Evaluation of Chemistry Research in Finland
Evaluation Form
The Form consists of two parts:
Part I. Resources and research output of the Unit
Part II. The Unit’s self-assessment
Part I: Selected parts of the information provided by the Unit will be published in the evaluation
report. Part II: The information provided by the Unit will be used for evaluation purposes only and
will not be published. No data concerning individual researchers will be published; the evaluation
will not assess persons but the unit as a whole.
PART I. RESOURCES AND RESEARCH OUTPUT
1. GENERAL INFORMATION
A. Contact information
University
The Evaluated Unit
Address
Phone
Internet home page
The head of the Unit
Phone
Email
Faculty or equivalent higher level of
organisation
Head of the faculty or equivalent
Phone
Email
University of Jyväskylä
Laboratory of Organic Chemistry
Survontie 9
+358-14-2602672
https://www.jyu.fi/kemia/tutkimus/orgaaninen/en
Academy Professor Kari Rissanen
+358-14-2602672
kari.t.rissanen@jyu.fi
Chemistry
Prof. Jan Lundell
+358 14 260 2650
jan.c.lundell@jyu.fi
1
B. The unit’s research profile within the field of evaluation
Estimate the percentage that chemistry research represents from all research done in your unit.
100 %
Give the information requested in the following Tables of Part I (personnel, funding etc.) only
concerning the chemistry part of your research if not explicitly indicated otherwise.
Estimate the following chemistry subfield percentages respective to your all chemistry research
(sum=100%).
Table 1.1
Research
%
Analytical chemistry
Inorganic chemistry
Industrial chemistry
Materials chemistry
Organic chemistry
50
Physical chemistry
Polymer chemistry
Theoretical chemistry
Supramolecular Chemistry
50
2
2. RESOURCES
A1. Personnel
Include personnel funded through the university to which the unit belongs, or through some other
funding source.
Include only those graduate students that have carried out their work in the unit.
Visiting research staff is not included here but in section A2 below (Tables 2.4. and 2.5.).
Calculate Full Time Equivalent (FTE) for the evaluation period: (Total person months for the
category) /12/(5 years).
Table 2.1
Person months
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Total
Professors
24
Other senior researchers
48
Postdoctoral researchers
59
Total senior and postdoctoral
131
Postgraduate students
168
Other graduated academic staff
10
Total postgraduate and other
178
Total active research staff
309
Research assistants and graduate students 31
Administrative personnel
0
Technical personnel
36
Total assisting, admin. and technical 67
All staff
507
36
48
61
145
178
11
189
334
29
0
36
65
544
36
53
53
142
176
8
184
326
12
0
36
48
516
45
48
72
165
188
0
188
353
10
0
36
46
564
48
36
107
191
198
0
198
389
27
0
36
63
643
189
233
352
774
908
29
937
1711
109
0
180
289
2774
FTE for the
period
3.15
3.88
5.87
12.9
15.1
0.5
15.6
28.5
1.8
0
3
4.8
46.2
List the professors, other senior researchers and postdoctoral researchers for the evaluation period
Table 2.2
Name
Gender
Kari Rissanen
M
Year
of
birth
1959
Kari Rissanen
Erkki Kolehmainen
Maija Nissinen
Petri Pihko
Jaakko Paasivirta
M
M
F
M
M
1959
1947
1974
1971
1931
Title
Degree
Year of
awarding
Ph.D.
Degree
awarded
by
JYU
Academy
Professor
Professor
Professor
Professor
Professor
Professor,
emeritus
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
P.D.
JYU
KYU
JYU
OY
OY
1990
1990
2001
1999
1962
1990
Period of
employment in the
unit
2008-2012
1995->
2001->
2006 ->
2008->
1970 – 1994,
works as emeritus
3
Petri Pihko
M
1971
Ph.D.
OY
1999
2005-2008
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
JYU
JYU
1979
2001
1975-2008
2003 - 2005
Ph.D.
JYU
2003
2007->
Ph.D.
