Researchers

Géraldine Masson received her PhD in 2003 from the Joseph Fourier University, (France). She then moved to the University of Amsterdam (Holland) as a Marie Curie postdoctoral research fellow with Prof. Jan van Maarseveen and Prof. Henk Hiemstra. At the end of 2005, she was appointed “Chargé de Recherche” by the CNRS in the research group of Prof. Jieping Zhu at the Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (ICSN), before initiating her independent career in 2011. She was promoted to Research Director of CNRS in 2014 in the same institute. Her group’s research activities are directed toward the development of new catalytic methods for the synthesis of optically active molecules displaying biologically activities. The three specific research areas focus on: (1) asymmetric organocatalysis; (2) photoredox-catalysis and (3) asymmetric hypervalent iodine catalysis.

geraldine.masson@cnrs.fr     +33 1 69 82 45 77

Luc Neuville received his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University Paris-Sud XI (Orsay) in 1999, preforming his research under the guidance of Professor Jieping Zhu at the Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (Gif-sur-Yvette). From 1999 to 2001, he could appreciate Corn fields working Professor Scott E. Denmark as Post-doctoral Associate in Illinois (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champain, Champain-urbana, USA). In 2001, he was appointed as CNRS Chargé de Recherche, joining the group of Professor Nicole Moreau (Ecole National de Chimie Paris, Paris). He return to the ICSN in 2005, where he his holding a position of CNRS Research Director since 2013. Besides research, Luc is the happy father of two -lovely in his mind- daughters. He dislike particularly sport, but enjoys making fun about it around a drink and a good meal with friends.

luc.neuville@cnrs.fr     +33 1 69 82 45 77

Aurélie Claraz received her Ph.D degree in organic chemic chemistry in 2012 at Rouen (INSA) under the guidance of Dr Vincent Levacher. She joined the group of Pr Petri Pihko at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland from 2013 to 2015 as a postdoctoral fellow. She then held a temporary assistant lecturer position in an engineering school in Paris (Chimie ParisTech) working with Dr Sylvain Darses. After a second postdoctoral position in the group of Pr Janine Cossy (ESPCI Paris), she was appointed at the CNRS as research associate in the group of Dr Géraldine Masson (ICSN) in November 2017. Her research interests lie mainly in the field of electrosynthesis, photocatalysis and asymmetric organocatalysis.

aurelie.claraz@cnrs.fr     +33 1 69 82 30 84

Postdoctoral fellows

Wei-Yang Ma obtained a master’s degree in chemistry from Hangzhou Normal University in China in 2019.  During his postgraduate studies, he developed a palladium-catalyzed enantioselective  C-H olefination under the guidance of Xu Li-Wen and Cui Yu-Ming.  In October 2019, with the support of CSC, he joined the Géraldine Masson’s team as a PhD student.  His doctoral research dealt with  the organocatalytic enantioenselective synthesis of azacycles.  After receiving his Ph.D in 2022, he remains in the group as a postdoctoral researcher; a good opportunity for him to focus on photocatalysis. Away from the lab, Wei-Yang likes listening to music, watching movies, and practices fitness.

weiyang.ma@cnrs.fr     +33 1 69 82 45 77

PhD students

Damien Bouchet obtained the engineer degree of the École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris (ESPCI). He completed a 6-month internship in Janssen Pharmaceutica NV (Beerse) MedChem lab dealing with glycochemistry followed by a 4-month one in the Prof. Catherine S. J. Cazin group in Ghent University on catalysis with copper-NHC complexes. He  joined the team in January 2020 for his Master internship (Sorbonne University Paris) to develop organocatalytic asymmetric reactions with chiral phosphoric acids. He started his Ph.D studies in the groupe in October 2020. Outside the lab, he likes listening to classical music, going to the cinema and to the theatre.

damien.bouchet@cnrs.fr     +33 1 69 82 30 54

Matteo Leone obtained a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the “Università di Roma La Sapienza” (Italy) in 2017, during which he completed a 6-month internship. He worked in a joint project between Ruggero Caminiti and Francesca Leonelli groups on the synthesis and the X-ray characterization of ionic liquids containing selenium. In 2020 he obtained a master degree in organic chemistry at the “Università di Roma La Sapienza”, collaborating with Francesca Leonelli group for the development of iridium- and ruthenium- photocatalyzed [2+2]-cycloadditions of allenes to enones. In March 2021 he joined the team for a Ph. D., receiving a funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant. The project is focused on the design and development of new chiral catalysts and their applications in novel asymmetric transformations. Outside the laboratory, Matteo likes reading, doing sport and traveling.

