more details on the institute and chemistry studies can be found on: ... · 2019-03-23 · at...
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More details on the institute and chemistry studies can be found on: https://chemistry.huji.ac.il
Preface
The Institute of Chemistry was founded in 1923 with the goal to provide academic education in
Chemical Sciences. It was the first School of Chemistry in Israel, founded even before the official
establishment of The Hebrew University and the State of Israel. The founding father of the Institute of
Chemistry, Prof. Andor Fodor, was recruited for this project by Profs. Albert Einstein and Chaim
Weizmann. The first scientific paper of the Institute was submitted for publication in January 1924.
At present, the Institute of Chemistry has 34 faculty members and 20 active emeriti professors, all
performing research in a variety of fields. These include theoretical and computational chemistry,
physical, analytical, organic, inorganic, bioorganic, atmospheric and material chemistry, as well as
nanoscience. The Institute is a vibrant education and research center, offering B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D.
degrees in chemistry. Currently, it is comprised of more than 250 undergraduates, about 200 research
students and 100 Post-doctoral researchers from all over the world.
The Institute equips its graduates with advanced scientific and technological skill sets, and has
evolved into a center of excellence in various areas of chemistry with emphasis on multidisciplinary
research programs. The Institute provides a rich environment for teaching and research, with first-
rate infrastructure and state-of-the-art instrumentation. The excellent research conducted at the
Institute is reflected in the great number of publications in top journals and the many patents and
industrial activities that have evolved from it, including the development of new processes and
products and the establishment of start-up companies.
This annual report summarizes the recent activities of the Institute of Chemistry. We hope you will
find it informative, useful, and inspirational.
Prof. Meital Reches Prof. Shlomo Magdassi Prof. Norman Metanis
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Nano-catalysis
Prof. Raed Abu-Reziq
Email: [email protected]
Group Research:
Our current research activity focuses on the developing different types of polymeric or inorganic
nano- and microcapsules containing dissolved catalysts or dispersed metal nanoparticles in their
cores. These catalytic nano- and microreactors shows a unique reactivity and selectivity in different
organic transformations. Recently, we have developed a method for preparing new chiral materials
based on encapsulation of chiral ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DES) within silica
microspheres. In addition, we have developed a method for preparing chiral periodic mesoporous
organosilica (PMO) nanoparticles consisted of 100% chiral bridged-silane precursor. These chiral
PMO nanoparticles exhibited a large surface area that reached up to 1776 m2g
-1 and they were
utilized to host metal nanoparticles such as ruthenium and platinum nanoparticles.
Preparation of micro- and nanoreactors for effective catalysis
Specific current research topics:
Development of smart nanosystems for the slow-release of pheromones
Catalytic nano- and microreactors
Magnetically separable nanocatalysts.
Particulated ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents.
Catalytic periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO) nanospheres.
Catalytic solid lipid particles.
Nano- and microencapsulation methods.
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List of selected publications in the last three years (2015-2018)
1) O. Cohen, R. Abu-Reziq, D. Gelman “Chiral enantiopure organosilane precursors for the
synthesis of periodic mesoporous organosilicas” Tetrahedron: Asymmetry 2017, 28, 1675-1685
2) E. Weiss & R. Abu-Reziq. Ionic liquid-based microreactors and their applicability, J. Mater.
Sci. 2017, 52, 10637-10647.
3) S. Omar, B. Dutta, S. Natour and R. Abu-Reziq “Rhodium-complexed hyperbranched
poly(ethyleneimine) and polyamidoamine and their non-covalent immobilization on magnetic
nanoparticles” J. Organomet. Chem. 2016, 818, 48-57.
4) E. Weiss, D. Gertopski, M. Kumar and R. Abu-Reziq “Encapsulation of ionic liquid
BMIm[PF6] within polyurea microspheres” React. Funct. Polym. 2015, 96, 32-38.
5) S. Natour and R. Abu-Reziq “Functionalized Magnetic Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle-
Supported Palladium Catalysts for Carbonylative Sonogashira Coupling Reactions of Aryl
Iodides” ChemCatChem 2015, 7, 2230-2240.
6) A. Zoubi, S. Omar, and R. Abu-Reziq “Chiral Ruthenium Catalyst Immobilized Within
Magnetically Retrievable Mesoporous Silica Microcapsules for Aqueous Asymmetric Transfer
Hydrogenation” Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2015, 12, 2101-2109.
7) B. Dutta, R. Schwarz, S. Omar, S. Natour, and R. Abu-Reziq “Homogeneous and semi-
heterogeneous magnetically retrievable bis-N-heterocyclic carbene Rh(I) based catalysts for
selective hydroaminomethylation reactions” Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2015, 9, 1961-1969.
8) S. Natour, S. Omar and R. Abu-Reziq “Catalysis with Solid Lipid Particles” J. Mater. Sci.
2015, 50, 2747-2758.
9) B. Dutta, S. Omar, S. Natour and R. Abu-Reziq “Palladium nanoparticles immobilized on
magnetic nanoparticles: An efficient semi-heterogeneous catalyst for carbonylation of aryl
bromides’ Catal. Commun. 2015, 61, 31-36.
10) E. Weiss, B. Dutta, A. Kirschning, and R. Abu-Reziq “BMIm-PF6@SiO2 Microcapsules:
Particulated Ionic Liquids as A New Material for the Heterogenization of Catalysts” Chem.
Mater. 2014, 26, 4781-4787.
List of Patents (2015-2018)
D. Gelman, A. Zoabi, A. Zeira, R. Abu-Reziq, PCT Int. Appl. (2017), WO 2017145151
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Protons in liquid water, gas-phase clusters and biological systems
Prof. Noam Agmon
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://vintage.fh.huji.ac.il/~agmon/
Research Summary
A. Infrared spectra of protonated water clusters.
We were able to compute and assign the complex infrared spectrum of the protonated water trimer,
H+(H2O)3 in the gas phase (Figure 1). This unit serves as a “water wire” for short range proton
transport within proteins, for example, from the chromophore of the Green Fluorescent Protein
(GFP), Figure 2. The analysis shows that the difficult to assign spectral range, 1800-2300 cm-1
,
arises from strong Fermi resonances between the concerted “proton transfer mode” and two
different combination bands. These may temporarily impede proton transport through this wire.
Figure 1. 2nd order vibrational perturbation theory (VPT2) explains the IR spectrum of (a)
the gas-phase H+(H2O)3 cluster and (b) its deuterated isotopologue.
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B. Water-wires in GFP.
The GFP chromophore emits a proton following
photoexcitation, and the resulting anion fluoresces
green. We have used molecular dynamics to search
for water-wires that could serve as putative proton
transporters. We have found one short wire that may
transport the proton outside the protein (Figure 2),
and a long wire along the protein axis (not shown)
through which a new proton may be recruited. These
findings prompted us to suggest a new mechanism for
proton migration in GFP.
C. Small, neutral water clusters are prevalent in the
atmosphere, forming rings at very low temperatures.
Recently it was demonstrated that their IR spectra at
elevated temperatures exhibit some interesting blue
shifts. We have shown computationally that these
shifts are due to ring expansion rather than to their
cleavage.
Selected publications (2016-2017)
1. N. Agmon “The acid test for water structure” Nature Chem. 2016, 8, 206-207.
2. J. J. Fifen and N. Agmon “Structure and spectroscopy of hydrated sodium ions at different
temperatures and the cluster stability rules” J. Chem. Theory Comp. 2016, 12, 1656-1673,.
3. H. Wang & N. Agmon “Complete assignment of the infrared spectrum of the gas-phase
protonated ammonia dimer” J. Phys. Chem. B 2016, 120, 3117-3135.
4. N. Agmon, H. J. Bakker, R. K. Campen, R. H. Henchman, P. Pohl, S. Roke, M. Thämer, and
A. Hassanali “Protons and hydroxide ions in aqueous systems” Chem. Rev. 2016, 116, 7642-
7672.
5. R. Simkovitch, Dina Pines, Noam Agmon, Ehud Pines, and Dan Huppert. Reversible
excited-state proton geminate recombination: Revisited. J. Phys. Chem. B 2016, 120, 12615-
12632.
6. A. Shinobu and N. Agmon “Proton wire dynamics in the green fluorescent protein” J. Chem.
Theory Comp. 2017, 13, 353-369.
7. H. Wang & N. Agmon “Reinvestigation of the infrared spectrum of the gas-phase
protonated water tetramer” J. Phys. Chem. A 2017, 121, 3056-3070.
8. E. Weichselbaum, M. Österbauer, D. G. Knyazev, O. V. Batishchev, S. A. Akimov, T. H.
Nguyen, C. Zhang, G. Knör, N. Agmon, P. Carloni and P. Pohl “Origin of proton affinity to
membrane/water interfaces” Sci. Rep. 2017, 7, 4553.
9. N. Agmon “Isoelectronic theory for cationic radii” J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 15068-
15073,
10. N. Reddy Samala & N. Agmon. Structure, spectroscopy and dynamics of the phenol-
(water)2 cluster at low and high temperatures. J. Chem. Phys. 2017, 147, 234307.
Figure 2. Three water molecules were
found by us to connect the GFP
chromophore with the bulk.
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(111)
(111)
(111)
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Surface photophysics, photochemistry and catalysis group
Prof. Micha Asscher
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/surface-asscher/index.html
Research interests
1. Model heterogeneous catalysis is studied under ultra-high vacuum
(UHV) conditions on top of alloy bimetallic nano-clusters (e.g. Au-Cu
and Cu-Pd) grown via buffer layer assisted growth method in UHV. In situ Auger and thermal
desorption methods are used to follow reactivity and selectivity. High pressure-low pressure
apparatus is uniquely used to study the thermal and photo-excited catalysis.
2. Local (transient) electric field effect on photo-induced and electron-induced reactivity of caged
molecules within solid water films on surfaces is studied near sharp edges and by growing
model in-vacuum nano-capacitors by trapping electrons in ice.
3. The effect of solid water growth temperature on the nature of charging and transmission of
electrons through such films reveals strong temperature dependent binding of the electrons to
water. These trapping sites were not reported before.
4. The role of plasmonic giant field enhancement near metallic (Ag) nano-particles on photo-
reactivity vs. the effect of hot excited electrons on surface photochemistry has been
Figure. 1. Cu-Au relative composition
affecting yield and selectivity of C2H2 100%
conversion to ehylene (No benzene
formation).
Figure 2. (a) TP-∆CPD spectra of 700 ML thick
charged ASW films grown at the indicated
temperatures and irradiated at a fixed Tirr=50 K,
recorded at a constant heating rate of 1 K/s (b)
The derivative of the TP-∆CPD profiles shown
in (a) (d(∆CPD)/dT) vs. temperature. (b)
Apparent binding energies of the electrons to
the ASW films as der ived by a Redhead like
analysis of the main minimum vs. the reciprocal
growth temperature. In red- a best fit to a
decaying exponent expression.
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investigated. Its potential enhancement in photo-catalysis when embedded within TiO2 films
has also been investigated.
Selected publications (2015-2018) 1. Toker, G., Bespaly A., Zilberberg, L., Asscher, M. “Enhanced Photo Chemistry of Ethyl
Chloride on Ag Nanoparticles” Nano Letters 2015, 15, 936-942.
2. Zilberberg, L., Mitlin, S., Shankar, H., Asscher, M. ” Buffer Layer Assisted Growth of Ag
Nanoparticles in Titania Thin Films” J. Phys. Chem. C 2015, 119, 28979-28991.
3. Hallac B., Asscher, M. “Collision induced desorption of large molecules from surfaces:
Trimethylamine removal from Ru(0001)” Topics in Catalysis 2018, in press, DOI:
10.1007/s11244-018-0921-6.
4. Zilberberg, L., Shankar, H., Mitlin, S., Elitsur, R., Asscher, M. “Buffer layer assisted
chemistry over amorphous solid water: Oxide thin film or metallic nanoparticles formation”
Langmuir 2018, 34, 2610−2618.
5. R. Sagi, M. Akerman, Ramakrishnan, S., Asscher, M. “Temperature Effect on Transport,
Charging, and Binding of Low-Energy Interacting with Amorphous Solid Water Films” J.
Phys. Chem. C, DOI/10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b01674,
6. Harisingh, S., Ramakrishnan, S., Kulbak, M., Levine, I., Cahen, D., Cohen, Bat-El, Etgar, L.
Asscher, M. “CsPbBr3 and CH3NH3PbBr3 Promote Visible-light Photo-Reactivity” Phys.
Chem. Chem. Phys. 2018.
7. Ramakrishnan, S., Sagi, R., Mahapatra, N., Asscher, M. “The Effect of co-Adsorbed
Oxygen on the Photochemistry of Methane Embedded in Amorphous Solid Water”, J. Phys.
Chem. C 2018.
Figure. 3. Ag nanoparticles SEM image (right)
and their effect in enhancing photo-dissociation
of ethyl chloride (left), red signal is the
resulting product in the presence of Ag
particles. Dissociation is driven by the
generation of hot-electrons in the metal
particles.
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Materials science: Metals and ceramics, Chirality and symmetry
Prof. David Avnir
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/avnir
Research Summary
Current scientific activities include organically doped metals, theoretical and experimental aspects
of chirality, theoretical studies in symmetry, and sol-gel organic hybrid materials and biomaterials.
Earlier major interests included fractal theory in chemistry and physics, and far-from-equilibrium
phenomena such as chemically driven hydrodynamic instabilities.
Left: Silver within which polystyrene has been entrapped. Center: The degree of C2-symmetry of
HIV protease, is determined. Right: Fluorescent laser dye entrapped within a sol-gel silica glass
Selected publications (2015-2018)
1. M. Bonjack-Shterengartz and D. Avnir, “The near-symmetry of proteins” Proteins 2015, 83,
722–734.
2. R. Ben-Knaz Wakshlak, R. Pedahzur and D. Avnir, "Antibacterial activity of silver-killed
bacteria: the "zombies" effect Sci. Rep. 2015, 5: 9555, 1-5, Highlights:
Science: http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2015/05/silver-turns-bacteria-deadly-zombies
One of the top 100 read Scientific Reports articles in 2015, out of 11,000.C&EN:
http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i18/Reason-Silver-Nitrates-Prolonged-Microbial.html,
Royal Soc. Chem. Chemistry World: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/05/zombie-
bacteria-kill-infections-silver
ABC Science: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2015/05/04/4226728.htm, D-news:
http://news.discovery.com/human/health/zombie-bacteria-may-help-heal-wounds-15050.htm
Popular Science: http://www.popsci.com/bacteria-acts-exactly-zombie
3. V. Vinogradov and D. Avnir, “Enzyme renaturation to higher activity driven by the sol-gel
transition: Carbonic anhydrase” Sci. Rep. 2015, 5, 14411, 1–7. Highlights:
Nano News: http://daily-nano-news.blogspot.co.il/2015/10/phoenix-effect-resurrected-
proteins.html
NanoWerk: http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=41479.php
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Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151001094317.htm
Phys.Org: http://phys.org/news/2015-10-phoenix-effectresurrected-proteins-natural.html
4. V. Vinogradov, I. Felner, I. Nowik, D. Avnir, “Conductive magnetic sol–gel films” J. Mater.
Chem. C 2015, 3, 10723–10727 Highlight: Selected as a Hot Article for 2015
5. H. Naor, Y. Divon, L. Iagher, L. Etgar, D. Avnir, “Conductive molecularly doped gold films”
J. Mater. Chem. C 2016, 4, 11548–11556
6. L.Shapiro and D. Avnir, "Catalyst@metal hybrids in a one-pot multistep opposing oxidation
and reduction reactions-sequence" ChemCatChem 2017, 9, 816 – 823.
7. B. Menagen, R. Pedahzur and D. Avnir, “Sustained release from a metal -analgesics entrapped
within biocidal silver” Sci. Rep. 2017, 7, 4161
8. M. Bonjack-Shterengartz and D. Avnir, “The enigma of the near-symmetry of proteins:
Domain swapping” PLoS ONE 2017, 12, e0180030, 1-17.
9. N. Ralbag, F. Javier Montes Ruiz-Cabello , M. Á. Rodríguez Valverde , V. Gutkin, R. Sfez, D.
Avnir, “Continuous thermal control of hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity changes of hybrid films
and of their directionality: Kinetics and substrate effects” J. Coll. Interface Sci. 2017, 505,
692–702.
10. D. Avnir, “Recent progress in the study of molecularly doped metals” Adv. Mater. 2018, 30,
1706804.
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Roi Baer Research Group
Prof. Roi Baer
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://scholars.huji.ac.il/roibaer
Baer is the Ratner Family Chair of Chemistry and is the Director of the Fritz
Haber Research Center of Theoretical Chemistry at the Hebrew University.
