Prof. Fahmi Himo from Stockholm University and Prof. Stefano Santoro from the University of Perugia visited our lab on October 24, 2016, and give talks titled by "Quantum Chemical Modeling of Mechanisms and Selectivities in Homogeneous and Enzymatic Catalysis"and "Catalytic Approaches Toward Sustainable Organic Synthesis" , respectively.
Prof. Fahmi Himo received his PhD degree in 2000 in physics at Stockholm University, Sweden, under the supervision of Pro. Leif Eriksson and Per Siegbahn. He then spent two years as a Wenner-Gren postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps Research Institute (with Prof. Louis Noodleman) and three years back in Sweden as a Wenner-Gren Fellow at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). From 2005-2009, he was assistant professor at KTH. He then moved to Stockholm University as professor in quantum chemistry. His group mainly focused on the quantum chemical modelling of enzymatic and homogeneous catalysis. He has published more than 120 papers in international journals, with the H-index 38. He is the receiver of the Sven & Ebba-Christina Hagberg Prize (2003) and Göran Gustafsson Award (2011).
Prof. Stefano Santoro received his Ph.D. degree in 2009 at the University of Perugia, under the supervision of Prof. Claudio Santi and the late Prof. Marcello Tiecco. During this period his research mainly focused on the synthesis and application of organoselenium reagents in asymmetric synthesis. Between 2006 and 2007 he was visiting Ph.D. student at Aarhus University in the group of Prof. Karl Anker Jørgensen, where he worked in enantioselective organocatalysis and in particular in phase transfer catalysis. In 2010-2014 he was a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Fahmi Himo at Stockholm University. Since 2014 he has been an assistant professor at the University of Perugia, mainly working in the development of sustainable protocols in organic chemistry. He has published more than 30 papers in international journals.