical species. The concerted use of EPR spectroscopy and other spectroscopical techniques (UV-Vis absorption, circular dichroism, etc.), together with enzyme activity assays, allows to investigate structure-function relationships in protein adsorbed on solid supports.

Contacts: elena.ghibaudi@unito.it and enzo.laurenti@unito.it