Summary Group Research:
Roi Baer is a theoretical chemist, developing new theories and computational methods to predict the
properties of molecules, nanocrystals and in general materials directly from the basic laws of
quantum physics. His research focuses on the search of new ways for producing sustainable energy,
including conversion of sunlight to electricity via solar-cells and the production of clean and
efficient fuels from natural gas. Baer's recent research involves development of new computational
techniques for studying the behavior of charge carriers in nanocrystals and polymers. More recently
he has developed superfast memory-compact algorithms, based on statistical polling, for performing
electronic structure calculations on molecular systems of unprecedented size.
Specific current research topics:
Stochastic density functional theory
Stochastic many-body (GW and GF2) approaches
Open-system quantum dynamics of Fermions
Spontaneous charge-carrier localization in extended one-dimensional systems.
List of selected publications in the last three years (2015-2018)
1. Vlček, V.; Eisenberg, H. R.; Steinle-Neumann, G.; Kronik, L.; Baer, R. “Deviations from
piecewise linearity in the solid-state limit with approximate density functionals” J. Chem. Phys.
2015, 142, 034107
2. Vlček, V.; Eisenberg, H. R.; Steinle-Neumann, G.; Rabani, E.; Neuhauser, D.; Baer, R.
“Spontaneous charge carrier localization in extended one-dimensional systems” Phys. Rev.
Lett. 2016, 116, 186401.
3. Eshet, H.; Baer, R.; Neuhauser, D.; Rabani, E. “Theory of highly efficient multiexciton
generation in type-II nanorods” Nat. Commun. 2016, 7, 13178
4. Vlček, V.; Rabani, E.; Neuhauser, D.; Baer, R. “Stochastic GW calculations for molecules” J.
Chem. Theory Comput. 2017, 13, 4997–5003.
5. Arnon, E.; Rabani, E.; Neuhauser, D.; Baer, R. “Equilibrium configurations of large
nanostructures using the embedded saturated-fragments stochastic density functional theory” J.
Chem. Phys. 2017, 146, 224111
6. Cytter, Y.; Rabani, E.; Neuhauser, D.; Baer, R. “Stochastic density functional theory at finite
temperatures” Phys. Rev. B 2018, 97, 115207.
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7. Neuhauser, D.; Baer, R.; Zgid, D. ״Stochastic self-consistent second-order Green’s function
method for correlation energies of large electronic systems״ J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2017,
13, 5396−5403.
8. Ruan, Z. and Baer, R. “Unraveling open-system quantum dynamics of non-interacting
Fermions” Molecular Physics 2018 116, 2490-2496.
9. Neuhauser, D.; Rabani, E.; Cytter, Y.; Baer, R. “Stochastic Optimally Tuned Range-Separated
Hybrid Density Functional Theory” J. Phys. Chem. A 2015, 120, 3071–3078.
10. Buchman, O. and Baer, R. “Stochastic method for calculating the ground-state one-body
density matrix of trapped Bose particles in one dimension” Phys. Rev. A 2017, 96, 033626.
Baer’s group includes a research associate, 6 PhD students and one MSc student.
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Science and Technology of Nanocrystals
Prof. Uri Banin
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~nano/
Research Summary
Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, are a class of
nanomaterials that manifest the transition from the molecular
limit to the solid state. Control over their size, shape,
composition and organization on the nanometer scale, enables
unique tuning of chemical, optical, electrical, magnetic,
mechanical and thermodynamic properties. The tunable
properties along with the chemical processibility retains
significant potential for using nanocrystals as building blocks
for nano-devices in diverse applications such as solid state
lighting, flat panel displays, solar energy conversion, opto-
electronic devices and bio-medical applications. In our lab,
we study the chemistry, physics and applications of
nanocrystals. A focus of our work in recent years concerns
hybrid nanoparticles, composed of two components of
different material types that represent a frontier area of research in nanomaterials. This addresses a
key goal of nanocrystal research in the development of experimental methods to selectively control
the composition and shape of nanocrystals over a wide range of material combinations. A particular
combination which we pioneered in 2004, concerns the growth of metal (Au) tips onto the apexes of
semiconductor (CdSe) nanorods creating ‘nanodumbbells’. Since this discovery, we have been
studying hybrid metal-semiconductor nanoparticle systems extensively. The ability to selectively
arrange nano-sized domains of metallic, semiconducting and magnetic materials into a single
“hybrid” nanoparticle offers an intriguing route to engineer nanomaterials with multiple
functionalities or the enhanced properties of one domain.
Selected publications (2015-2018) 1. N. Waiskopf, Y. Ben-Shahar, U. Banin. Adv. Mater. 2018, 1706697.
2. D. R. Nevers, C. B. Williamson, B. H. Savitzky, I. Hadar, U. Banin, L. F. Kourkoutis, T.
Hanrath, and R. D. Robinson, J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 3652-3662.
3. Y. E. Panfil, M. Oded, U. Banin, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 130, 4354.
4. O. Elimelech, J. Liu, A. M. Plonka, A. I. Frenkel, U. Banin, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 129,
10471.
5. I. Hadar, J. P. Philbin, Y. E. Panfil, S. Neyshtadt, I. Lieberman, H. Eshet, S. Lazar, E. Rabani
and U. Banin, Nano Letters, 2017, 17, 2524-253.
6. B. Ji, Y. E. Panfil, and U. Banin, ACS Nano 2017, 11, 7312–7320.
7. A. A. Pawar, S. Halivni, N. Waiskopf, Y. Ben-Shahar, M. Soreni-Harari, S. Bergbreiter, U.
Banin*, S. Magdassi*, Nano Letters 2017, 17, 4497-4501; Selected for: ACS Editors Choice
8. Y. Ben-Shahar, F. Scotognella, I. Kriegel, L. Moretti, G. Cerullo, E. Rabani and U. Banin,
Nature Communications 2016, 7, 10413.
9. N. Waiskopf, Y. Ben-Shahar, M. Galchenko, I. Carmel, G. Moshitsky, H. Soreq and U. Banin,
Nano Letters 2016, 16, 4266–4273.
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10. I. Hadar, T. Abir, S. Halivni, A. Faust, and U. Banin “Size Dependent Ligand Layer Dynamics
in Semiconductor Nanocrystals Probed by Anisotropy Measurements”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,
2015, 54, 12463-12467. Selected as “Hot paper”, and also back-cover page of the issue.
List of Patents (2015-2018)
1. H. Arbell and U. Banin, “Lighting devices with prescribed colour emission” US patent
US9868901B2, 2018.
2. B. Rieger, E. Boehm, V. Hilarius, C. Pflumm, U. Banin, “Electronic element and display”, UP
patent application US20180006092A1, 2018.
3. U. Banin, H. Arbell, B. Rieger, M.-C. Wu, “Lc-based optical display system”, US patent
application US20170307939A1, 2017.
4. U. Banin, K. Vinokurov, O. Millo, Y. Bekenstein, “Thermal doping by vacancy formation in
nanocrystals”, US patent US9754802B2, 2017.
5. U. Banin, S. Magdassi, S. Shemesh, S. Halivni, Y. Vinetsky, “Patterns of fluorescent seeded
nanorods”, US patent application US20170175293A1, 2017.
6. U. Banin, E. Shaviv, D. Glozman, H. Arbell, “Emitting film with improved light-out coupling”,
US patent application US20170153007A1, 2017.
7. U. Banin, B. Ji, “Semiconductor nanostructures and applications”, Provisional patent
application filed 4/2017.
8. U. Banin, S. Magdassi, N. Waiskopf, Y. Ben Shahar, S. Halivni, A. Ashok “Hybrid
nanoparticles as photoinitiators”, PCT filed 6/2016.
9. U. Banin, I. Lieberman, S. Neyshtadt, L. Yedidya, “Seeded Nanoparticles” Provisional
application filed 4/2015, PCT filed 4/2016.
10. M.-C. Wu, B. Rieger, H. Arbell, U. Banin “LC-Based optical display system” US Provisional
patent application 62/053,299 (first filing 22/9/14).
Industry-related stories:
1. Licensing Agreements: Merck KGaA (see below)
2. Start up companies: Qlight Nanotech, a Start-up company which was fully acquired by Merck
KGaA in 7/2015. Qlight is developing semiconductor nanocrystals for flat panel display and solid
state lighting applications. Qlight Nanotech acts as a global R&D site for Merck on Quantum
Materials. It operates within the Edmond J. Safra campus of the Hebrew University. The
company at this site has currently ~30 employees in Jerusalem, most of which are R&D scientists
and engineers. Qlight Nanotech was awarded the Nanotechnology Company of the Year prize at
the 2014 Nano Israel conference.
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Structural Inorganic Chemistry
Prof. Avi Bino
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/bino/index.html
1. Carbyne radicals We study the formation and chemistry of free carbyne and carbene radicals in aqueous solution.
These species are produced by degradation of metal complexes that contain triple or double metal-
carbon bonds in water. An alternative route to obtain these extremely reactive species is by reacting
tri- or di-halo alkanes with chromium(II) ions . Both carbynes and carbenes undergo coupling
reactions and produce alkynes and alkenes respectively. In addition, they react with solvent
molecules and produce a large variety of products.
We study the mechanism by which organo-metallic cluster complexes that contain alkylidyne
ligands are formed. We believe that the origin of the alkylidyne group is a free carbyne that reacts
with the tri-nuclear framework. We apply ion-exchange chromatography , GC-MS and X-ray
crystallography
techniques to elucidate the exact mechanism.
2. Organometallic complexes with alkilydine ligands
We study the mechanism by which organo-metallic cluster complexes that contain alkylidyne
ligands are formed. We believe that the origin of the alkylidyne group is a free carbyne that reacts
with the tri-nuclear framework. We apply ion-exchange chromatography , GC-MS and X-ray
crystallography techniques to elucidate the exact mechanism.
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3. Ferric citrate
Ferric citrate complexes play an important role in the biological mobilization of iron in living cells.
Ferric citrate preparations are used in medicine as iron supplements and for imaging purposes. Our
goal has been the structural characterization of several ferric citrate complexes and the
understanding of the role of each species in biological systems.
Specific current research topics
Structural inorganic chemistry
Synthesis and characterization of polynuclear metal complexes
Production of nanometric metal alloys
List of selected publications (2015-2018)
1) Halevi, O.; Bogoslavsky, B.; Grinstein, D.; Tibika-Apfelbaum, F.; Bino, A. “Synthesis and
Characterization of Nitrogen Rich Ruthenium Complexes” Inorg. Chim. Acta, 2014, 421, 228–
232.
2) Avisar Levy, M.; Levy, O.; Ascarelli, O.; Popov, I.; Bino, A. Fractal “Structures of Highly
Porous Metals and Alloys at the Nanoscale” J. Alloys Compd. 2015, 635, 48-54.
3) Tenne, D; Bogoslavsky, B.; Bino, A. “Ferric Ammonium Citrate- What’s in it?” Eur. J. Inorg.
Chem. 2015, 4159-4161.
4) Avisar, S; Bogoslavsky, B; Bino, A. “Fusion of Ferric Citrate and Zirconium Hexafluoride:
Synthesis, Structure and Magnetic Properties of [Fe6O2Zr2F6(cit)4(H2O)10] Inorg. Chim. Acta,
2018, 479, 161-164.
15
Macromolecular networks in bacterial biofilms: structure, function,
aggregation, interactions and biomineralization
Dr. Liraz Chai
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://lirazchai.huji.ac.il/
Research Summary
How do intermolecular interactions govern the formation of
macromolecular networks? This is the basic question that we ask in the group. We currently
implement this question on biopolymers from the extracellular matrix in bacterial biofilms.
Biofilms are communities of microbial cells that grow on natural and synthetic
surfaces. Irrespective of whether biofilms are beneficial or detrimental to the host, their
extracellular matrix is critical to their development and survival. The extracellular matrix (ECM) is
a mesh of biopolymers, mainly polysaccharides, proteins and nucleic acids that connects the
biofilm’s cells together. We study the structure of the extracellular matrix components and the
interactions between them and their precursors and relate these properties with their
function. Our experimental toolset includes Atomic Force Microscopy and calorimetry (to study
interactions), Circular Dichroism, Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy, Nuclear Magnetic
Resonance (to study structure), as well as fluorescence and light scattering techniques (to study the
kinetics of the networks' assembly). Approaching complex biological structures from a basic
perspective will allow the engineering of inhibitors that will prevent the formation of detrimental
biofilms and encourage the formation of beneficial biofilms.
Specific current research topics:
Structure and function of extracellular matrix proteins and polysaccharides
Interactions between extracellular matrix peptides and proteins
Biomineralization and biomaterials
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List of selected publications in the last three years (2015-2018) (not more than 10)
1. R. Abbasi, R. Mousa, N. Dekel, H. Amartely, T. Danieli, M. Lebendiker, Y. Levi-Kalisman,
DE. Shalev, N. Metanis, L. Chai. “The bacterial extracellular matrix protein TapA is a two-
domain partially disordered protein.” ChemBioChem, 2018, accepted for publication*. *VIP
paper, to be highlighted in Chemistry Reviews.
2. DN. Azulay, R. Abbasi, I. Ben-Simhon Ktorza, S. Remennik, A. Reddy, L. Chai. “Biopolymers
from a bacterial extracellular matrix affect the morphology and structure of calcium carbonate
crystals” Cryst. Growth. Des. 2018, 18, 5582.
3. R. Abbasi, R. Malishev, R. Jelinek, L. Chai “Bacterial model membranes reshape fibrillation a
of functional amyloid protein” Biochemistry 2018, 57, 5230.
4. T. Stern, I. Kaner, N. Lester Zer, H. Shoval, D. Dror, Z. Manevitch, L. Chai, Y. Brill-Karniely,
O. Benny “Rigidity of Polymer Micelles Affects Interactions with Tumor Cells” J. Control.
Release 2016, 257, 40.
5. L. Chai, D. Romero, C. Kyatekin, B. Akabayov, H. Vlamakis, R. Kolter, R. Losick “Isolation,
Characterization and Aggregation of a Structured Bacterial Amyloid Precursor”, J. Biol. Chem.
2013, 288, 17559.
17
Excitonic Solar Cells
Prof. Lioz Etgar
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://lioz.etgar.huji.ac.il
Research Summary
Prof. Etgar research group is concentrating on investigating the
optical, physical and photovoltaic properties of hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites. During the
past few years, a breakthrough has occurred in the PV field by using organic-inorganic hybrid
perovskite as the light harvester in the solar cells to achieve more than 20% efficiency. Our
laboratory was the first to demonstrate that organic-inorganic perovskite could function
simultaneously as a light harvester and as a hole conductor in the solar cell, making the solar cell
more stable and simplifying its structure.
Selected publications (2015-2018)
1. Bat-El Cohen, M. Wierzbowska, and L. Etgar “High efficiency quasi 2D lead bromide
perovskite solar cells using various barrier molecules”, Sustainable Energy & Fuels, 2017,
1935–1943.
2. Bat-El Cohen, M. Wierzbowska, L. Etgar. “High efficiency and high open circuit voltage
in quasi two-dimensional perovskite based solar cells”, Adv. Funct. Mater., 2017, 1604733.
3. S. Aharon and L. Etgar, “Two Dimensional Organometal Halide Perovskite Nanorods with
Tunable Optical Properties Nano letters, 2016, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b00665.
4. Eytan Avigad and Etgar Lioz. “Studying the Effect of MoO3 in Hole-Conductor-Free Perovskite Solar
Cells.” ACS Energy Letters, 2018,3, 9, Pp. 2240-2245.
5. Adva Shpatz Dayan, Bat-El Cohen, Sigalit Aharon, Christophe Tenailleau, Małgorzata Wierzbowsk, and
Lioz Etgar. “Enhancing Stability and Photostability of CsPbI3 by Reducing Its Dimensionality.” Chem. of
Materials, 2018, DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b03709.
6. Monika Rai, Stav Rahmany, Swee Sien Lim, Shlomo Magdassi, Lydia Helena Wong, and Etgar
Lioz. 11/2/2018. “Hot dipping post treatment for improved efficiency in micro patterned
semitransparent perovskite solar cell.” J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018, DOI: 10.1039/C8TA09340G.
18
7. Sigalit Aharon, Malgorzata Wierzbowska, and Etgar Lioz. “The Effect of the Alkylammonium
Ligands Length on Organic Inorganic Perovskite Nanoparticles.” ACS Energy Lett., 2018. DOI:
10.1021/acsenergylett.8b00554.
8. Daniel Amgar, Tal Binyamin, Vladimir Uvarov, and Lioz Etgar. “Near ultra-violet to mid-visible
band gap tuning of mixed cation RbxCs1-xPbX3 (X=Cl or Br) perovskite nanoparticles.” Nanoscale,
2018. DOI: 10.1039/C7NR09607K.
9. Lior Iagher and Etgar Lioz. “The Effect of Cs on the Stability and Photovoltaic Performance of 2D/3D
Perovskite-based Solar Cells.” ACS Energy Lett.. 2018, DOI: 10.1021/acsenergylett.7b01196.
