Today CiTOS opened its doors to the participants of the Journée enseignement secondaire at ULiege. Dr. Monbaliu, Loic and Pauline organized a few hours of entertaining explanations about chemistry for our visitors. These young participants had the opportunity to learn about the work done here at CiTOS and explore our laboratories during both morning and evening sessions.

We wish these young students the best of luck in their future studies, and hope some will come back in the future to join us  in the pursuit of chemistry and new developments in organic synthesis and technology.

We continue to work hard at CiTOS to make the 18th BOSS symposium a week to remember! Speakers are confirmed, additional sponsors and funding is arriving, cultural and social events are being explored… There is always something new on the table! You can take a look at the flyer here!

Keep up to date by following #BOSS_symposium and #BOSSXVIII. And better yet, follow the CiTOS LinkedIn page (linkedin.com/company/citos-lab) to keep up to date with all the latest news!

Hope to see you on June 30, 2024!

2023 at CiTOS began with the visit of Dr. Gabriela Oksdath! Gabriela is a researcher at the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba (Argentina). Her research interest includes the development of greener, scalable and innovative approaches to prepare compounds of interest. She specializes in combining different types of catalysis (Photocatalysis, Metal Catalysis, Biocatalysis) under homogeneous or heterogeneous conditions.

Gabriela came to CiTOS to get expand her expertise in flow chemistry with hands-on experience in the use of Corning(R) Photoreactors. We’re happy to have a fellow chemist join the team and wish her a great stay in Liege.

Congratulations to Elyse and Sebastian, who have successfully defended their Master’s thesis on Jan 18!

Elyse worked along side Pauline on the preparation of nitrosoarenes from aniline derivatives. After optimization of the batch procedure, a flow system was established allowing the scalable preparation of the compounds. With the help of computations, a comparison could be established between the oxidation potential of the compounds and the reaction temperature.

Sebastian, in collaboration with Yuesu, explained the unusual stoichiometry observed in the formation of nitroso compounds from N2O3 by performing a through computational study. Furthermore, he demonstrated the applicability of the synthesized N-nitroso glycine for the preparation of syndones. In collaboration with Claire, CO2 was used to produce glycerol carbonate from glycidol. His contribution was especially significant for the computational work of the project.

We’re proud to have two new masters alumni from CiTOS, we wish them the best of luck in their future internships and look forward to working together in the near future.

We’re looking forward to receiving applications from candidates for two postdoctoral positions here at CiTOS!

By working at CiTOS, the selected candidates will be engaged in a competitive research environment, within a multidisciplinary team including synthetic chemists and chemical engineers. They will enjoy direct access to the most recent flow reactor technologies from Corning AFR and an internal analytical platform (LC, LC-MS, GC, GC-MS, benchtop NMR, IR, UV, etc.). Our large network of industrial collaborators stimulates research toward concrete industrial and/or societal challenges, making this a unique opportunity for candidates aspiring to continue either towards careers in academia or industry.

A first position is open as part of an ongoing collaboration with PENNAKEM, a leader for the production of bio-based solvents and fine chemicals.

A second position stems from an international consortium under the umbrella of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This research program aims at continuous drug substance manufacturing from biomass-derived building blocks. (Eligible candidates for this position must not have spent more than 24 months (for study or research/professional reasons) in Belgium for the past 3 years, regardless of citizenship, and must have obtained their PhD degree within less than 10 years at the time of the application.)

For these position, a PhD in organic chemistry is required, with a background in flow technology and preferably an interest for bio-based chemicals.

Interested candidates please send electronic applications including (a) a cover letter, (b) a curriculum vitae, (c) a short statement on your motivation and career objectives, and (d) the names and contact details of 3 professional references to Prof. Jean-Christophe M. Monbaliu (jc.monbaliu@uliege.be)

Review of applications will begin on January 1, 2023 and will continue until the position is filled.

CiTOS was well represented this year at the annual Merck Organic Chemistry Symposium (MOCS), at Blankenberge. Our work was shared with the Belgian science community through six poster presentations and an oral presentation by Pauline Bianchi. We are very proud of the CiTOS committee and hope to be back next year to share more science!

It is again time for goodbyes, and this time it is Romain (“Romodo”) who is off! Dr. Morodo will be taking up a postdoctoral position in the lab of Prof. Robert M. Waymouth at the University of Stanford, with the support of the prestigious postdoctoral fellowship from the Belgian American Education Foundation (B.A.E.F).

He shall be missed, but we’re very excited for this amazing opportunity and wish him the best of luck in his new adventures overseas!

We’re very happy to share that Romain defended his thesis entitled “Taming reactive (poly)alcohol derivatives in continuous flow chemistry”. Romain’s work was part of the IN FLOW R&D project involving 4 cutting-edge partners from the Euregio Meuse-Rhine for the formulation, characterization and engineering of biochemical products.

His work resulted in multiple publications as well as a research stay at the lab of Dr. Feringa in the University of Groningen. 

We wish Dr. Morodo the best of luck in his future career!

We are thrilled to announce that our flow platform FloW4all will receive a significant boost thanks to the Platforms of Excellence in Technology program. The platform has been assigned 1.6 M EUR for state-of-the-art equipment and personnel, funds which will  significantly increase o
ur impact and collaborations with Industry and Academia. This represents an important step in our aspiration of become a point of reference for flow chemistry in Wallonia and Western Europe.

“Jean-Christophe gave a plenary talk at the Chemistry and Chemical Technology 2022 international conference hosted by the Kaunas University of Technology in scenic Lithuania. He discussed the advantages of flow technology for organic synthesis in front of a broad audience of Faculties and PhD students. We thank Vida Malinauskiene, Vilija Kederiene, Agne Sulciute and colleagues for the successful organization and invitation.”