Photochemistry @ UC

The photochemistry group @UC research interests covers a wide range of topics, involving the study of excited states.

The group labs are equipped with state of the art equipment for fast kinetic research studies:

(i) fs-ns transient absorption (fs-TA and ns-TA), ps- and ns-TCSPC (time resolved fluorescence) and fs-fluorescence Up Conversion (fs-UC).
(ii) Spectrofluorometers, spectrophotometers, etc.
(iii) Autolab, Glove box.
(iv) Incident Photon to Charge Carrier Efficiency (IPCE), Integrating Sphere (Quantaurus) for absolute luminescence Quantum Yield determination, Hamamatsu IR detector (for singlet oxygen yield determinations), Cryostats, etc.
(v) general equipment for organic synthesis

(you can have a glance of all these in this webpage)

The group includes 2 professors, 2 junior research scientists, 6 PhD students, 3 MsC and 1 Emeritus professor.

Some of the on-going research topics:

( i ) Photophysical processess in various systems such as AIE-luminogens, BAI, trypthanthrin, thioindigo and indigo derivatives
( ii ) Practical applications of these dyes: DSSC and RFB (Hyligth FCT project 2018-2022)
( iii ) Host-Guest interaction of curcubiturils (CB7 and CB8) with fluorescente probes
( iv ) photoCORMS (controlled photo released organic molecules (FCT-SASCOT project 2018-2022 with CICECO-UA).
( v ) TTA-UC molecular systems
( vi ) Aurophillic complexes: Au(I) – coumarin
( vii ) Supramolecular chemosensors
( viii ) Synthesis of ligands aiming to stabilise G-quadruplexes in order to inhibit DNA telomerase in cancer cells.
(ix) conjugated organic polymers (polyfluorene, ladder type polymers, etc).
(x) the chemistry of the molecules of colour, now in postage stamps (XIX century).

A strong collaborations exists with other groups in Portugal and abroad. Currently active:

1) Marta Pineiro, Alberto Pais (UC)
2) Martyn Pillinger, Isabel S. Gonçalves and Ana Luisa Costa (UA-CICECO)
3) Adelino Galvão and António Maçanita (IST-UL)
4) Manuela Raposo (U. Minho)
5) Laura Rodriguez (U. Barcelona)
6) Ulli Scherf (U. Wuppertal, Germany)

20 of October: Lucia Rusin that has worked with us for 6 months in the analysis of postage stamps from the kingdoms of Italy has just obtained her Master degree with the thesis in Chemometrics for Cultural Heritage:

“The Origin Of The Kingdom Of Italy From The First Postage Stamps An analytical (XRF, HPLC-DAD-MS, fluorescence and UV-Vis absorption) and Chemometric study of its constituents: dyes, binders and paper”

Congrats to Lucia Rusin!

Our group will be present in CQC exhibition @Coimbra Shopping (4-17 of November):.: O que se investiga na UC?

Some of the research that we are doing involves clean energies, such as active materials for RFB and DSSC.

No dia 23 de setembro o João Pedro Mendes Ferreira, que esteve no nosso grupo a fazer o mestrado, defendeu a sua tese de Mestrado com o título ” SÍNTESE E CARACTERIZAÇÃO FOTOFÍSICA DE SENSORES BASEADOS EM LIGANDOS TRIPODAIS PARA DETEÇÃO DE CATIÕES METÁLICOS “.

Parabéns ao João!

Daniela Pinheiro was awarded with a SEEDS project from the UC on Climate, Energy & Mobility. Congrats Daniela!! See more on: Notícias de Coimbra and in the UC website.

On the week of 26-30 of April a FLIM system is being installed. New facilities and research will be available to the group with this system.

On the 14 of April a joint collaboration with Ulli’s Scherf group lead to one more work published
Ana Clara B. Rodrigues, Anika Eckert, João Pina, Ullrich Scherf and J. Sérgio Seixas de Melo, Polymeric Near Infrared Emitters with Bay-Annulated Indigo Moieties Materials Advances, 2021, DOI: 10.1039/D1MA00260K

Congratulations to Ana Clara and Pina!

On the 30th of March, a work involving our group and the group of Adélio Mendes (at LEPABE-UP) was accepted for publication on the J. Phys. Chem C.:

“Phenomenological understanding of hematite photoanodes performance”
Authors: Pina, João; Dias, Paula; Serpa, Carlos; Azevedo, João; Mendes, Adélio; Seixas de Melo, J. J. Phys. Chem C. jp-2020-114205.R1

Congratulations to João Pina and Paula Dias who conducted this work.

The group was present (with several presentations) at the 14º Encontro de Química Física. Congratulations to the Organisers for this web meeting.

Last Friday, 26 of March, the group received the good news of having two more accepted articles:

Pinheiro, Daniela ; Galvão, Adelino; Pineiro, Marta; Seixas de Melo, J., Red-Purple Photochromic Indigos From Green Chemistry. mono-tBOC or di-tBOC N-substituted Indigos Displaying ESPT or Photoisomerization. J. Phys. Chem B  2021, (accepted).

Delgado-Pinar, Estefania; Costa, Ana; Gonçalves, Isabel; Pineiro, Marta; Pillinger, Martyn; Seixas de Melo, J. S., Tuning the Behaviour of a Hydrotalcite-Supported Sulfonated Bithiophene from Aggregation-Caused Quenching to Efficient Monomer Luminescence. J. Phys. Chem C  2021, (accepted).

Congratulations to Daniela Pinheiro, Estefania, Ana Costa and the fruitful collaborations with Marta Pineiro (UC), Adelino Galvão (IST-UL) and Martyn Pillinger & Isabel Gonçalves (CICECO-UA).

Daniela Pinheiro is now PhD from the UC with the brilliant discussion just finished.
With Cum Lauda (“Distinção e Louvor”)

Synthesis, photophysical and electrochemical studies on tryptanthrin and indigo. Historic molecules with modern applications

The jury of Daniela’s PhD

Group of Colloids, Macromolecules and photochemistry @ Coimbra Chemistry Center

Coimbra laser lab (CLL) @ Laser Lab Europe