10. Etgar Lioz. “The merit of perovskite’s dimensionality; can this replace the 3D halide perovskite? ”
Energy Environ. Sci., 2018. DOI: 10.1039/C7EE03397D. Perspective.
List of Patents (last three years (2015-2018)
1. Lioz Etgar, Md K. Nazeeruddin, Michael Grätzel, “Organo Metal Halide Perovskite
Heterojunction Solar Cell and Fabrication Thereof”, B-6630-EP.
2. Lioz Etgar, “ Perovskite schottky type solar cell”, US patent, Application number: 61740147.
3. Lioz Etgar, Shlomo Magdassi “Semi transparent perovksite solar cells”, Provisional.
4. Lioz Etgar, Shany Gamliel “Micron size perovskite crystals in solar cells” Application Serial
No. 62/201,634.
5. David P. Fenning, Mariana I. Bertoni, Yang Shao-Horn, Lioz Etgar, Shany Gamliel.
“Environmental sensors using metal halide perovskites”, US Provisional application.
6. Lioz Etgar, Sigalit Aharon, “Synthesis of Nanorods organic-inorganic perovskite”, PCT,
PCT/IL2017/050291.
7. Lioz Etgar, Daniel Amgar, provisional, title: Rubidium Lead Chloride Nanocrystals.
19
Using peptides to study and modulate protein interactions: from
biophysical studies to drug design
Prof. Assaf Friedler
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~assaf/
From October 2016: Vice Rector, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Research Summary
Our group is interested in using peptides for the quantitative biophysical and structural analysis of
protein-protein interactions (PPI) in health and disease. Based on this, we develop lead compounds
that modulate PPI for therapeutic purposes. Peptides serve as major tools both for studying PPI and
for modulating them (by inhibition or activation). Some examples are:
1. Development of new synthetic methods for peptide modifications. We developed a new
approach for peptide cyclization during solid phase synthesis under highly acidic conditions using
simultaneous in situ deprotection, cyclization and TFA cleavage of the peptide, which is achieved
by forming an amide bond between a lysine side chain and a succinic acid linker at the peptide N-
terminus. We also developed a new general N-acetylation method for solid phase synthesis.
Malonic acid is used as precursor and the reaction proceeds by in situ formation of a reactive ketene
intermediate. Another example is the development of a new method for covalent inhibition of
proteins by succinimide-labeled peptides.
2. A new methodology for preparing multi-phosphorylated peptides: Multi-phosphorylation of
proteins is one of the most important ways of regulating their biological function and for selecting
between different signalling pathways. Multi phosphorylated peptides are the essential tools for
studying the specific biological role of each phosphorylation pattern, however their synthesis is
extremely difficult and in many cases impossible. We developed an efficient new strategy for the
synthesis of libraries of multi-phosphorylated peptides with up to seven phosphorylated Serine
(pSer) and Threonine (pThr) residues that are very close in sequence. Our new method was applied
for the synthesis of a library of extremely difficult to synthesize multi-phosphorylated peptides
derived from Rhodopsin C-terminal domain. Our results open the way for the synthesis of multi-
phosphorylated peptides for a variety of applications, which was impossible until now, and enables
studies of the mechanism of action of multi-phosphorylated proteins.
3. Intrinsically disordered proteins: About one third of the genome encodes for intrinsically
disordered proteins (IDPs) or disordered regions in proteins (IDRs). These lack stable tertiary
structures and are composed of a large ensemble of extended and flexible conformations
interchanging dynamically. Our research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of action of the
IDRs and how they mediate and regulate the interactions and activity of the protein. IDRs can either
directly mediate the interactions of the protein or regulate that interactions and activity of the
structured domains. IDPs are involved in many human diseases, making them attractive targets for
drug design. However, more than 90% of current drug targets are enzymes or receptors and IDPs
still cannot be targeted due to the lack of specific binding pockets for small molecules. Our ultimate
goal is setting IDPs and IDRs as therapeutic targets. Three examples will be presented: (1) The
20
ASPP protein family, which regulates apoptosis; (2) The HIV-1 Rev protein, which mediates
nuclear export of the viral RNA; (3) The centrosomal STIL protein, which is upregulated in cancer.
List of selected publications in the last three years (2015-2018)
1. Reingewertz TH , Iosub-Amir A , Bonsor D , Mayer G , Amartely H , Friedler A and Sundberg EJ “An
Intrinsically Disordered Region in the Proapoptotic ASPP2 Protein Binds to the Helicobacter pylori
Oncoprotein CagA”; Biochemistry 2015, 54, 3337-3347
2. Lebendiker M., Maes M. and Friedler A. “A screening methodology for purifying proteins with
aggregation problems” – Chapter 7 in "Methods in Molecular Biology: Insoluble Proteins" book
(Springer) 2015, 1258, 261-281
3. Amit E. , Obena R. , Wang YT , Zhuravel R , Reyes AJ , Elbaz S , Rotem D , Porath D , Friedler A,
Chen YJ and Yitzchaik S “Integrating proteomics with electrochemistry for identifying kinase
biomarkers”; Chem. Sci. 2015, 6, 4756-4766
4. Iosub-Amir A., Van Rosmalen M , Mayer G , Lebendiker M , Danieli T and Friedler A “Highly
homologous proteins exert opposite biological activities by using different interaction interfaces”; Sci.
Rep. 2015, 5, 11629
5. Amartely, H, David, A , Shamir, M, Lebendiker, M , Izraeli, S and Friedler, A “Differential effects of
zinc binding on structured and disordered regions in the multidomain STIL protein”; Chem. Sci. 2016, 7,
4140-4147
6. Chandra K, Das P, Mamidi S, Hurevich M, Iosub-Amir A, Metanis N, Reches M, Friedler A. “Covalent
Inhibition of HIV-1 Integrase by N-Succinimidyl Peptides” ChemMedChem. 2016, 11, 1987-1994
7. David A, Amartely H, Rabinowicz N, Shamir M, Friedler A, Izraeli S. “Molecular basis of the STIL
coiled coil oligomerization explains its requirement for de-novo formation of centrosomes in mammalian
cells.” Sci Rep. 2016, 6, 24296.
8. Petersen J.; Wright S.; Rodriguez D.; Matricon P.; Lahav N., Vromen A.; Friedler A.; Strömqvist J.;
Wennmalm S.; Carlsson J.; Schulte G. “Agonist-induced dimer dissociation as a macromolecular step in
G protein-coupled receptor signaling. Nature Commun. 2017, 8, 226
9. Faust O, Grunhaus D, Shimshon O, Yavin E, Friedler A “Protein Regulation by Intrinsically Disordered
Regions: A Role for Subdomains in the IDR of the HIV-1 Rev Protein” ChemBioChem 2018, 19:1618-
1624
10. Anat Iosub-Amir Fang Bai, Yang-Sung Sohn, Luhua Song, Sagi Tamir, Henri-Baptiste Marjault, Guy
Mayer, Ola Karmi, Patricia A. Jennings, Ron Mittler, José N. Onuchic, Assaf Friedler, and Rachel
Nechushtai: "The anti-apoptotic proteins NAF-1 and iASPP interact to drive apoptosis in cancer cells"
Chem Sci, 2019, in press, DOI: 10.1039/C8SC03390K
21
Organometallic chemistry and catalysis
Prof. Dmitri Gelman
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://scholars.huji.ac.il/dmitrigelman/home
Group research
Generally, research in my group is focused on synthetic and mechanistic organometallic chemistry.
The core of the work is the interplay between the structures and reactivity of organometallic
compounds relevant to catalysis. We use a wide range of synthetic and spectroscopic methods for
the manipulation and characterization of our targets: air-free techniques, NMR spectroscopy, X-ray
crystallography, etc. The major current direction of our studies include: the design of new
carbometalated transition metal complexes-based catalysts towards activation/formation of polar
and nonpolar bonds.
We are interested in the design of novel catalytic systems for dehydrogenation of formic
acid/hydrogenation of carbon dioxide and in the development of new generic transformations
involving structural modification of functionalized hydrocarbon substrates using formic acid as a
source of H2 and CO2.
We are interested in the design of new concepts in acceptor-free dehydrogenation of alkanes to
alkenes and molecular hydrogen, as well as of new generic transformations involving structural
modification of the resultant unsaturated hydrocarbon products (as a long-term target)
Specific current research topics:
Synthesis and applications of 3-D pincer complexes
Ligand-metal cooperating catalysts
Enzyme-mimicking artificial catalysts
List of selected publications in the last three years (2015-2018)
1. De-Botton, S.; Cohen, S.; Gelman, D. “Iridium PC(sp
3)P Pincer Complexes Bearing Hemilabile Pendent
Arms: Synthesis, Characterization and Catalytic Activity.” Organometallics 2018, 37,1324-1330.
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2. Zoabi, A.; Santiago, M.; Gelman, D.; Rosenblatt, C.; Avnir, D.;
Abu-Reziq, R. "Chiral Polymeric
Nanocapsules and Their use for Conformational Deracemization of Liquid Crystals." J. Phys. Chem A
2018, 122,17936-17941.
3. Cohen, O.; Avnir, D.
Gelman, D.
“Optical rotation kinetics study of the poly-condensation of chiral sol-
gel precursors. JSST 2018, Accepted.
4. Cohen, O.; Ferris, A.; Adkins, R.; Lemieux, R.; Avnir, D.; Gelman, D.; Rosenblatt, C. "Chiral
Organosilica Particles and Their Use as Inducers of Conformational Deracemization of Liquid Crystal
Phases" ChemPhysLett. 2018, 696, 112-118.
5. Kisets, I. and Gelman, D. “Carbometalated Complexes Possessing a Tripod (pseudo)-C3-Symmetric
Triptycene-Based Ligand” Organometallics 2017, 37, 526-529.
6. Biniuri, Y.; Albada, B.; Wolff, M.; Golub, E.; Gelman, D.; Willner, I. “Metal Ion Complex/Aptamer
Conjugates: Nucleoapzymes Mimicking Catechol Oxidase” ACS Catal. 2018, 8, 1801-1809.
7. Cohen, O.; Abu-Reziq, R.; Gelman, D. “New chiral organosilane precursors for the synthesis of chiral
periodic mesoporous organosilicas” Tetrahedron: Asymmetry 2017, 28, 1675-1685.
8. Cohen, S.; Borin, V.; Schapiro, I.; Musa, S.; De-Botton, S.; Belkova,
N.V., Gelman, D. “New Ir(III)-
PC(sp3)P Bifunctional Catalysts for Additive-Free Production of H2 by Dehydrogenation of Formic
Acid: Experimental and Theoretical Study” ACS Catal. 2017, 7, 8139-8146.
9. Warratz, S.; Burns, D. J.; Zhu, C.; Korvarapun, K.; Rogge, T.; Scholz, J.; Joos, C.; Gelman, D.;
Ackermann, L. “meta-C-H Bromination on Purine Bases by Heterogeneous Ruthenium Catalysts”
Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 1557-1560.
10. De-Botton, S.; Romm, R.; Bensoussan, G.; Hitrik, M.; Musa, S. and Gelman, D. “Coordination
Versatility of the p-Hydroquinone-functionalyzed Dibenzobarrelene-based PC(sp3)P Pincer Ligands”
Dalton Trans. 2016, 45:16040-16046.
List of Patents (2015-2018)
1. Gelman, D.; Zoabi, A.; Zeira, A. and Abu-Reziq, R. Process for the preparation of nicotinamide riboside
and cosmetic composition comprising it and a phosphate-binding agent PCT Int. Appl. (2017),
WO 2017145151 A1 20170831. Commercialized by HIKARI Laboratories (Israel).
http://hikari.co.il/About.aspx?l=2
23
Chemical Reaction Dynamics and Spectroscopy of Complex Systems
Prof. Robert Benny Gerber
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Website: scholars.huji.ac.il/robertbennygerber/home
Research Summary
1. Molecular mechanisms and dynamics of atmospheric reactions on water and on ice surfaces:
The chemistry of at the atmosphere is governed by a huge number of reactions, many of which
take place in complex environments such as seawater. Molecular-level understanding of such
processes is not yet at hand, and poses a major challenge for the field. Our theoretical work aims
at providing microscopic understanding of such processes by first-principles simulations. The
main methods we use combine many-atom dynamics simulations with quantum-chemical
treatment of the forces acting on the atoms. Examples of important recent results include a
description of hydrolysis and halide substitution reactions at surfaces of seawater.
2. Dynamics of photochemical reactions in complex systems: Photochemical reactions are among
the most difficult types of chemical processes to understand microscopically and predict
computationally, due to the challenges of treating excited-state potential energy surfaces in all
but the simplest systems. We are developing new computational approaches for dynamics
simulations of such processes, with direct use of quantum-chemical excited state methods for the
potential acting on the atoms along the trajectories. We also pursue applications of the methods
to challenging atmospheric processes: Photochemistry of aerosols and photochemistry of
pesticides.
3. Quantum dynamics simulations of many-atom systems: Quantum effects such as zero-point
energies, interference phenomena and tunneling can play significant roles in spectroscopy and
dynamics of a range of chemical systems. We are developing new approximate quantum
mechanical methods that can be used to describe the nuclear motions in such systems also when
the number of degrees of freedom is large. A major area of application are time-dependent
vibrational spectroscopies of peptides and proteins.
Fig. 1. Theory predicts an important
atmospheric process: N2O5 Undergoes
hydrolysis at the surface of a nanosize water
aerosol. (a) Equilibrium structure; (b)
Transition state and products.
Fig. 2. Potential energy along the
pathway for substitution and hydrolysis
in (N2O5)(Cl-)(H2O). Timescales of some
steps are shown.
24
Selected publications (2015-2018)
1. R.B. Gerber, M.E. Varner, A.D. Hammerich, S. Riikonen, G. Murdachaew, D. Shemesh and B.J.
Finlayson-Pitts, “Computational Studies of Atmospherically-Relevant Chemical Reactions in Water
Clusters and on Liquid Water and Ice Surfaces”, Acc. Chem. Res. (2015), 48, 399-406.
2. T.K. Roy, V. Kopysov, N.S. Nagonova, T.R. Rizzo, O.V. Boyarkin and R.B. Gerber, “Conformational
Structures of a Decapeptide Validated by First-Principles Calculations and Cold Ion Spectroscopy”,
Chem. Phys. Chem. (Commun.) (2015), 16, 1374-1378.
3. V. Perraud, J.R. Horne, A. Martinez, J. Kalinowski, S. Meinardi, M.L. Dawson, L.M. Wingen, D.
Dabdub, D.R. Blake, R.B. Gerber and B.J. Finlayson-Pitts, “The Future of Airborne Sulfur-Containing
Particles in the Absence of Fossil Fuel Sulfur Dioxide Emissions” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA (2015)
112, 13514-13519.
4. J. Kalinowski, E.S. Foreman, K.M. Kapnas, C. Murray and R.B. Gerber, “Dynamics and Spectroscopy
of CH2OO Excited Electronic States”, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. (2016) 18, 10941-10946.
5. B. Hirshberg and R.B. Gerber, ״Formation of Carbonic Acid in Impact of CO2 on Ice and Water״ J.
Phys. Chem. Lett. (2016) 7, 2905-2909.
6. K. Aregahegn, D. Shemesh, R.B. Gerber and B.J. ״Finlayson-Pitts, Photochemistry of the Neonicotinoid
Imidacloprid on Surfaces” Envirom. Sci. Techn. (2016) 51, 2660-2668 (ACS Editors’ Choice; Cover
Article).
7. B. Hirshberg, L. Sagiv and R.B. Gerber, Approximate Quantum Dynamics Using Ab Initio Classical
Separable Potentials: Spectroscopic Applications, J. Chem. Theory Comput. (2017), 13, 982-991
8. J. Xu, B.J. Finlayson-Pitts and R.B. Gerber, “Proton Transfer in Mixed Clusters of Methanosulforic
Acid, Methylamine and Oxalic Acid: Implications for Atmospheric Particle Formation” J. Phys. Chem.
A (Festschrift for Veronica Vaida) (2017), 121, 2377-2385.
9. P.J. Kelleher, F.S. Menges, J.W. DePalma, J.K. Denton, M.A. Johnson, G.H. Weddle, B. Hirshberg and
R.B. Gerber, “Trapping and Structural Characterization of the XNO2.NO3
-(X=Cl, Br ,I) Exit Channel
Complexes in the Water-Mediated X-+N2O5 Reactions with Cryogenic Vibrational Spectroscopy” J.
Phys. Chem. Lett. (2017) 8, 4710-4715.
10. D. Shemesh and R.B. Gerber, “Molecular Dynamics of Photoinduced Reactions of Acrylic Acid:
Products, Mechanisms and Comparison with Experiment”, J. Phys.Chem. Lett. (2018) 9, 527-533.
