Romano Orrù (R.V.A.)
The research of Prof Orru focuses on fundamental Organic Chemistry using molecules and materials that Nature provides. His group delivered in the past 20 years clean, atom-and step-efficient one-pot syntheses for sustainable production of molecular diverse and structurally complex organic molecules tailored towards higher added-value in materials, medicines and catalysts. Nature has evolved its synthetic tools over billions of years with high levels of efficiency and elegance. Orru’s research is inspired by Nature’s approach but takes a next step finding efficient synthetic methodologies and strategies that out-perform processes in biology while taking advantage from the broad range of functionalities available in bio-based building blocks. Main topics include Cascade Syntheses, Sustainable Catalysis, Multicomponent Reactions, Heterocycles and Advanced Functional Materials.
Currently elaborated research lines are
- One-pot cascade syntheses based on state-of-the art multicomponent reaction chemistry using bio-based building blocks as feedstock to access high-added value APIs and advanced functional materials.
- Chemo-, regio-, and stereoselective reactions using sustainable resource efficient base or transition metal-, organo- and bio-catalytic systems.
- Bio-based isocyanides as versatile C1-building building blocks in cross-coupling chemistry towards valued heterocyclic compounds.
- Biomimetic templated N-to-C synthesis of peptides and proteins.
Expertises
Organic Chemistry
Bio-based Building Blocks & Natural Products
Organic Synthesis
Catalysis
Heterocycles
Advanced Functional Materials
Career history
Romano V.A. Orru holds since December 2019 the chair in Organic Chemistry of Biobased Building Blocks at the Aachen-Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials. He has graduated in 1990 from the Agricultural University of Wageningen (The Netherlands) and obtained his PhD in 1994 from the same institute on mechanistic aspects of cascade reactions and their use in the total synthesis of (sesqui)terpenes with Prof. Aede de Groot. He performed postdoctoral work in the group of Prof. Kurt Faber at the Karl-Franzens Universität in Graz (Austria) studying synthetic applications of biotransformations. In 2000 he started his independant scientific career at the Department of Chemistry & Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. In 2005 he promoted to Associate Professor, and in 2007 to Full Professor in Synthetic & Bioorganic Chemistry. His research focuses on synthetic method development an sustainable one-pot chemistry towards heterocycles, active pharmaceutical ingredients and advanced functional materials.