Faculty

On April 30^th 2020, Wiley-VCH – European Chemical Society Publishing announced the top downloaded publications in recent publication history. Two publications from the Research Group of Assistant Professor Georgios C. Vougioukalakis are among the top 10% of the most downloaded papers in the scientific journals European Journal of Organic Chemistry and ChemCatChem.

Both publications are in the field of Organic Chemistry and Sustainable Catalysis. The first work is entitled “A Sustainable, User-Friendly Protocol for the Pd-Free Sonogashira Coupling Reaction” with authors Aggeliki A. Liori, Ioannis K. Stamatopoulos, Argyro T. Papastavrou, Afroditi Pinaka, and Georgios C. Vougioukalakis. It discusses the development of a new catalytic system for the palladium-free Sonogashira coupling reaction, based on a widely available, low-cost, non-toxic copper salt. The Sonogashira coupling reaction is widely utilized in industry and academia for the synthesis of compounds with important technological and biological applications. You can access this work by clicking: https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejoc.201800827

The second work is entitled “Unprecedented Multicomponent Organocatalytic Synthesis of Propargylic Esters via CO₂ Activation” with authors Argyro T. Papastavrou, Martin Pauze, Enrique Gómez-Bengoa, and Georgios C. Vougioukalakis. It discusses an innovative, efficient, and straightforward organocatalytic method for the direct, multicomponent carboxylation of terminal alkynes with CO₂ and organochlorides, towards propargylic esters, for the first time. Given that CO₂ is the major greenhouse effect gas, its monetization towards the preparation of useful chemicals is of outmost importance, especially when this is achieved in a highly sustainable manner. This work can be accessed by clicking: https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cctc.201900207

More information about these works and other research projects implemented in the Research Group of Assistant Professor Georgios C. Vougioukalakis can be found here: http://users.uoa.gr/~vougiouk

The development of a “green”, environment-friendly, organocatalytic (metal-free) photochemical organic transformation for the synthesis of ketones from the reaction between aldehydes and unactivated olefins was reported by the group of Assistant Professor Christoforos Kokotos. The publication entitled: «Green Metal-Free Photochemical Hydroacylation of Unactivated Olefins», which was carried out by PhD candidate Errika Voutyritsa and Assistant Professor Christoforos Kokotos in the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry of the Department of Chemistry of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, was published in the highly ranked international journal Angewandte Chemie. Angewandte Chemie, a journal of the Wiley publishing house, constitutes a top international journal in Chemistry with a high impact factor (12.24). Publication Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/anie.201912214

The methodology describes a novel organic reaction that employs a small organic molecule (phenylglyoxylic acid) as the photoinitiator, water as the solvent and is carried out under very mild conditions by irradiation employing either household lamps or sunlight. The reaction constitutes a novel C-H activation methodology that does not require metal catalysts or directing groups and can be employed in a plethora of subtrates. The reaction and its products are of high importance for the Chemical Industry and especially the Pharmaceutical Industry. Key role in the success of the work was the study of the reaction mechanism in detail. This new synthetic methodology is expected to open new avenues in Organic Synthetic Chemistry and will find applications in the synthesis of high added value chemicals and pharmaceuticals, as well as in the synthesis of natural products.