25
Organic Electronic Materials
Dr. Ori Gidron
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/gidron/
Research Summary
The main goal of our research is to discover new electronic and
optical properties of conjugated organic molecules and polymers. In
particular, we are interested in various aspects of conjugated molecules with axial chirality, and in
their prospects as chiral organic semiconductors. In this respect, we introduced tethered twisted
acenes with various torsion angles (left Figure). In addition, we have introduced oligofurans as
platforms for the synthesis of various π-conjugated backbones (right Figure).
While the main part of our work involves organic synthesis of new materials, we also use
computational tools to predict the properties of these materials, and materials characterization
techniques such as electrochemistry, absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, and circular
dichroism, to gain deeper understanding of their structure-property relation.
Specific current research topics:
Synthesis of nanocarbons using oligofurans as
synthons.
Helically stable chiral twisted acenes.
Low-bandgap polymers with strong emission in the
near-IR spectral region.
Selected publications (2015-2018)
1. A. Bedi, L. J. W. Shimon and O. Gidron*, Helically-Locked Tethered Twistacenes, J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 8086. (Highlighted in SYNFACTS 2018, 5, 0536).
2. S. V. Mulay, B. Bogoslavsky, I. Galanti, E. Galun and O. Gidron*, Bifuran-imide: A Stable
Furan Building Unit for Organic Electronics, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2018, 6, 11951. Selected for
the front cover page.
26
3. S. Gadakh, L. J. W. Shimon and O. Gidron, Regioselective Transformation of Long π-
Conjugated Backbones: From Oligofurans to Oligoarenes, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56,
13601.
4. Dishi and O. Gidron, Macrocyclic Oligofurans: a Computational Study, J. Org. Chem. 2018,
83, 3119.
5. O. Gidron, M. Jirasek, N. Trapp, M-O. Ebert, X. Zhang and F. Diederich, Homochiral
[2]Catenane and Bis[2]catenane from Alleno-Acetylenic Helicates - A Highly Selective
Narcissistic Self-Sorting Process. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 12502.
List of Patents (2015-2018)
1. Ori Gidron, Sandip Mulay, Bifuran-Imide based materials and uses thereof, PCT Int. Appl. US
62/667,645
2. Ori Gidron, Sunita Gadakh, Or Dishi, Method for the bottom-up synthesis of nanocarbons
using linear and cyclic oligofurans, PCT Int. Appl. Filed on June 1st 2017. US 62/513532
27
Uncovering the basic elements that
direct the reactivity of heterogeneous catalysts
Dr. Elad Gross
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/gross
Brief Summary of research:
Heterogeneous catalysis is essential for the development of
renewable and alternative energy resources. For example, catalysts
can potentially transform biomass into biofuel, CO2 into high added
value products and split water into hydrogen and oxygen, thus providing new energy resources that
will overcome our crucial dependence in fossil fuels.
The design of optimized catalysts that will effectively activate these challenging reactions requires
better understanding of the ways by which the properties of catalytic nanoparticles direct their
reactivity. This is the challenge that we tackle in my research group by addressing basic question in
catalysis research, such as: Where and how do catalytic reactions evolve on nanoparticles? How the
structure and composition of nanoparticles influence their reactivity? What is the mechanism of
catalytic reaction and how can we better control it?
We use state-of-the-art spectroscopy and microscopy
techniques to answer these fundamental questions and
identify the elements that direct the reaction mechanism of
catalytic nanoparticles. For example, we use IR
nanospectroscopy measurements (see illustration) to identify
how different sites on the surface of a single nanoparticle
influence its reactivity. By using this approach we identified
that highly defected surface sites are the one that that control
the reactivity of nanoparticles.
Specific current research topics:
High spatial resolution mapping of reaction on single particles
Identifying the properties of surface-anchored N-heterocyclic carbenes
Structure-composition-reactivity correlations in nanoporous networks
Selected publications (2015-2018)
1. K. A. Goulas, S. Dery, P. Dietrich, G. R. Johnson, A. Grippo, Y. C. Wang and E. Gross “X-ray
Tomography Measurements Identify Structure-Reactivity Correlations in Catalysts for Oxygenates
Coupling Reactions” Catalysis Today, accepted.
28
2. S. Nijem, S. Dery, M. Carmiel, G. Horesh, J. Garrevoet, K. Spiers, G. Falkenberg, C. Marini and E.
Gross “Bimetallic Pt-Re Nanoporous Networks: Synthesis, Characterization and Catalytic Reactivity” J.
Phys. Chem. C. accepted.
3. S. Dery, S. Kim, D. Haddad, A. Cossaro, A. Verdini, L. Floreano, F. D. Toste and E. Gross “Identifying
site-dependent reactivity in oxidation reactions on single Pt particles” Chemical Science, 2018, 9, 6523.
4. S. Dery, E. Amit and E. Gross “Identifying Catalytic Reactions on Single Nanoparticles” Topics in
Catalysis, 2018, 1-17.
5. C. Y. Wu, Y. Levartovsky, H. A. Bechtel, M. C. Martin, F. D. Toste and E. Gross “High spatial
resolution mapping of the catalytic reactivity along the surface of single Pt nanoparticles” Nature, 2017,
541, 511.
6. Y. Levartovsky and E. Gross “Using operando microspectroscopy to uncover the correlations between
the electronic properties of dendrimer-encapsulated metallic nanoparticles and their catalytic reactivity in
π-bond activation reactions” Topics in Catalysis, 2016, 59, 1700.
7. Y. Levartovsky and E. Gross “High spatial resolution mapping of chemically-active self-assembled N-
heterocyclic carbenes on Pt nanoparticles” Faraday Discussions, 2016, 188, 345.
29
Molecular Biophysics in Solution
Prof. Daniel Harries
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://scholars.huji.ac.il/danielharries
2018- Head of School of Chemistry
Research Summary
Our main interest is in the way biologically diverse environments create conditions for
macromolecules to associate and dissociate and form complexes that carry specific functions in
cells. Examples include receptors that bind or unbind ligands, and pass signals across cell
membranes, proteins that fold and unfold in solution, and sometimes form aggregates such as
amyloid fibers, or DNA that binds enzymes
We have been following this theme in a number of biologically relevant
systems that involve collections of macromolecules, such as peptide
folding and aggregation, and viral assembly.
We emphasize theoretical approaches to help dissect the different contributing forces involved,
while maintaining close contact to experimental
findings.
Specific current research topics:
Molecular crowding and osmotic effects on peptide folding and aggregation.
Membrane interactions and properties of lipid bilayers.
Depletion forces, solvation, and confinement effects in hydrogen bonding solvents.
30
Selected publications (2015-2018)
1. A. Christoph, A. Haluts, D. Harries. “A local instantaneous surface method for extracting
membrane elastic moduli from simulation: Comparison with other strategies.” Chem. Phys.
2018, 514, 39-43.
2. S. Shahar, S. Dunsky, A. Barnoy, I. Shumilin, D. Harries. “TMAO mediates effective
attraction between lipid membranes by partitioning unevenly between bulk and lipid
domain.” Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2017, 19, 29862-29871.
3. P. Michal, I. Shumilin, and D. Harries “Impact of trehalose on the activity of sodium and
potassium chloride in aqueous solutions: why trehalose is worth its salt” Food Chem. 2017,
237, 1209-1215.
4. S. Liel, and D. Harries. “Revisiting hydrogen bond thermodynamics in molecular
simulations.” J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2017, 13, 2851–2857.
5. Sapir, Liel, and Daniel Harries. “Macromolecular compaction by mixed solutions: Bridging
versus depletion attraction.” Curr. Opin. Coll. Interface Sci. 2016, 22, 80-87.
6. M. Elena, L. Sapir, H. Cohen, S. R Cohen, D. Ehre, D. Harries, M. Lahav, I. Lubomirsky.
“Nonclassical Crystal Growth as Explanation for the Riddle of Polarity in Centrosymmetric
Glycine Crystals.” J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 14756-14763.
7. S. Liel, C.B. Stanley, D. Harries. “Properties of Polyvinylpyrrolidone in a Deep Eutectic
Solvent.” J. Phys. Chem. A 2016, 120, 3253-3259.
8. S. Liel, and D. Harries. “Is the depletion force entropic? Molecular crowding beyond steric
interactions.” Curr. Opin. Coll. Interface Sci. 2015, 20, 3-10
9. S. Liel, and D. Harries. “Macromolecular Stabilization by Excluded Cosolutes: Mean Field
Theory of Crowded Solutions.” J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2015, 11, 3478-3490.
10. S. Shahar, L. Sapir, D. Harries. “Osmolyte induced changes in peptide conformational
ensemble correlate with slower amyloid aggregation: a coarse-grained simulation study.” J.
Chem. Theory Comput. 2015,11, 5918-5928.
31
Automated Glycan Synthesis Group @ HUJI
Dr. Mattan Hurevich
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://scholars.huji.ac.il/mattanhurevich/home
Group research
Carbohydrates are major components of biological systems and
have many functions that ranges from purely structural ones to elusive fine-tuned communication
ones. Carbohydrates (glycans), that is oligo- and poly-saccharides, are assembled from a
monosaccharide building blocks that have multiple alcohol functional groups but vary in their
structural features. This amazing variety accounts for the many roles of carbohydrates but makes
their synthesis a very complex task because it requires the functionalization of a specific functional
moiety in a sea of very similar groups. Chemical oligosaccharide synthesis using protecting groups
is a strategy that is constantly being developed to allow accessibility to well-defined glycan
structures.
Our group develops synthetic strategies to facilitate the procurement of oligosaccharides. We
exploit the use of
photochemical
reactions for the
synthesis of
oligosaccharides in a
very mild conditions
and use of photo
labile protecting
groups (PPGs) that
can be liberated using
LED irradiation as
attractive solution for
oligosaccharide
synthesis. We specialize
in the state-of-the-art
Automated Glycan
Assembly (AGA)
platform that enables
fast and easy synthesis
of complex glycans
from simple
monosaccharide
building blocks. Our
group utilizes flow
chemistry, solid phase chemistry, photochemistry, automation and their combination for
oligosaccharide and glycopeptide synthesis.
32
Selected publications 1) Fanous, J.
Swed, A.
Joubran, S.
Hurevich, M.
Britan-Rosich, E.
Kotler, M.
Gilon, C.
Hoffman,
A. “Superiority of the S,S conformation in diverse pharmacological processes: Intestinal
transport and entry inhibition activity of novel anti-HIV drug lead” Inter. J. Pharm. 2015, 495,
660-663.
2) Chandra, K. Das, P.
Mamidi, S.
Hurevich, M.
Iosub-Amir, A.
Metanis, N.
Reches, M.
Friedler,
A. “Covalent Inhibition of HIV-1 Integrase by N-Succinimidyl Peptide”, ChemMedChem 2016,
11, 1987-1994. Cover page.
3) Weishaupt, M.W. Matthies, S.
Hurevich, M.
Pereira, C.L.
Hahm, H-S.
Seeberger, P.H.
“Automated glycan assembly of a S. pneumoniae serotype 3 CPS antigen”, Beilstein J. Org.
Chem. 2016, 12, 1440-1446.
4) Hahm, H-S. Hurevich, M.
Seeberger, P.H.
“Automated assembly of oligosaccharides containing
multiple cis-glycosidic linkages”, Nature Commun. 2016, 7, 12482.
5) Hahm, H-S.* Schlegel, M.K.
* Hurevich, M.
* Eller, S.
Schuhmacher, F. Hofmann, J.
Pagel, K.
Seeberger, P.H. “Automated Glycan Assembly Using the Glyconeer 2.1® Synthesizer”, Proc.
Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 2017, 114, E3385-E3389 * equal contribution Highlighted in Synform
2017/09, A149–A153
6) Naoum, J.N. Chandra, K.
Shemesh, D.
Gerber R.B.
Gilon, C.
and Hurevich, M.
“DMAP-assisted
sulfonylation as an efficient step for the methylation of primary amine motifs on solid support”,
Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 3, 806-816.
7) Mervinetsky, E., Alshanski, I., Hamo, Y., Sandonas, L. M., Dianat, A., Buchwald, J., Gutierrez,
R., Cuniberti, G., Hurevich, M. & Yitzchaik, S. “Copper Induced Conformational Changes of
Tripeptide Monolayer Based Impedimetric Biosensor”. Sci. Rep. 2017, 7, 9498.
8) Tadi, K. K.; Alshanski, I.; Mervinetsky, E.; Marx, G.; Petrou, P.; Dimitrios, K. M.; Gilon, C.;
Hurevich, M.; Yitzchaik, S., “Oxytocin-Monolayer-Based Impedimetric Biosensor for Zinc and
Copper Ions” ACS Omega 2017, 2, 8770-8778.
9) Samarasimhareddy, M.; Alshanski, I.; Mervinetsky, E.; Hurevich, M., “Photodeprotection of up
to Eight Photolabile Protecting Groups from a Single Glycan” Synlett 2018, 29, 880-884.
List of Patents
2017- 6315-00 United States Provisional Patent Application No. 62/549,452 "Sensor and uses
thereof in detecting metal ions"
33
Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry And Advanced Materials
Prof. Ovadia Lev
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/ovadia/
Research Summary
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY: Electrochemical and mass spectrometric
investigation of illicit drugs and emerging organic contaminants by mass
spectrometry and/or by electroanalytical methods; Artificial tracer studies
to quantify water sources; Sampling methods for the quantification of the chemical composition of
pore water in the vadose zone.
ADVANCED MATERIALS: Hydrogen peroxide sol-gel chemistry; Coating of surfaces and
particles by peroxy-nano particles. Use of reduced graphene oxide-coated by p-block elements, their
oxides in crystalline or amorphous forms as lithium ion battery and sodium ion battery anodes.
Development of nanostructured manganese oxide catalysts for water purification.
Specific current research topics:
Lithium and sodium ion batteries
Hydrogen peroxide sol gel chemistry
Removal of manganese and arsenic from water sources
Soil aquifer treatment
Selected publications (2015-2018) 1. Voloshenko-Rossin, A., G. Gasser, K. Cohen, J. Gun, L. Cumbal-Flores, W. Parra-Morales, F.
Sarabia, F. Ojeda and O. Lev, “Emerging pollutants in the Esmeraldas watershed in Ecuador:
discharge and attenuation of emerging organic pollutants along the San Pedro–Guayllabamba–
Esmeraldas rivers”, Environ. Sci. Proc. Impact 2015, 17, 41-53. Cover page
2. Jammer, S., Rizkov, D., Gelman, F., Lev, O., “Quantitative structure-activity relationship
correlation between molecular structure and the Rayleigh enantiomeric enrichment factor”,
Environmental Science-Processes and Impacts 2015, 17, 1370-1376. Cover Page
3. Sopilniak, A., Elkayam, R., Lev, O., Elad, T., “Oxygen profiling of the unsaturated zone using
direct push drilling”, Environ. Sci. Proc. Impact 2015, 17, 1680-1688.
4. Mikhaylov, AA, Medvedev,AG, Churakov, AV, Grishanov, D, Prikhodchenko, PV, Lev O.
“Peroxide coordination of Tellurium in aqueous solutions”, Chem. A Eur. J. 2016, 29, 29802988,
Cover Page
5. Jammer S, Gelman, F. & Lev O. “Applicability of the Rayleigh equation for enantioselective
metabolism of chiral xenobiotics by microsomes, hepatocytes and in-vivo retention in rabbit
tissues”, Sci. Rep. 2016, 6, 23715 .
34
6. Dronova M, Somoliantsky E., Lev O., “Electrooxidation of new synthetic cannabinoids:
Voltammetric determination of drugs in seized street samples and artificial saliva”, Anal.
Chem., 2016, 88,4487-4494. Cover Page
7. Medvedev, AG, Mikhaylov, AA, , Grishanov, DA, , Yu, DYW, , Gun, J, Sladkevich, S , Lev,
O, Prikhodchenko, PV, “GeO2 Thin Film Deposition on Graphene Oxide by the Hydrogen
Peroxide Route: Evaluation for Lithium-Ion Battery Anode”, ACS App. Mater. Interf. 2017, 9,
9152-9160.
8. A Rossin, Sladkevich, S, Gasser, G, Melman, A, Lev, O, “Sensitive Analysis of Nitroguanidine
in Aqueous and Soil Matrices by LC-MS”, Anal. Chem. 2017, 89, 9990-9996, Cover Page
9. Grishanov, DA, Navasardyan, MA, Medvedev, AG, Lev, O Prikhodchenko, PV, Churakov, A,
“Hydrogen Peroxide Insular Dodecameric and Pentameric Clusters in Peroxosolvate
Structures”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 48, 15251-15245. Cover Page
10. Sopilniak, A, Elkayam, R, Rossin, AV, Lev, O, “Emerging organic pollutants in the vadose
zone of a soil aquifer treatment system: Pore water extraction using positive displacement”,
Chemosphere, 2018, 190, 383-392.