matteo.leone@cnrs.fr     +33 1 69 82 45 77

Aurélien Brion obtained his B.Sc. in Molecular Chemistry at Université Paris-Sud (Orsay, France) in 2018 and was then accepted in the Master programme Chemistry and Life Sciences at PSL University (Paris France). During his Master studies, Aurélien performed internships in several labs, including the ones of Pr. Ryan A. Shenvi (Scripps Research, CA, USA) and Pr. Arnaud Gautier (Sorbonne Université, Paris, France). In 2021, he completed his M.Sc. under the guidance of Pr. Raphaël Rodriguez (Institut Curie, Paris, France), where he worked on the total synthesis of alkaloids. Aurélien joined the lab in Oct. 2021 for his Ph.D., focusing on asymmetric synthesis and the total synthesis of complex natural products. Outside the lab, Aurel likes cooking, going to the movie theatre and scuba-diving.

aurelien.brion@cnrs.fr     +33 1 69 82 45 77

Emeric Montinho obtained his Master’s degree in organic chemistry and a magistère PCM diploma at the university and ENS Paris-Saclay. He joined the group in April 2021 for 4-months internship to work on chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed enantioselective cycloadditions. He came back in January 2022 for 6 months to study photocatalyzed reactions by new photocatalysts. He started his Ph.D studies on the same project in October 2022. Outside of the lab, he enjoys spending time with his friends, cooking and climbing.

emeric.montinho-inacio@cnrs.fr     +33 1 69 82 45 77

Emma Naulin obtained her bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 2020 and her master’s degree in Molecular and Supramolecular Chemistry (CMVS) in 2022 at the University of Strasbourg. During these two years, she diversified her experiences by carrying out a first internship in organometallic catalysis with Dr. Aurélien Blanc at the Institute of Chemistry of Strasbourg (Pr. Pale – Lasyroc team), followed by a second one at Sorbonne University under the supervision of Dr. Candice Bothua (Pr. Thorimbert – Chembio Team) dealing with the synthesis of artificial nucleotides for therapeutic purposes. In 2022, she chose to do a 6-month industrial internship in industry, at V.MANE&Fils company. She worked on the synthesis of biodegradable amber molecules from renewable feedstock. The same year, she joined the team of Dr. Géraldine Masson to begin her Ph. D. in asymmetric organocatalysis employing isothioureas and chiral phosphoric acids in particular. Outside the lab, she likes climbing and hiking. She is also passionate about the world of fragrances.

emma.naulin@cnrs.fr     +33 1 69 82 45 77

Luca Nicchio obtained his bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 2020 and his master’s degree in chemistry at the University of Pavia (Italy) in 2022, under the supervision of Prof. Maurizio Fagnoni (Photogreen Lab). During his 12-months master internship, he focused on the synthesis and the photoreactivity of arylazo sulfonates to promote metal and (photo)catalyst free photo-arylations. Luca joined the team in November 2022 in a co-tutoring PhD program between Université Paris-Saclay and University of Pavia (Université Paris-Saclay International Joint PhD Program (“Cotutelle”) 2022), under the supervision of Prof. Luc Neuville and Prof. Stefano Protti. His project concerns the development of new, green synthetic approaches through the visible-light generation of aryl radicals from arylazo sulfones and arylazo sulfonates. Outside the lab, he enjoys photography, tasting beer with friends and cooking (but he is not exactly an experienced cook).

luca.nicchio@cnrs.fr     +33 1 69 82 45 77

Ph.D visiting students

Vittoria Martini obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry 2018 and her master’s Degree in Industrial Chemistry in 2021 at University of Parma. During her master thesis, she studied the complexation of the host Cucurbit[8]uril with heterocyclic guests. In the same year, she received a research grant to work on electrochemical biosensors with semiconductor organic polymers at CNR-IMEM in Parma. In January 2022, she began her PhD thesis in Chemical Sciences at University of Parma with Prof. N. Della Cà. In the first year, she focused on the catalytic synthesis of substituted biaryl intermediates exploiting the Catellani reaction. She joined the group in December 2022 as a PhD visiting student. Outside the lab, her greatest passion is music. She likes also exploring nature and practicing yoga.

Lorenzo Di Terlizzi obtained his master’s degree in chemistry at the University of Pavia in Italy during which he worked on the photogeneration of diradicals intermediates starting from chloroaryl-substituted carboxylic acids. During his postgraduate studies, he focused on developing new green synthetic strategies employing arylazo sulfones and dyed-auxiliary groups using visible-light. He is currently a Ph. D. student at PhotoGreen Lab of Pavia, supervised by Prof. Maurizio Fagnoni and Prof. Stefano Protti. He is currently finishing his studies as a visiting student in the group. Outside the lab, he likes fitness, crosswords and travelling.

Master students