María Jesús Cabrera Afonso started to study new photoredox transformation to access new chemical space, and she is currently interested in the possible application of nanoparticles in this field.
Host University: Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain
Host research group or department: Organic Chemistry department - MR Group
Co-host University: Stockholm University
Secondment institution: Foundation for the Development and Technological Innovation - FUNDITEC, Spain
Advisor: Dr. Maria Ribagorda Lobera
Co-advisor: Professor Belén Martín Matute
Secondment mentor: To be defined
My research
Functionalization of Upconverting Nanoparticles (UCNPs) via Photoinduced Nickel-catalyzed/Electron Donor Aceptor (EDA) complexes: Preparation of C-Glycosides-UCNPs for in vivo NIR-II bioimaging
The presented C-glycosides UCNPs project will be focusing mainly on two goals. The first one describes the synthetic application to photoactivate electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complex using the visible-light emitted from excited rare earth-doped upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs). The main advantages of this methodology is the transformation of near infrared irradiation (~650-950 nm) into visible-light. Later on, this visible-light can be absorbed by EDA complex to afford radicals, enabling in several radical transformations (giesse addition, metal cross-coupling, minisci type reactions, etc.) to increase the molecular complexity of pre-functionalized UCNPs. While the second is related with the improvement of the nanoparticles’ pharmacokinetics properties. The incorporation of different saccharides motifs on the surface of the UCNPs will increase their solubility, membrane transport, and specificity in cellular tissues, and these results might be interpreted into a better biocompatibility, the biodegradability and the biodisponibility of the UCNPs.
Date started – Date End
01.11.2022 - 31.10.2024