List of Patents (2015-2018)
1. Yu; Yau Wai Denis, Batabyal; Sudip Kumar, Lev; Ovadia, Gun; Jenny, Prikhodchenko; Petr V.,
Method for forming a reduced graphene oxide/metal sulfide composite and its use as an anode for
batteries Patent was granted, Sept. 2017 United States Patent 9,755,22
2. Lev; O; Sladkevich; S; Prikhodchenko; P; Gun; G, Process for the formation of metal oxide
nanoparticles coating of a solid substrate, issued on November 6th
, US patent number: 10/119,036
3. Alfonta, L Ravenna, YD, Gun, J, Lev, O, , Phenothiazine/phenothiazine – graphene oxide
composite, Publication number: 20170173036, Type: US patent application Filed: July 21, 2015,
Publication date: June 22, 2017.
35
Chemical and biological Dynamics
Prof. Raphael D. Levine
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://scholars.huji.ac.il/raphael.levine
Dynamics of chemical reactions with special reference to dynamics on multiple electronic states
using quantum mechanics and information theory based (’surprisal analysis’) thermodynamic like
methods. System biology of single cells and of tissues. Quantum computing on chemically designed
networks.
List of selected publications in the last three years (2015-2018)
1. Levine R.D. “Addressing the Challenge of Molecular Change: An Interim Report” Ann Rev.
Phys. Chem. 2018, 69,1-29.
2. Levine R.D. “Photochemistry of highly excited states” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2017, 114,
13594-13596.
3. Lilienthal S., Klein M., Orbach R., Willner I., Remacle F., Levine R.D. “Continuous variables
logic via coupled automata using a DNAzyme cascade with feedback” Chem. Sci. 2017, 8,
2161-2168.
4. Nikodem A., Levine R.D., Remacle F. “Spatial and temporal control of populations, branching
ratios, and electronic coherences in LiH by a single one-cycle infrared pulse”. Phys. Rev. A
2017, 95, 053404.
5. Fresch B., et al. “Implementation of Multivariable Logic Functions in Parallel by Electrically
Addressing a Molecule of Three Dopants in Silicon” ChemPhysChem 2017, 18, 1790-1797.
6. Fresch B., et al. “Implementation of Multivariable Logic Functions in Parallel by Electrically
Addressing a Molecule of Three Dopants in Silicon” ChemPhysChem 2017, 18, 1790-1797.
7. Cipolloni M, et al. “Coherent electronic and nuclear dynamics in a rhodamine heterodimer-
DNA supramolecular complex” Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2017, 19, 23043-23051.
8. Kravchenko-Balasha N., Shin Y.S., Sutherland A., Levine R.D., Heath J.R. Intercellular
signaling through secreted proteins induces free-energy gradient-directed cell movement. Proc.
Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2016, 113, 5520-5525.
9. Remacle F., Goldstein A.S., Levine R.D. “Multivariate Surprisal Analysis of Gene Expression
Levels. Entropy 2016, 18, 445.
10. Ajay J., Smydke J., Remacle F., Levine R.D. “Probing in Space and Time the Nuclear Motion
Driven by Nonequilibrium Electronic Dynamics in Ultrafast Pumped N2” J. Phys. Chem. A.
2016, 120, 3335-3342.
36
Science, Technology and Applications of Micro and Nanomaterials
Prof. Shlomo Magdassi
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://scholars.huji.ac.il/magdassi
Since 2016- Head of Institute of Chemistry, Hebrew University.
Since 2016- Head of the 3D and functional printing center of the
Hebrew University.
Research Summary
The research group focuses on materials science and nanotechnology. The main research fields of
the group are formation and stabilization of inorganic and organic nanomaterials, formulation of
these materials in various delivery systems and inks, and their application in a variety of fields such
as 3D and functional printing, solar energy and bio-medical systems. Current research projects
include: conductive inks for printed electronics, transparent conductive electrodes, materials for 3D
printing, inkjet inks formulations, coatings
and inks for solar energy applications,
nanoparticles for bio-imaging, drug
delivery and cosmetic formulations. Based
on some of the research projects,
commercial activities evolved leading to
worldwide sales and establishing new
companies.
List of selected publications (2015-2018)
1. Y. Rosen, M. Grouchko, S. Magdassi Adv. Mater. Interf. 2015, 2, 1400448.
2. Y. Farraj, M. Grouchko, S. Magdassi Chem. Commun. 2015, 51, 1587 – 1590.
3. I. Cooperstein, M. Layani, S. Magdassi, J. Mater. Chem. C 2015, 3, 2040 – 2044, Selected as
Hot Article for 2015.
4. M. Zarek, M. Layani, I. Cooperstein, E. Sachyani, D. Cohn, S. Magdassi Adv. Mater. 2016, 28,
4449–4454.
5. A. A. Pawar, G. Saada, I. Cooperstein, L. Larush, J. A. Jackman, S. R. Tabaei, N. J. Cho, S.
Magdassi Sci. Adv. 2016, 2, e1501381.
6. A. A. Pawar, S. Halivni, N. Waiskopf, Y. Ben-Shahar, M. Soreni-Harari, S. Bergbreiter, U.
Banin, S. Magdassi Nano Lett. 2017, 17, 4497-4501 ().
7. D. K. Patel, A. H. Sakhaei, M. Layani, Michael; B. Zhang, Q. Ge, S. Magdassi Adv. Mater.
2017, 29, 1606000.
8. G. Saada, M. Layani, S. Magdassi Adv. Mater. Techn. 2017, 2, 1600289.
9. Z. Yang, M. Layani, W. Shancheng, H. Peng, K. Yujie, S. Magdassi, L. Yi Adv. Funct. Mater.
2018, 28, 1705365.
10. O. Halevi, P. S. Lee, S. Magdassi Adv. Sustain. Syst. 2018, 2, 1700150.
Inkjet printed antenna.
1 cm 1 cm
3DP transparent
fused silica.
37
Copper flexible electrical circuit
Selected Patents
1. US9,833,836, Core-shell metallic nanoparticles, methods of production thereof, and ink
compositions containing same, (2017).
2. US9,693,936, Dispersions in oil of Dead Sea nano sized material preparation and uses thereof,
(2017).
3. US9,574,092, Solar-radiation-absorbing formulations and related apparatus and methods,
(2017).
4. US9,095,133, Pesticide nanoparticles obtained from microemulsions and nanoemulsions,
(2015).
5. US9,807,848, Transparent conductive coatings for optoelectronic and electronic devices,
(2015).
6. PCT/IL(2016)/050693, Hybrid nanoparticles as photoinitiators.
7. PCT/IL(2016)/050019, Self-assembly of perovskite for
fabrication of transparent devices.
8. PCT/IL(2016)/050509, 3D printing of shape memory polymers.
9. PCT/IL(2016)/050908, 3D polymerizable ceramic inks.
10. PCT/IL(2016)/051260, High-performance 3D printing of
hydrogels by water-dispersible photoinitiator nanoparticles
Success Stories:
Licensing Agreements (2015-2018): Nanodimension, Tagra,
Brightsource, Bromine Compounds Ltd, Ahava, Singapore
Asahi Chemical & Solder Industries
1. Granalix, www.granalix.com: We have introduced a
new concept in potential prevention and treatment of
neurodegenerative diseases. A food supplement that
utilizes a unique nano-delivery system composed of only
food approved components and pomegranate oil as the
active material was developed. The product, GranaGard,
was shown to be active in animal studies and will be tested
in clinical trial in the near future.
2. AMat, Asahi Solder: the company focuses on production of conductive inks composed of
copper, for applications in the field of printed electronics.
38
Daniel Mandler research group
Prof. Daniel Mandler
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://scholars.huji.ac.il/danielmandler
Research Summary
Mandler's research involves primarily electrochemistry and functionalized coatings. The research
spans from micro and nanoelectrochemistry, where the aim is to control patterning and growth of
nanoparticles on surfaces, to forensic studies of latent fingerprints by nanoscience. The "nano to
nano" approach whereby electrochemistry drives deposition of nanomaterials from their stable
dispersions has been developed. This has been applied for coating medical implants by
functionalized hydroxyapatite nanoparticles, forming high efficient electrochromic displays and
deposition of functionalized graphene and carbon nanotubes. Analytical chemistry is also part of the
activity and comprises approaches for flow-through electrochemical membranes for the detection of
metallic and organic species as well as for disinfection of drinking water. Furthermore, we have
developed new approaches for selectively detecting nanoparticles based on nanoparticles imprinted
matrices (NAIM) where nanoparticles are imprinted in a thin matrix and removed to form cages that
can selectively reuptake the original nano objects. Last but not least, we have been working on
solving one of the major problems of the Dead Sea, which is the huge excess of sodium chloride.
We are currently developing the future materials for housing based on insoluble and stable NaCl
bricks.
Selected publications (2015-2018)
1. N. Ratner and D. Mandler “Electrochemical Detection of Low Concentrations of Mercury in
Water Using Gold Nanoparticles”, Anal. Chem. 2015, 87, 5148−5155.
2. R. Fedorov and D. Mandler “The Effect of Self-Assembled Monolayers on the Locally
Electrodeposited Silver Thin Layers”, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2016, 120, 15608–15617.
3. Buffa, Y. Erel and D. Mandler “Carbon Nanotube Based Flow-Through Electrochemical Cell
for Electroanalysis” Anal. Chem. 2016, 88, 11007−11015.
4. O. Geuli, N. Metoki, N. Eliaz and D. Mandler “Electrochemically Driven Hydroxyapatite
Nanoparticles Coating of Medical Implants”, Adv. Funct. Mater. 2016, 26, 8003-8010.
5. Liu, L. Yi, S. Magdassi and D. Mandler “Ionic Strength Induced Electrodeposition: A
Universal Approach for Nanomaterials Deposition at Selective Areas” Nanoscale, 2017, 9,
485–490.
6. T. Shahar, T. Sicron and D. Mandler “SERS Sensing by Nano Molecularly Imprinted
Polymers Doped with Gold Nanoparticles”, Nano Research 2017, 9, 485–490.
7. R. K. Bera, Y. Binyamin, S. G. Mhaisalkar, S. Magdassi and D. Mandler “Highly Selective
Solar Thermal Sprayable Coating based on Carbon Nanotubes” Solar RRL 2017, 1, 1700080.
8. O. Geuli, N. Metoki, T. Zada, M. Reches, N. Eliaz and D. Mandler “Synthesis, Coating and
Drug-Release of Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles Loaded with Antibiotics” J. Mater. Chem. B,
2017, 5, 7819-7830.
9. Z. Xiang, H. Deng, P. Peljo, Z. Fu, S. Wang, D. Mandler, G. Sun, Z. Lianga “Electrochemical
Dynamics of Single Platinum Nanoparticle Collision Event towards Hydrogen Evolution
Reaction” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 3464 –3468.
10. T. Shahar, G. Feldheim, S. Marx and D. Mandler “Core-Shell Nanoparticles for Gas Phase
Detection Based on Silver Nanospheres Coated with a Thin Molecularly Imprinted Polymer
Adsorbed on a Chemiresistor” Nanoscale 2018, in press.
39
List of Patents (2015-2018)
PAT/210/13/15/PCT, Title: Electroactive Bioadhesive Compositions.
Provisional Patent Application No. 61/950,279 filed on 10 March 2015, Invention: Stray
Light And Solar Absorption By Black Coatings Based on Carbon Nanotubes (CNT)
Formulations For Optical Systems And Thermosolar Collectors".
PCT Application No. PCT/SG2014/000426, “Electrochromic Device".
U.S Provisional Patent Appl. No.62/344,552, "Coated Compressed Salt Objects And
Artifacts".
U.S Provisional Patent Application No. 62/380,810 "Electrochemically driven
hydroxyapatite nanoparticles coating of medical implants"
40
Liquids and Solutions
Prof. Yizhak Marcus
Email: [email protected]
Very Brief Summary of your research:
Solution chemistry: solvation of ions and non-electrolytes, binary solvent mixtures, concentrated
electrolyte solutions, molten salts, solubilities.
Thermodynamics: properties of gaseous ions, properties of liquids.
Coordination chemistry: complexation in solutions, hydrometallurgical processes involving ion
exchange or solvent extraction.
Room temperature ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents, supercritical fluids
Specific current research topics:
Subcritical and supercritical water, methanol, ethanol and their mixtures: solubility in and
extraction with
Deep eutectic solvents: conventional ones and aqueous salt hydrates.
The solubility parameter of carbon dioxide and its solubility in ionic liquids
List of selected publications in the last three years (2015-2018)
1. Y. Marcus “Internal pressure of neat liquids: a review”. In T. Letcher, E. Wilhelm, eds.,
Enthalpy and Internal Energy: Liquids, Solutions and Vapours, RSC, Cambridge, 2018, Ch.
18, 477-504.
2. Y. Marcus “Ionic liquid properties. From molten salts to RTILs” Springer Intl. Publ.,
Switzerland, 2016, 244 pp.
3. Y. Marcus “Specific ion effects on the surface tension and surface potential of aqueous
electrolytes” Curr. Opinion Coll. Interf. Sci. 2016, 23, 94-99.
4. Y. Marcus “On the compressibility of liquid metals” J. Chem. Thermodyn 2017, 109, 11-15.
5. Y. Marcus “Relationships between the internal pressure, the cohesive energy and the surface
a. tension of liquids” Phys. Chem. Liq. 2017, 55, 522-53.
6. Y. Marcus “Room temperature ionic liquids: their cohesive energies, solubility parameters and
solubilities in them” J. Solution Chem. 2017, 46, 1778-1791.
7. F. Sommer, Y. Marcus, and S. Kubik “Effects of solvent properties on the anion-binding of a
neutral water-soluble bis(cyclopeptide) in water and aqueous solvent mixtures”, ACS Omega.
2017, 2, 3669-3680.
8. Y. Marcus “Drugs in binary solvent mixtures – their preferential solvation. Chronicles Pharm.
Sci. 2017, 1, 170-180.
9. Y. Marcus: Unconventional deep eutectic solvents: aqueous salt hydrates. ACS Sustain. Chem.
Eng. 2017, 5, 11780-11787.
10. Y. Marcus: Extraction by subcritical and supercritical water, methanol, ethanol and their
mixtures. Separations 2018, 5, 4-21.
41
Organic and Organometallic Chemistry, Synthetic Organic Methodology
Development, Chirality & Stereochemistry
Dr. Ahmad Masarwa
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://scholars.huji.ac.il/masarwagroup
Research Summary
The synergy between Science and Art is
the Mecca of our research. Therefore, we are actively engaged in the pursuit of innovative solutions
to the enantio-selective synthesis of architectural complex molecules. The identification and
investigation of transformative mechanisms, and the development of newchemo- and stereo-
selective strategies in synthesis, is the principle driving force for our research program. Our
program includes the applications of these new strategies for the synthesis of bio-active natural
products cores. Moreover, we are interested in applying these new developments to the magical
field of the hidden-chirality, which represents the state of the art of our scientific research, this
cutting edge application provides more understanding and exposure of this challenging field of
science. During the course of our studies, researchers will be exposed to all facets of organic
synthesis including: studying reaction mechanism, reaction discovery and optimization, discovering
unexpected reactivity, organometallic synthesis, physical organic chemistry, new methods for
strong bonds (e.g. C-H, C-C, C-O) activation/functionalization, and medicinal chemistry
exploration.
42
Specific current research topics:
New reactivity, transformation, and application of gem-Diborylalkanes
C-H activation/functionalization of phosphorus-compounds
Hidden chirality in arylated compounds
Synthesis of chiral tetra-arylmethanes
Remote functionalization through Metal-catalyzed chain walking
Chiral diarylmethane-phosphonium-salts: toward their preparation and transformations
Selected publications (2015-2018)
1. Nallagonda, R.; Padala, K.; Masarwa, A.* “gem-Diborylalkanes: recent advances in their
preparation, transformation and application” Org. Biomol. Chem. 2018, 16, 1050.
2. Bruffaerts, J.; Vasseur, A., Singh, S.; Masarwa, A.; Didier, D.; Oskar, L.; Perrin, L.; Eisenstein,
O.; Marek, I. “Zirconocene-Mediated Selective C−C Bond Cleavage of Strained Carbocycles:
Scope and Mechanism” J. Org. Chem. 2018, 83, 3497.
3. Weber, M.; Owens, K.; Masarwa, A.*; Sarpong, R.* “Construction of Enantiopure Taxoid and
Natural Product-like Scaffolds Using a C–C Bond Cleavage/Arylation Reaction” Org. Lett.
2015, 17, 5432.
4. Masarwa, A.; Weber, M.; Sarpong, R. “Selective C–C and C–H Bond Activation/Cleavage of
Pinene Derivatives: Synthesis of Enantiopure Cyclohexenone Scaffolds and Mechanistic
Insights” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 6327.
5. Marek, I.; Masarwa, A.; Delaye, P.-O.; Leibeling, M. “Selective Carbon–Carbon Bond Cleavage
for the Stereoselective Synthesis of Acyclic Systems” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015. 54, 414.
