Overview
Welcome to the website of the Harutyunyan Research Group, which is embedded in the Stratingh Institute for Chemistry of the University of Groningen. The interests of our group span the disciplines of catalysis in organic and organometallic chemistry with an emphasis on emergence of chirality, elucidation of mechanisms.
Main focus
- Developing new enantioselective catalytic processes
- Elucidating reaction mechanisms with accent on NMR and kinetic studies
- Developing new metathesis catalysts
- Studies towards asymmetric amplification , origin of homochirality
- Developing prebiotically relevant auto- cross catalytic reactions
News and research highlights
Conference announcement: Frontiers in Chemistry, Armenia
Dr. Harutyunyan is one of the organizers of the international chemistry conference Frontiers in Chemistry, Armenia that will be held from 25 to 29 August 2013 in Yerevan, Armenia. World-renowned speakers on a variety of topics will ensure an enticing program, in a both stunning and culturally interesting location. For more information (and registration!) please visit the website at: www.armchemfront.com.
Young Investigator Workshop (YIW) in Marseille
Dr. Syuzanna R. Harutyunyan was selected to represent the Netherlands in the next Young Investigator Workshop organized by the Organic division of EuCheMs. The workshop, taking place from July 4-6 2013 in Marseille, is an annually recurring event for which at most 30 young researchers are selected. It is one of the most important young investigator networking events for organic chemists in the world.
Dr. Syuzanna R. Harutyunyan at TEDxHanzeUniversity
On October 3rd 2012 Syuzanna Harutyunyan gave a talk at the TEDxHanzeUniversity event. During this contribution she discussed the nanoscale 4-wheel drive that a team of scientists co-lead by her constructed, and that made it to the cover Nature in November 2011. The video of this presentation is now available on youtube.
Dr. Syuzanna R. Harutyunyan is awarded VIDI grant
Dr. Harutyunyan has been awarded the prestigious VIDI award by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for her proposal "New concepts in sustainable catalytic asymmetric carbon-carbon bond formation". The award of €800,000 will allow her to expand her research into new, cost-effective methodologies for synthesizing chiral alcohols/amines. This should unveil new insights into the role of Cu(I)-chemistry in asymmetric catalysis and lead to novel synthetic routes to highly valuable chiral molecules with immediate impact in both academia and industry. More...
Smallest four-wheel drive on the cover of Nature
We have constructed the tiniest ever electrically driven car, which consists of a single molecule. See the Nature issue of 10 November 2011 (doi:10.1038/nature10587):
Electrically driven directional motion of a four-wheeled molecule on a metal surface
T. Kudernac, N. Ruangsupapichat, M. Parschau, B. Maciá, N. Katsonis, S. R. Harutyunyan*, K.-H. Ernst*, B. L. Feringa*
C&EN: A Nanocar With Four-Wheel Drive
New Scientist: Single-molecule nanocar takes its first spin
Physics World: Four-wheel nanocar takes to the road
BBC: Single-molecule 'electric car' taken for test drive
Dr. Syuzanna R. Harutyunyan wins Solvias Ligand Contest
The jury of the annual Solvias Ligand Contest awarded the 2011 prize to Dr. Syuzanna R. Harutyunyan, Assistant Professor in Synthetic Organic Chemistry at the University of Groningen. The Award Ceremony and presentation of the prize-winning contribution took place during the 10th Science Day. Read more...
Ligand Contest 2011, Dr. Syuzanna R. Harutyunyan with Dr. Benoit Pugin at the award presentation (Photo: Juri Junkov)