43
Bioorganic Chemistry and Protein Science
Prof. Norman Metanis
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/metanis/
Specific current research topics
Chemoselective reactions applied to peptides and proteins
Human selenoproteins and their mode of action
Therapeutic peptides and proteins
Research Summary
Proteins are the molecular machines of life. These amazing molecules responsible for transporting
substances, minerals and building blocks for the cell, carrying the different chemical reactions,
fighting foreign particles invading the body, or making part of the structural components of the cell,
and many more.
Scientists have been using biological systems such as bacterial cells to put their hands on these great
macromolecules in order to study their structures and their mode of actions. However, in the last
two decades, chemists have made great advancement toward the preparation of proteins outside the
cell, that is inside a test tube. Chemists have developed chemical protein synthesis, which uses
principles of organic chemistry and chemical reactions to prepare the proteins of interest in good
yields and homogenous forms. The chemical synthesis allow incorporation of building blocks that
are not possible using biological systems, including D-amino acids.
We have expanded the native chemical
ligation (NCL) reaction, one of the most
useful way to synthesize proteins, but is
typically limited to Cys ligation site, to Ala
and Ser ligation sites. Ala and Ser are
common amino acid in protein sequences.
Using the reactivity of selenocysteine (Sec),
a rare amino acid, we developed a
deselenization reaction that converts Sec into
Ala/Ser in the presence of unprotected Cys
residues. More recently, we developed the
selenazolidine (Sez) building block as a
temporary protecting group for Sec, which is
useful for the preparation of challenging
proteins by chemical synthesis.
Figure 1. Expanding the NCL reaction to Ala ligation
sites using deselenization reaction of Sec, and the use
of Sez for the chemical synthesis of challenging
proteins.
44
List of selected publications (2015-2018)
1. Mousa, R., Lansky, S., Shoham, G., and Metanis, N. “BPTI folding revisited: switching a
disulfide into methylene thioacetal reveals a previously hidden path” Chem. Sci. 2018, 9, 4814.
2. Mousa, R.; Dardashti Notis, R.; and Metanis, N. “Selenium and Selenocysteine in Protein
Chemistry.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 15818–15827.
3. Dardashti Notis, R. and Metanis, N. “Reexamination of the selenomethionine-native chemical
ligation” Bioorg. & Med. Chem. 2017, 25, 4983-4989.
4. Dery, L.; Reddy, P. S.; Mousa, R.; Dery, S.; Katorza, O.; Talhami, A. and Metanis, N.
“Accessing Human Selenoproteins through Chemical Protein Synthesis” Chem. Sci. 2017, 8,
1922-1926.
5. Mousa, R.; Reddy, P. S. and Metanis, N. “Chemical Protein Synthesis through Selenocysteine
Chemistry” Synlett 2017, 28, 1389-1393.
6. Shoshan, M. S.; Lehman, Y.; Goch, W.; Bal, W.; Tshuva, E. Y. and Metanis, N. “Selenocysteine
Containing Analogues of Atx1-based Peptides Protect Cells from Copper Ions Toxicity” Org.
Biomol. Chem. 2016, 14, 6979–6984.
7. Reddy, P. S. and Metanis, N. “Small Molecule Diselenide Additives for In Vitro Oxidative
Protein Folding” Chem. Commun. 2016, 52, 3336–3339.
8. Reddy, P. S.; Dery, S. and Metanis, N. “Chemical Synthesis of Proteins with Non-Strategically
Placed Cysteines Using Selenazolidine and Selective Deselenization”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.,
2016, 55, 992–995.
9. Dery, S.; Reddy, P. S.; Dery, L.; Mousa, R.; Dardashti Notis, R. and Metanis, N. “Insights into
the Deselenization of Selenocysteine into Alanine and Serine” Chem. Sci. 2015, 6, 6207–6212.
10. Metanis, N. and Hilvert D. “Harnessing selenocysteine reactivity for oxidative protein folding”
Chem. Sci. 2015, 6, 322–325.
Group photo
45
NanoBioElectronics Group
Prof. Dr. Danny Porath
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/porath/
2017-present Vice Dean Research, Faculty of Science, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
Research Summary:
DNA is the most important biological molecule. Its double-strand recognition, as well as the ability
to control its sequence and manipulate its structure open a multitude of ways to make it useful also
for molecular electronics. By producing and measuring DNA-based building blocks we progress
towards the construction of DNA-based programmable electronic circuits. Step by step we improve
the synthesized constructs and the measurement methods of single DNA-based molecules in close
collaboration with our partners.
In another research direction we use our physical approach and tools to address biological and
medical challenges. We investigate DNA translocation through nanopores to develop methods for
rapid DNA sequencing. We also develop ultrasensitive detection methods for biomarkers and
proteins.
Development and investigation of DNA-based nanowires and nanodevices
Protein-solid state hybrid based nanodevices
Selected publications (2015-2018) 1. Stern, A., Eidelshtein, G., Zhuravel, R., Livshits, GI, Rotem, D., Alexander Kotlyar, A.,
Porath, D., “Highly Conductive Thin Uniform Gold-Coated DNA-Nanowires”, Adv. Mater.
2018, 30, 1800433.
46
2. Zhuravel, R., Stern, A., Fardian-Melamed, N., Eidelshtein, G., Katrivas, L., Rotem, D.,
Kotlyar, A., Porath, D., “Advances in Synthesis and Measurements of Charge Transport in
DNA-Based Derivatives”, Adv. Mater. 2018, 30, 1706984.
3. Koplovitz, G., Primc, D., Ben Dor, O., Yochelis, S., Rotem, D., Porath, D., Paltiel, Y.
"Magnetic Nanoplatelet‐ Based Spin Memory Device Operating at Ambient Temperatures",
Adv. Mater. 29, 2017, 29, 1606748.
4. Amgar, D., Stern, A., Rotem, D., Porath, D., Etgar, L., "Tunable Length and Optical
Properties of CsPbX3 (X= Cl, Br, I) Nanowires with a Few Unit Cells", Nano Letters, 2017,
17, 1007-1013.
5. Guterman, T.,Kornreich, M., Stern, A., Adler-Abramovich, L., Porath, D., Beck, R.,
Shimon, L. J. W., Gazit, E. “Formation of bacterial pilus-like nanofibres by designed
minimalistic self-assembling peptides”, Nature Commun. 2016, 7, 13482.
6. Zhuravel, R., Amit, E., Elbaz, S., Rotem, D., Chen, Y. J., Friedler, A.,Yitzchaik, S., Porath,
D. “Atomic force microscopy characterization of kinase-mediated phosphorylation of a
peptide monolayer”, Sci. Rep. 2016, 6, 36793.
7. Eidelshtein, G., Fardian-Melamed, N., Gutkin, V., Basmanov, D., Klinov, D., Rotem, D.,
Levi-Kalisman, Y., Porath, D., Kotlyar, A., "Synthesis and Properties of Novel Silver-
Containing DNA Molecules", Adv. Mater. 2016, 28, 4839.
8. Amit, E., Obena, R., Wang, Y.T., Zhuravel, R., Reyes, A.J.F., Elbaz, S., Rotem, D., Porath,
D., Friedler, A., Chen, Y.J. and Yitzchaik, S., "Integrating proteomics with electrochemistry
for identifying kinase biomarkers". Chem. Sci., 2015. 6, 4756-4766.
List of Patents (2015-2018)
"On Demand degradable Medical Devices", Ofra Benny, Danny Porath, Oded Shoseyov,
Yaron Bar-Lavie, Amos Ofer, PCT.
"Hybrid Complexes of nucleic acid molecules and metal molecules", Alexander Kotlyar,
Gennady Eidelshtein, Danny Porath, Dvir Rotem. PCT.
“Peptide-modified nanopores and uses thereof”, Danny Porath, Dvir Rotem, Meital Reches,
Abeer Karmi. Provisional patent.
"Macro-molecules detection with single molecule imaging of nanoparticles", Yu Ju Chen,
Assaf Friedler, Chun-Cheng Lin, Dvir Rotem, Danny Porath, provisional patent.
47
Structure, Interactions, and Dynamic Self-assembly of Biomolecules
Prof. Uri Raviv
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://scholars.huji.ac.il/uriraviv/home
Specific current research topics
Dynamics of tubulin nucleation and assembly
Multimode observation of virus assembly
Structure and interactions between lipid bilayers
Flagella-based polymeric materials
Structural analysis of liposomal nanodrugs
Research Summary
Our lab is developing state-of-the-art measurements and analysis capabilities that enable us
to study the structure and dynamics of self-assembled biomolecules in solutions. We are using a
range of biophysical methods including solution X-ray scattering, time-resolved X-ray
scattering, cryo-TEM, and osmotic stress to the determine the structure, dynamics, and
intermolecular interactions in complex macromolecular self-assemblies. We are investigating
several purified biological relevant assemblies, including lipid membranes, viruses, tubulin, and
microtubules.
Studying purified model systems, where fundamental physical chemistry questions can be
addressed in great detail, is essential for understanding complex biological structures. Our lab is
developing unique tools to resolve the high resolution structures in solution of complex
biomolecular dynamic architectures at equilibrium, during assembly processes that can attain
equilibrium, and under conditions that cannot attain equilibrium.
48
Selected publications (2015-2018)
1. Shemesh, A.; Ginsburg, A.; Levi-Kalisman, Y.; Ringel, I.; Raviv, U. "Structure, Assembly,
and Disassembly of Tubulin Single Rings "Biochemistry 2018, 57, 6153-6165.
2. Ginsburg, A.; Ben-Nun, T.; Asor, R.; Shemesh, A.; Fink, L.; Tekoah, R.; Levartovsky, Y.;
Khaykelson, D.; Raviv, U. "D+: Software for High-Resolution Hierarchical Modeling of
Solution X-Ray Scattering from Complex Structures" 2018.
3. Louzon, D.; Ginsburg, A.; Schwenger, W.; Dvir, T.; Dogic, Z.; Raviv, U. "Structure and
intermolecular interactions between L-type straight flagellar filaments" Biophysical J. 2017,
112, 2184-2195.
4. Ginsburg, A.; Shemesh, A.; Millgram, A.; Dharan, R.; Levi-Kalisman, Y.; Ringel, I.; Raviv,
U. "Structure of Dynamic, Taxol-Stabilized, and GMPPCP-Stabilized Microtubule" J. Phys.
Chem. B 2017, 121, 8427-8436.
5. Fink, L.; Feitelson, J.; Noff, R.; Dvir, T.; Tamburu, C.; Raviv, U. "Osmotic stress induced
desorption of calcium ions from dipolar lipid membranes" Langmuir 2017, 33, 5636-5641.
6. Asor, R.; Ben-nun-Shaul, O.; Oppenheim, A.; Raviv, U. "Crystallization, reentrant melting,
and resolubilization of virus nanoparticles" ACS nano 2017, 11, 9814-9824.
7. Schilt, Y.; Berman, T.; Wei, X.; Barenholz, Y.; Raviv, U. "Using solution X-ray scattering
to determine the high-resolution structure and morphology of PEGylated liposomal
doxorubicin nanodrugs" Biochim. Biophys. Acta (BBA)-General Subjects 2016, 1860, 108-
119.
8. Lotan, O.; Fink, L.; Shemesh, A.; Tamburu, C.; Raviv, U. "Critical conditions for adsorption
of calcium ions onto dipolar lipid membranes" J. Phys. Chem. A 2016, 120, 3390-3396.
9. Ginsburg, A.; Ben-Nun, T.; Asor, R.; Shemesh, A.; Ringel, I.; Raviv, U. "Reciprocal grids: a
hierarchical algorithm for computing solution x-ray scattering curves from supramolecular
complexes at high resolution" J. Chem. Inform. Model. 2016, 56, 1518-1527.
10. Chung, P. J.; Choi, M. C.; Miller, H. P.; Feinstein, H. E.; Raviv, U.; Li, Y.; Wilson, L.;
Feinstein, S. C.; Safinya, C. R. "Direct force measurements reveal that protein Tau confers
short-range attractions and isoform-dependent steric stabilization to microtubules" Proc. of
Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2015, 112, E6416-E6425.
49
Bio-Inspired Materials
Prof. Meital Reches
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~mreches/
Research Summary
1. Interactions of Biological Entities with Solid Surfaces: Understanding how biological
entities such as cells, bacteria and proteins interact with various materials and surfaces is
important for several areas. This includes the design of new implants and other medical
devices, development of antifouling materials and design of composite materials. Many studies
have been carried out to examine how these entities interact with solid surfaces; still, it is not
clear how they “sense” a surface. The research in the lab focuses on the fundamental rules that
govern the adsorption of cells, bacteria, proteins and peptides to solid organic and inorganic
surfaces. Our approach includes the use of single molecule force spectroscopy with atomic
force microscope.
2. Biomolecular Self-Assembly and Design of Functional Coatings: Based on our knowledge
from single molecule experiments, we designed a short peptide (tripeptide) that can
spontaneously form a coating
that resists biofilm formation.
Our results clearly
demonstrate the formation of
a coating on various surfaces
(glass, titanium, silicon oxide,
metals and polymers). In
addition, we showed that this
coating prevents the first step
of antifouling, which involves
the adsorption of bioorganic
molecules to the substrate.
Moreover, the coating
significantly reduced the
attachment of various
organisms such as bacteria
and fungi to surfaces
Selected publications (2015-2018) 1. Priya, G., Reches, M. “Peptide-Based Approaches to Fight Biofouling” Adv. Mat. Interf. 2018
5, 1800073.
2. Razvag, Y., Neve-Oz, Y., Sajman, J, Reches, M. and Sherman, E. Nanoscale kinetic
segregation of the T cell antigen receptor and CD45 in engaged microvilli facilitates early T
cell activation, Nature Commun. 2018, 9, 732
50
3. Gaw, S.L., Sarkar, S., Nir, S., Schnell, Y., Mandler, D., Xu, Z., Lee, P.S. & Reches, M. “An
electrochemical approach for effective antifouling and antimicrobial surfaces” ACS Appl.
Mater. Interfaces 2017, 9, 26503−26509
4. Das, P., Duanias-Assaf, T. & Reches, M. “Insights into the Interactions of Amino Acids and
Peptides with Inorganic Materials Using Single Molecule Force Spectroscopy” J. Vis. Exp.
2016, 121, e54975-e54975
5. Das, P. and Reches, M. “Revealing the Role of Catechol Moieties in the Interactions between
Peptides and Inorganic Surfaces” Nanoscale 2016, 8, 15309-15316.
6. Nir, S. and Reches, M. “Bio-inspired antifouling approaches: the quest towards non-toxic and
non-biocidal materials” Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 2016, 39, 48-55
7. Das P. and Reches, M. “Single-stranded DNA Detection by Solvent-Induced Assemblies of a
Metallo-Peptide-Based Complex” Nanoscale 2016, 8, 9527-9536
8. Maity, S., Das, P. & Reches, M. “Inversion of Supramolecular Chirality by Sonication-Induced
Organogelation” Nat. Sci. Rep. 2015, 5, 16365
9. Maity, S., Zanuy, D., Razvag, Y., Aleman, C., Reches, M. “Elucidating the mechanism of
interaction between peptides and inorganic surfaces” Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2015, 17,
15305-15315
10. Das, P., Yuran, S., Yan, J., Lee, P-S. & Reches, M. “Sticky tubes and magnetic hydrogels co-
assembled by a short peptide and melanin-like nanoparticles” Chem. Comm. 2015, 51, 5432-
5435. Invited article for a special issue: "emerging investigators"
Industrial Stories
Founded the company NanoAF in 2014. The company licensed the technology to generate
antifouling surfaces.
51
Computational and Theoretical Photochemistry
Dr. Igor Schapiro
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://scholars.huji.ac.il/igorschapiro
Specific current research topics
Spectral Tuning in photoreceptor proteins
Excited state molecular dynamics simulations
Hybrid Quantum Mechanics/Molecular Mechanics simulations
Research Summary
The objective of our research is to apply and develop computational tools to understand chemical
reactions in biomolecules and organic molecules. On the application side our focus is on light-
induced reactions, in particular in chromophore-protein complexes and solvated molecules. For this
purpose we employ the QM/MM methodology which allows an accurate and efficient treatment of
large systems. On the development side we are interested in computational tools to support our
research on photochemical/photobiological systems. We have several contributions to the quantum
chemistry packages with emphasis on multiconfigurational wavefunction methods.
We are currently working on the rational design of photoreceptor proteins. From a technological
viewpoint photoreceptor proteins, the light-sensitive proteins involved in the sensing and response
to light in a variety of organisms, represent biological light converters. Hence, they are successfully
utilized in a number of technological applications, e.g. the green-fluorescent protein used to
visualize spatial and temporal information in cells. We would like to derive a comprehensive
understanding that would enable us to design these proteins with desired properties by mutations.
The aim is that it will result in novel biotechnological applications, e.g. optogenetic tools,
fluorescent probes and biosensors.
List of selected publications (2015-2018)
1. Wiebeler C., Rao A. G., Gaertner W., Schapiro I.#: “The Effective Conjugation Length is responsible
for the Red-Green Spectral Tuning in the Cyanobacteriochrome Slr1393g3.” Angewandte Chemie,
accepted
2. Toker Y., Langeland J., Gruber E., Kjær C., Brøndsted Nielsen S., Andersen L. H., Borin V. A.,
Schapiro I.: “Counterion-Controlled Spectral Tuning of the Schiff-Base Retinal.” Physical Review A,
2018, 98, 043428.
52
3. Kar R.K., Borin V., Ding Y., Matysik J., Schapiro I.#: “Spectroscopic Properties of Lumiflavin: A
Quantum Chemical Study.” Photochemistry and Photobiology, 2018, in press
4. Sen S., Schapiro I. #: “A comprehensive benchmark of the XMS-CASPT2 Method for the
Photochemistry of a Retinal Chromophore Model” Molecular Physics, 2018, 116, 2571.
5. Nogly P., Weinert T., James D., Carbajo S., Ozerov D., Furrer A., Gashi D., Borin V., Skopintsev P.,
Jaeger K., Nass K., Båth P., Bosman R., Koglin J., Seaberg M., Lane T., Kekilli D., Brünle S., Tanaka
T., Wu W., Milne C., White T., Barty A., Weierstall U., Panneels V., Nango E., Iwata, S., Hunter M.,
Schapiro I., Schertler G., Neutze R., Standfuss J.: “Retinal isomerization in bacteriorhodopsin captured
by a femtosecond x-ray laser.” Science, 2018, 361, eaat0094.
6. Schnedermann C., Yang X., Liebel M., Spillane K. M., Lugtenburg J., Fernandez I., Valentini A.,
Schapiro I., Olivucci M., Kukura P., Mathies R. A.: “Evidence for a vibrational phase isotope effect on
the photochemistry of vision.” Nature Chem., 2018, 10, 1.
7. Borin V., Wiebeler C., Schapiro I.#: “A QM/MM study of the initial excited state dynamics of green-
absorbing Proteorhodopsin.” Faraday Discuss., 2018, 207, 137.
8. Cohen S., Borin V., Schapiro I.#, Belkova N.V., Gelman D.: “Ir(III)-PC(sp3)P Bifunctional Catalysts for
Production of H2by Dehydrogenation of Formic Acid: Experimental and Theoretical Study”, ACS Cat.,
2017, 7, 8139.
9. Gozem S., Luk H.L., Schapiro I., Olivucci M.: “Theory and Simulation of the Ultrafast Double-Bond
Isomerization of Biological Chromophores” Chem. Rev., 2017, 117, 13502.
10. Schapiro I.#: “The Origin of Bond Selectivity and Excited-State Reactivity in Retinal Analogues”, J.
Phys. Chem. A, 2016, 120, 3353.
11. Aquilante F., Autschbach J., Carlson R. K., Chibotaru L. F., Delcey M. G., De Vico L., Fernández
Galván I., Ferré N., Frutos L. M., Gagliardi L., Garavelli M., Giussani A., Hoyer C. E., Li Manni G.,
Lischka H., Ma D., Malmqvist P. Å., Müller T., Nenov A., Olivucci M., Pedersen T. B., Peng D., Plasser
F., Pritchard B., Reiher M., Rivalta I., Schapiro I., Segarra-Martí J., Stenrup M., Truhlar D. G., Ungur
L., Valentini A., Vancoillie S., Veryazov V., Vysotskiy V. P., Weingart O., Zapata F., Lindh R.:
„MOLCAS 8: New Capabilities for Multiconfigurational Quantum Chemical Calculations across the
Periodic Table “, J. Comput. Chem., 2016, 37, 506.
53
Chemical Bonding and Reactivity:
From Diatomic Molecules to Metalloenzymes
Prof. Sason Shaik Email: [email protected] [email protected]
Website: https://scholars.huji.ac.il/shaik http://yfaat.ch.huji.ac.il/sason/
Recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Award; E.
D. Bergmann Prize; ICS Excellence Award; Kolthoff Prize;
Schrödinger Medal of WATOC, August-Wilhelm-von-Hofmann-
Dekmünze, The Gold Medal of the Israel Chemical Society.
Fellow of the AAAS, Member of the International Academy of
Quantum Molecular Science
Director of The Lise Meitner-Minerva Center, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1995-2017)
Coauthored over 550 publications, has over 36,000 citations and holds h-index of 93.
Research Summary
The research group uses computational chemistry for
understanding chemistry and discovering new
chemistry, as well as for constructing new productive
concepts. The research topics range from new bonding
motifs in small molecules, through the creation of
general models for chemical reactivity using valence
bond diagrams, investigation of structure, reactivity and
dynamics of metallo-enzymes, and all the way to the
newest topic in the group; using oriented external
electric fields (OEEFs) as smart reagents, which
control, bonding reactivity and selectivity. The latter
topic has been highlighted in a recent feature article
(see Ref. 6, below). These various topics are described
in the 10-selected papers [out of 74, including one book] published in the period 2015-2018.
54
List of selected publications in the last three years (2015-2018)
1) S. Shaik, D. Danovich, B. Braida, W. Wu, P.C. Hiberty. “New Landscape of Electron-Pair
Bonding: Covalent, Ionic and Charge-Shift Bonds, Structure and Bonding (The Chemical Bond
– 100 Years Old and Getting Stronger)”, 2015, 179, 1-43.
2) D. Danovich and S. Shaik “On the Nature of Bonding in Parallel Spins in Monovalent Metal
Clusters” Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem. 2016, 67, 419-439.
3) D. Mandal, R. Ramanan, U. Dandamudi, D. Janardanan, B. Wang, S. Shaik “How Does
Tunneling Contribute to Counterintuitive H-Abstraction Reactivity of Nonheme Fe(IV)O
Oxidants with Alkanes?” J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2015, 137, 722–733.
4) R. Ramanan, K. D. Dubey, B. Wang, D. Mandal, S. Shaik “Emergence of Function in P450-
Proteins: A Combined Quantum Mechanical/Molecular Mechanical and Molecular Dynamics
Study of the Reactive Species in the H2O2-Dependent Cytochrome P450SPα and Its Regio- and
Enantioselective Hydroxylation of Fatty Acids” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 6786-6797
Spotlighted in JACS, 2016, 138, 6689. Selected for Issue Cover
5) B. Wang, J. Lu, K. D. Dubey, G. Dong, W.Z. Lai, S. Shaik “How Do Enzymes Utilize
Reactive OH Radicals? Lessons from the HppE and Fenton System” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016,
138, 8489-8496.
6) S. Shaik, D. Mandal, R. Ramanan “Oriented Electric Fields As Future Smart Reagents in
Chemistry” Nature Chem. 2016, 8, 1091-1098. [Highlighted by, J. Howgego (a feature editor
at New Scientist): Field of Influence, Chemistry World, 2018, 22 January 2018, 1-9].
7) J. Gu, W. Wu, D. Danovich, R. Hoffmann, T. Yuta, S. Shaik “Valence Bond Theory Reveals
the Hidden Delocalized Diradical Character of Polyenes” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139,
9302-9316. Spotlight: Duality of Polyene’s Electronic Structure, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017,
139, 9089-9089.
8) K. D. Dubey and S. Shaik “Choreography of the Reductase and P450BM3 Domains Towards
Electron Transfer Is Instigated by the Substrate” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 683-690.
9) Z. Wang, D. Danovich, R. Ramanan, S. Shaik “Oriented-External Electric Fields Create
Absolute Enantioselectivity in Diels-Alder Reactions: The Importance of the Molecular Dipole
Moment” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 13350-13359.
10) D. Mandal, D. Mallick, S. Shaik “KIE Determination Probes the Spin of the Transition State, its
Stereochemistry, and Ligand Sphere in H-Abstraction Reactions of Oxoiron(IV) Complexes”
Acc. Chem. Res. 2018, 51, 107-117.
55
Nanoscale Assembly
Prof. Roy Shenhar
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/shenhar-group/
Research Summary
We study the principles underlying the assembly of block copolymers (and
other polymers) with functional components (e.g., nanoparticles,
conductive polymers, etc.). Block copolymers give rise to a variety of periodic nanoscale
morphologies that are accessible in a highly controlled fashion through a spontaneous process of
phase separation, and therefore are attractive as structured matrixes for directing the two- and three-
dimensional arrangement of nanoparticles in nanocomposite materials.
We have established the scientific foundations for the utilization of block copolymer templates for
creating nano-patterned polyelectrolyte multilayers, and revealed unique phenomena in multilayer
construction that directly relate to the effect of lateral nano-confinement on the growth of the
deposited polyelectrolytes. This fundamental study now enables us to expand to various directions,
including the creation of nanoparticle-based photonic surfaces and utilizing nano-patterned
substrates for cell engineering.
Specific current research topics (titles ):
Polymer mediated nanoparticle organization
Development of assembly strategies using block copolymers
Combination of nanofabrication and self-assembly techniques
List of selected publications (2015-2018)
1. L. Asor, S. Nir, M. Oded, M. Reches, R. Shenhar, "Nano-patterned polyelectrolyte
multilayers assembled using block copolymer templates: The combined effect of ionic
strength and nano-confinement", Polymer 2017, 126, 56-64.
2. T. Wagner, M. Oded, R. Shenhar, and A. Böker, "Two-dimensionally Ordered AuNP Array
Formation via Microcontact Printing on Lamellar Diblock Copolymer Films" Polym. Adv.
Technol. 2017, 28, 623-628.
56
3. E. Michman and R. Shenhar, "Directed Self-Assembly of Block Copolymer-Based
Nanocomposites in Thin Films" Polym. Adv. Technol. 2017, 28, 613-622.
4. M. Oded, A. H. E. Müller, R. Shenhar, "A block copolymer-templated construction
approach for the creation of nano-patterned polyelectrolyte multilayers and nanoscale
objects" Soft Matter 2016, 12, 8098-8103.
5. M. Oded, S. T. Kelly, M. K. Gilles, A. H. E. Müller, and R. Shenhar "From Dots to
Doughnuts: Two-Dimensionally Confined Deposition of Polyelectrolytes on Block
Copolymer" Polymer 2016, 107, 406-414.
6. T. S. Metzger, C. G. Chandaluri, R. Tel-Vered, R. Shenhar, I. Willner "Donor/Acceptor-
Modified Electrodes for Photoelectrochemical and Photobioelectrochemical Applications",
Adv. Funct. Mater. 2016, 26, 7148-7155.
7. R. A. Sanguramath, P. F. Nealey, R. Shenhar, "Quasi-block copolymers based on a general
polymeric chain stopper", Chem. Eur. J. 2016, 22, 10203-10210.
8. M. Oded, S. T. Kelly, M. K. Gilles, A. H. E. Müller, R. Shenhar "Periodic Nanoscale
Patterning of Polyelectrolytes over Square Centimeter Areas Using Block Copolymer
Templates" Soft Matter 2016, 12, 4595-4602.
9. C. G. Chandaluri, G. Pelossof, R. Tel-Vered, R. Shenhar Itamar Willner, "Block Copolymer
Patterns as Templates for the Electrocatalyzed Deposition of Nanostructures on Electrodes
and for the Generation of Surfaces of Controlled Wettability" ACS Appl. Mater. Interf.
2016, 8, 1440-1446.
10. I. Davidi and R. Shenhar, "Synthesis of Disk-Shaped Nanoparticle Aggregates Organized in
Hierarchical Structures in Block Copolymer Matrixes" Polymer 2015, 64, 39-45.
List of Patents (last three years (2015-2018)
Roy Shenhar, Marcus Müller, Kostas Ch. Daoulas, and Paul F. Nealey "Quasi-block Copolymer
Melts, Processes for Their Preparation and Uses Thereof" Approved U.S. patent US
9,181,403 (granted 10.11.2015)
57
Watching How Chemical Bonds Break
Prof. Daniel Strasser
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~strasser/
Research Summary
We develop methods that allow visualizing in "real time" how specific chemical bonds break and
new bonds are formed.
We use intense femtosecond laser pulses to excite and probe ultrafast molecular dynamics leading
to structural changes. Furthermore, we use molecular fragmentation to expand and magnify the
instantaneous molecular structure from the sub-nanometer scale to the scale of centimeters. We
develop cutting edge coincidence 3D fragment imaging methods to record and interpret fragment
kinetic energy release and correlations in terms of molecular structure and dynamics.
The specific research projects are divided between two experimental setups:
In the first setup, we mainly investigate atomic, molecular and cluster anions interactions with
intense femtosecond laser pulses. This unique experimental setup allows discovery and
characterization of new mechanisms of nonlinear light-matter interaction. One example is enhanced
multiple detachment of molecular and cluster anions that does not rely on the well described
mechanisms of multiple ionization of neutral species.
In a different experimental setup, we use high-order harmonic generation (HHG) to produce
ultrafast EUV pulses. This exceptional radiation source allows us to perform single-photon
Coulomb explosion imaging that allows us to visualize the instantaneous molecular structure
before, after and during a photochemical reaction.
Specific current research topics:
Ultrafast EUV probe: Time resolved Coulomb explosion imaging
Intense field interaction with atomic, molecular and cluster anions
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Selected publications (2015-2018)
1. Y. Albeck et al., " Double Photodetachment of F–·H2O: Experimental and Theoretical Studies
of [F·H2O]+", J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2018, 9, 6808–6813.
2. K. Lunny et al., “Spectroscopy of Ethylenedione and Ethynediolide: A Reinvestigation.”
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 5394-5397.
3. A. Shahi, Y. Albeck & D. Strasser, “Simultaneous 3D coincidence imaging of cationic, anionic,
and neutral photo-fragments”, Rev. Sci. Inst. 2018, 89, 013303.
4. I. Luzon et al. "Single-photon Coulomb explosion of methanol using broad bandwidth ultrafast
EUV pulses", Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2017, 19, 13488.
5. Z. Fradkin et al. "Protein and peptide cross sections and mass spectra in an electrostatic ion
beam trap", J. Inst. 2017, 12, P05008.
6. A. Shahi, Y. Albeck & D. Strasser, “Intense-Field Multiple-Detachment of F2-: Competition with
Photodissociation" J. Phys. Chem. A 2017, 121, 3037–3044.
7. Y. Albeck et al., "Intense-Field Double Detachment of Electrostatically Bound F-(NF3)n Cluster
Anions", J. Phys. Chem. A 2016,120, 3246–3252.
8. I. Luzon et al. "Near-Threshold Photodetachment Cross Section of (SF6)(n)(-) Cluster Anions:
The Ion Core Structure", J. Phys. Chem. A 2016,120, 221–226.
9. Y. Albeck et al., "Intense field double detachment of atomic versus molecular anions" Phys.
Rev. A. 2015, 92, 061401(R).
10. D. M. Kandhasamy et al.,"3D Coincidence Imaging Disentangles Intense Field Double
Detachment of SF6- ", J. Phys. Chem. A 2015, 119, 8076–8082.
11. I. Luzon et al. " SF6- photodetachment near the adiabatic limit", Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.
2015,17, 7670-7675.
59
Synthetic Bioinorganic and Bio-inspired Coordination Chemistry
Prof. Edit Tshuva
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/tshuva
Research Summary
The Tshuva laboratory investigates the coordination chemistry of transition
metal complexes that have biological or medicinal applications. Our leading
line of research involves the study of bio-friendly metals, such as Ti(IV) ‒ despite its common
hydrolytic instability limitations ‒ as possible alternatives to the toxic Pt(II) for development of
non-toxic anticancer chemotherapy. Throughout these studies, we have introduced a family of
Ti(IV) complexes that are incredibly stable to hydrolysis, and are highly and widely active in vitro
and in vivo. All 57 human cancer cell lines in the NCI-60 panel of the NIH, including multy-drug-
resistant lines, responded to our Ti(IV) complex, with the least sensitive line producing a GI50 value
of 12 M (average GI50: 4.7 M representing slightly higher activity than that of cisplatin).
Importantly, No clinical signs of toxicity were detected in treated animals, and no nephrotoxicity
was observed.
Current studies in this project involve three main directions: further development of optimal
compounds with activity, stability, and solubility; profound study of the mechanistic pathways
involved in the reactivity of the Ti(IV) complexes through wide genome analysis as well as analysis
of specific bio-interactions, accumulation, and reactivities; and development of custom-designed
delivery vehicles to afford selective and tumor-targeted therapy.
List of selected publications (2015-2018)
1. Shoshan, M., Dekel, N., Goch, W., Shalev, D. E., Danieli, T., Lebendiker, M., Bal., W. &
Tshuva, E.Y. “Unbound Position II in MXCXXC Metallochaperone Model Peptides Impacts
Development of optimal
compounds: In vivo efficacy (upper
panel: control; lower panel:
treated)
Mechanistic studies: cell
imaging Custom-designed delivery
vehicles: combination therapy
60
Metal Binding Mode and Reactivity: Distinct Similarities to Whole Proteins” J. Inorg.
Biochem. 2016, 159, 29.
2. Reytman, L., Braitbard, O., Hochman, J. & Tshuva, E. Y. “Highly Effective and Hydrolytically
Stable Vanadium(V) Amino Phenolato Antitumor Agents.” Inorg. Chem. 2016, 55, 610.
3. Miller, M., Braitbard, O., Hochman, J. & Tshuva, E.Y., “Insights into the Molecular
Mechanism of Action of Salan Titanium(IV) Complex with In vitro and In vivo Anticancer
Activity” J. Inorg. Biochem. 2016,163, 250.
4. Meker, S., Braitbard, O., Hall, M. D., Hochman, J. & Tshuva, E.Y. “Specific Design of
Titanium(IV) Phenolato Chelates Yields Stable and Accessible, Effective and Selective
Anticancer Agents” Chem. Eur. J. 2016, 22, 9986.
5. Shoshan, M. S. & Tshuva, E.Y. “Effective Inhibitors of ROS Cellular Production by
MXCXXC-Type Peptides: Potential Therapeutic Applications in Copper Homeostasis
Disorders” Chem. Eur. J. 2016, 22, 9077
6. Tzubery, A. & Tshuva, E.Y. “Cytotoxic Titanium(IV) Complexes of Salalen-Based Ligands”
Eur. J. Inorg. Chem., 2017, 1695.
7. Tzubery, A., Melamed-Book, N. & Tshuva, E.Y. “Fluorescent Antitumor Titanium(IV) Salen
Complexes for Cell Imaging” Dalton Trans. 2018, 47, 3669.
8. Ganot, N. & Tshuva, E.Y. “In vitro Combinations of Inert Phenolato Ti(IV) complexes with
Clinically Employed Anticancer Chemotherapy: Synergy with Oxaliplatin on Colon Cells”
RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 5822.
9. Ganot, N., Briaitbard, O., Gammal, A., Tam, J., Hochman, J. & Tshuva, E.Y. “In Vivo
Anticancer Activity of a Nontoxic Inert Phenolato Titanium Complex: High Efficacy on Solid
Tumors Alone and Combined with Platinum Drugs” ChemMedChem 2018, 13, 2290.
10. Miller, M. & Tshuva, E.Y. “Racemic vs. Enantiopure Inert Ti(IV) Complex of a Single
Diaminotetrakis(phenolato) Ligand in Anticancer Activity Toward Human Drug-Sensitive and
-Resistant Cancer Cell Line” RSC. Adv., 2018, in press
Patents (2015-2018)
Tshuva, E. Y. & Hochman, J. Cytotoxic Titanium and Vanadium Complexes PCT/IL2013/05069
filed 15/08/2013; published under WO2014027355A2; filed in Europe (13830156.9) and US
(14/421,258).
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Interfacing Nanotechnology with
Bioinspired Materials and Biomaterials
Prof. Itamar Willner
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/willner/
Recipient of the Israel Prize in Chemistry, the EMET Prize, the
Rothschild Prize and the Gold Medal of the Israel Chemical Society.
Member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Member of
the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Thomson Reuters/Clarivate – Highly Cited Researcher and listed in the World’s Most Influential
Scientific Minds – 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018
Coauthor of over 780 peer reviewed publications, has over 60,000 citations and holds h-index of
129 (Web of Science), 149 (Google Scholar).
Summary of group research:
The laboratory activities include the development of topics related to nanotechnology,
nanobiotechnology and “smart” materials related to catalysis and energy conversion. These
activities include the development of stimuli-responsive hydrogels exhibiting shape-memory
properties, self-healing functions, controlled release functions and triggered mechanical robotic
functions. In addition, the development of nucleic acid catalysts (nucleoapzymes) or nanoparticle
catalysts mimicking natural enzymes (nanozymes). Also, stimuli-responsive nanoparticle or
microparticle systems for controlled drug release, catalysis and photocatalysis are being developed.
These include the development of drug-loaded stimuli-responsive metal-organic framework
nanoparticles, and micro- and nano-triggered microcapsules. Efforts are directed to the development
of constitutional dynamic networks (CDNs), where adaptive, emergent and hierarchical
compositions and functions are triggered by external signals. The evolution of networks and their
replication as models for the origin of life are examined. The use of CDNs to develop new
materials, sensors and logic gate circuits are explored. In addition, active research in “origami-
chemistry”, plasmonic nanoparticles and their applications, and the development of artificial
photosynthetic systems, is performed.
Specific current research topics:
Stimuli-responsive metal-organic framework nanoparticles for controlled drug release.
Stimuli-responsive microcapsules for controlled drug release.
Inorganic nanoparticles and metal-organic framework nanoparticles for catalysis
(nanoenzymes) and confined reaction media for programmed synthesis.
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Stimuli-responsive hydrogels for shape-memory, self-healing, and mechanical/robotic
applications.
Synthesis of functionalized nanoparticles (C-dots, semiconductor QDs, plasmonic
nanoparticles) and their application for sensing, thermoplasmonic heating and photocatalysis.
Synthesis and characterization of constitutional dynamic networks and their application in
materials science, catalysis, and logic gate circuitries.
List of selected publications (2016-2018)
1. E. Golub, H.B. Albada, W.-C. Liao, Y. Biniuri, I. Willner “Nucleoapzymes: Hemin/G-
Quadruplex DNAzyme-Aptamer Binding Site Conjugates with Superior Enzyme-like Catalytic
Functions” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 164-172.
2. Y. Hu, W. Guo, J.S. Kahn, M.A. Aleman-Garcia, I. Willner “A Shape-Memory DNA-Based
Hydrogel Exhibiting Two Internal Memories” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 4210-4214.
3. F. Huang,…. I. Willner ”Light-Responsive and pH-Responsive DNA Microcapsules for
Controlled Release of Loads. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 8936-8945.
4. A. Cecconello, J.S. Kahn, C.-H. Lu, L.K. Khorashad, A.O. Govorov, I. Willner “DNA
Scaffolds for the Dictated Assembly of Left-/Right-Handed Plasmonic Au NP Helices with
Programmed Chiro-Optical Properties” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 9895-9901.
5. Y. Hu, J.S. Kahn…..D. Harries, I. Willner “Reversible Modulation of DNA-Based Hydrogel
Shapes by Internal Stress Interactions” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 16112-16119.
6. J.S. Kahn, Y. Hu, I. Willner “Stimuli-Responsive DNA-Based Hydrogels: From Basic
Principles to Applications” Acc. Chem. Res. 2017, 50, 680-690.
7. S. Wang. L. Yue, Z. Shpilt, A. Cecconello, J.S. Kahn, J.-M. Lehn, I. Willner, Controlling the
Catalytic Functions of DNAzymes within Constitutional Dynamic Networks of DNA
Nanostructures. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 9662-9671.
8. S. Wang, L. Yue, Z.-Y. Li, J. Zhang, H. Tian, I. Willner “Light-Induced Reversible
Reconfiguration of DNA-Based Constitutional Dynamic Networks (CDNs): Application to
Switchable Catalysis” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 8105-8109.
9. J. Hou, M. ….., I. Willner, Catalyzed and Electrocatalyzed Oxidation of L-Tyrosine and L-
Phenylalanine to Dopachrome by Nanozymes. Nano Lett. 2018, 18, 4015-4022.
10. W.-H. Chen, M. Vázquez-González, A. Zoabi, R. Abu-Reziq, I. Willner “BiocatalytiCascades
Driven by Enzymes Encapsulated in Metal-Organic Framework Nanoparticles” Nature
Catalysis 2018, 1, 689-695.
63
Materials chemistry, nanomaterials
Prof. Roie Yerushalmi
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~roie/index2.html
Brief Summary of research: The Yerushalmi group research topics are
focused on materials science and chemistry with an emphasis on nanoscience and nanotechnology.
The ability to synthesize nanostructures with controlled chemical composition and unique physical
and chemical properties is vital to our research. Our work combines the use and development of
novel synthetic methods for the production of nanostructures and the application of large arsenal of
analytical methods for the characterization and exploration of nanomaterials.
Specific current research topics:
Hybrid Nanostructure synthesis: We develop new methods utilizing vapor phase and condensed
phase chemistry for the synthesis of new nanoscale hybrid materials with unique physical
properties. Specifically, the formation of hybrid nanomaterials consisting of inorganic and
organic parts. Our research hasve demonstrated the benefits of such materials in the context of
photocatalysis and renewable energy sources. We study the reactivity, optical, and electronic
properties of the Hybrid Nanostructures.
Bottom-up synthesis and assembly of nano architectures: The developing of new bottom-up
synthesis methodologies enabling the production of new semiconducting and hybrid metal-
semiconducting nanosystems with controlled dimensions and composition. Our research focuses
on utilizing non-lithographic methods for symmetry breaking and tailoring the structural details
of complex nanosystems featuring unique optical and electronic properties utilized in chemical
sensing, plasmonics, and more.
Catalytic properties of nanostructure arrays: Nanomaterials exhibit unique catalytic properties
that are very different from the bulk material properties. The distinct reactivity at the nanoscale
enables new pathways for designing novel materials with tailored chemical reactivity. Our
research focuses on the study of surface interactions at nanostructure interfaces in the context of
photo-catalysis and electro-catalysis.
Development of advanced nanocomposite materials
List of selected publications (2015-2018)
1. S. Yitzchaik, R. Gutierrez, G. Cuniberti, R. Yerushalmi “Diversification of Device Platforms
by Molecular Layers; Hybrid Sensing Platforms, Monolayer Doping & Modeling” Langmuir,
2018, 34, 14103–14123.
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2. Z. Sun, O. Hazut, R. Yerushalmi, L. J. Lauhon , D. N. Seidman " Criteria and considerations for
preparing atom-probe tomography specimens of nanomaterials utilizing an encapsulation
methodology” Ultramicroscopy 2018, 184, 225-233.
3. Z. Sun, A. Tzaguy, O. Hazut, L. J. Lauhon, R. Yerushalmi, D. N. Seidman “1D Metal
Nanobead Arrays within Encapsulated Nanowires via a Red-Ox-Induced Dewetting:
Mechanism Study by Atom-Probe Tomography” Nano Lett. 2017, 17, 7478.
4. O. Hazut and R. Yerushalmi “Direct Dopant Patterning by a Remote Monolayer Doping
Enabled by a Monolayer Fragmentation Study” Langmuir 2017, 33, 5371–5377
5. A. Ziv, A. Tzaguy, O. Hazut, S. Yochelis, R. Yerushalmi, Y. Paltiel “Self-formed nanogap
junctions for electronic detection and characterization of molecules and quantum dots” RSC
Adv. 2017, 7, 25861.
6. Z. Sun, O. Hazut, Bo-Chao Huang, Y-P. Chiu, C.-S. Chang, R. Yerushalmi, L. J. Lauhon, D. N.
Seidman " Dopant Diffusion and Activation in Silicon Nanowires Fabricated by ex Situ Doping:
A Correlative Study via Atom-Probe Tomography and Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy”
Nano Lett. 2016, 16, 4490-4500.
7. O. Hazut, S. Waichman, T. Subramani, D. Sarkar, S. Dash, T. Roncal-Herrero, R. Kroger, R.
Yerushalmi “Semiconductor-Metal Nano-Floret Hybrid Structures by Self-Processing
Synthesis” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 4079– 4086.
8. D. Sarkar, S. Ishchuk, D. H. Taffa, N. Kaynan, B. A. Berke, T. Bendikov, R. Yerushalmi
“Oxygen-Deficient Titania with Adjustable Band Positions and Defects; Molecular Layer
Deposition of Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Thin Films as Precursors for Enhanced
Photocatalysis” J. Phys. Chem. C 2016, 120, 3853
List of Patents (last three years (2015-2018)
1. Self-Processing Synthesis Of Hybrid Nanostructures. WO 2016/135713
2. SMART INDICATORS FOR VOLATILE CHEMICAL TARGETS. 62/312,063
3. Molecular Loom for Construction of Nano Composite Yarns. 62/585,171
Industry-related Stories:
Research agreement with Elbit-Elop in the field of nano composite materials.
65
Bioelectronic Interfaces
Prof. Shlomo Yitzchaik
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://scholars.huji.ac.il/profshlomoyitzchaik
Research Summary
Our research group is exploring the role of surface science in assembling
novel classes of functional nanolayers and their implementation in
molecular and biomolecular electronics and photonics. We investigate
fundamental issues related to nanolayers structural organization and growth dictating rational
design of a variety of new technologies. Our research is highly interdisciplinary and offers
opportunities to advantageously combine principles of synthetic chemistry and materials science to
build well defined architectures. The latter are helping us address key issues related to biomedical
diagnosis, environmental sensors, unconventional computing, molecular electronics and photoactive
materials. While design of new molecules and materials is at the core of our activities, the group is
actively involved in a variety of state-of-art characterization studies, including advanced
electrochemical methods, spectroscopic ellipsometry, nanoscale electrical measurements, and
fabrication of prototype devices.
Scheme. Conformationally adaptive biosensors are exemplified schematically: These systems
utilize the entropic component of the biomolecular recognition event for signal transduction.
Selected publications (2015-2018)
1. Nahor, A.; Shalev, I.; Sa’ar, A.; Yitzchaik S. “Optical and Electrooptical Properties of Porous
Silicon- Conjugated Polymers Composite Structures”, Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2015, 7, 1212–1217.
2. Amit, E.; Rofeamor, O.; Wang, Y-T.; Zhuravel, R.; Reyes, A.J.F.; Elbaz, S.; Rotem, D.; Porath,
D.; Friedler, A.; Chen, Y-J.; Yitzchaik, S., “Integrating proteomics with electrochemistry for
identifying kinase biomarkers” Chem. Sci., 2015, 6, 4756–4766.
3. Vaganova E., Rozenberg M., Dubnikova F., Danovich D., Yitzchaik S., “Acidity of the
Methyne Group of Poly(4-vinylpyridine) leads to Side-chain Protonation in Pyridine” New J.
Chem., 2015, 39, 5920-5922.
4. Snir, E.; Amit, E.; Friedler, A.; Yitzchaik, S. “A highly Sensitive Square Wave Voltammetry
based Biosensor for Kinase Activity Measurements” Biopolymers 2015, 104, 515-520.
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5. Sfez R., Natan E., Bardavid Y., Ikbal M., Arbeli E., Arkin S., Popov I., Yitzchaik S.
“Enzyme Mediated Encapsulation of Gold Nanoparticles by Polyaniline Nanoshell”
J. Self-Assembly Mol. Electr. 2015, 3, 1-16.
6. Prakash CJ; Waiskopf, N; Lubin, G; Rand, D; Hanein, Y; Banin, U; Yitzchaik, S.
“Carbon nanotube and semiconductor nanorods hybrids: Preparation, characterization and
evaluation of photocurrent generation” Langmuir 2017, 33, 5519-5526.
7. Mervinetsky, E.; Alshanski, I.; Hamo, Y.; Sandonas, L.M.; Dianat, A.; Buchwald, J.; Gutierrez,
R.; Cuniberti, G.; Hurevich, M.; Yitzchaik, S. “Copper Induced Conformational Changes of
Tripeptide Monolayer Based Impedimetric Biosensor”, Sci. Reports 2017, 7, 9498-9504.
8. Gankin, A.; Sfez, R.; E. Mervinetskiy, Buchwald, J.; Dianat, A.; Sandonas, L.M.; utierrez, R.;
Cuniberti, G.; Yitzchaik, S. “Molecular and Ionic Dipole Effects on the Electronic Properties of
Silicon Grafted Alkylamine Monolayers”, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2017, 9, 44873-44879.
9. Tadi, K.K.; Alshanski, I., Mervinetskiy, E.; Marx, G.; Petrou, P.; Karussis, D.M., Gilon, C.;
Hurevich, M.; Yitzchaik, S. ”Oxytocin-monolayer Based Impedimetric Biosensor of Zn2+
and
Cu2+
” ACS Omega 2017, 2, 8770−8778.
10. Ikbal, M.; Mervinetsky, E.; Balogh D.; Sfez R.; Yitzchaik, S. “Light Induced Aggregation of
Gold Nanoparticles and Modifications of Silicon Surface Potential” J. Phys. Chem. 2017, 121,
27176-27181.
List of Patents (2015-2018)
1. Hanein, Y., Yitzchaik, S., Sernagor, E., Banin, U., Cheshnovsky, O., "Photoelectrical devices for
stimulating neurons” US Patent Number: US 08774936 (July 8, 2015).
2. Yitzchaik, S. and Vaganova, E., PCT Application No. PCT/IL2012/050212 "Polymeric compositions
and uses thereof" (July 26, 2015).
3. Yitzchaik, S., Gilon C., Hurevich, M., Marx, G., United States Provisional Patent Application No.
62/549,452 "Sensor and uses thereof in detecting metal ions" (August 24, 2017).
More details on the institute and chemistry studies can be found on: https://chemistry.huji.ac.il