JYU
1995
2005-2009
Ph.D.
JYU
2003
2008->
Ph.D.
JYU
1993
1998-2007
Ph.D.
JYU
1989
2000 - 2008
1977
1974
1974
1970
1975
1978
Senior
Lecturer (TKK)
Lecturer
Academy
Research
Fellow
Academy
Research
Fellow
Senior
Teaching
Assistant
Senior
Teaching
Assistant
Senior
Teaching
Assistant
Senior
Researcher
Post doc.
Post doc.
Post doc.
Post doc.
Post doc.
Post doc.
Katri Laihia
Maija Nissinen
F
F
1940
1974
Elina Sievänen
F
1977
Juhani Huuskonen
M
1963
Tanja Lahtinen
F
1970
Erkki Mannila
M
1956
Seija Sinkkonen
F
1950
Elina Sievänen
Jurgen Stahl
Luca Russo
Tanja Lahtinen
Andreina Moreno
Shreedhar Bhat
F
M
M
F
F
M
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
2003
2002
2005
2003
2005
2006
2005-> 2006
2005
2005 - 2006
2005 - 2007
2006
2006
M
1977
Post doc.
Ph.D.
2005
2008-2009
Zoran Dzolic
M
1974
Post doc.
Ph.D.
2007
2007-2009
Arto Valkonen
Marta Pontini
M
F
1978
1980
Post doc.
Post doc.
Ph.D.
Ph.D.
2008
2009
2008->
2009->
Jens Bunzen
M
1979
Post doc.
Ph.D.
2009
2009->
Ngong Kodiah
Beyeh
Prus Piotr
M
1977
Post doc.
Ph.D.
JYU
GER
UK
JYU
JoY
IIS,
Bangalore
, India
La
Sapienza,
Rome,
Italy
RBI,
Zagreb,
Croatia
JYU
Univ.
Padova,
Italy
Univ.
Bonn,
Germany
JYU
Massimo Cametti
2008
2009->
M
1969
Post doc.
Ph.D.
2003
2007-2008
Babita Behera
F
1978
Post doc.
Ph.D.
2006
2007-2008
Nonappa
M
1980
Post doc.
Ph.D.
Polish
Academy
of Science
H.N.B.
Garhwal
Univ.,UA,
India
IIS, Bangl,
India
2008
2009->
4
Meryem
Benohoud
F
1981
Post doc.
Ph.D.
Irene Breuer
F
1975
Post doc. (TKK)
Dr. rer.
nat.
Daniele
Castagnolo
M
1978
Post doc.
(TKK)
Ph.D.
Melanie Clarke
F
1979
Post doc.
(TKK)
Ph.D.
Laurent Evanno
M
1981
Post doc.
(TKK)
Ph.D.
Hannes Helmboldt
M
1977
Post doc.
(TKK)
Dr. rer.
nat.
Syam Krishnan
M
1980
Post doc.
Ph.D.
Jun Liu
M
1979
Post doc.
Ph.D.
Hasibur Rahaman
M
1978
Post doc.
Ph.D.
University
Paris-Sud
XI (Orsay),
France
RWTH
Aachen,
Germany
University
of Siena,
Italy
University
of
Nottingha
m, UK
2008
2009->
2005
2005-2006
2006
2006-2007
2004
2004-2006
Pierre and
Marie
Curie
University
, Paris,
France
Technisch
e
Universitä
t Dresden,
Germany
NIISTCSIR/
University
of Kerala,
India
Northwes
tern
National
University
, China
University
of Pune,
India
2007
2007-2008
2006
2007-2008
2007
2008-2009
2007
2009->
2008
2009->
Indicate which percentage of the research is carried out by postgraduates and which by PhDs.
Estimate also the percentage of the research funding used to basic and applied research.
5
Table 2.3
Type of Research
% Research Funding
% Research done by
postgraduates
% Research done by PhDs
Basic
85
50
Applied
15
80
50
20
Total
100
A2. Visiting researchers
Include visiting researchers when the funding for the visit has been arranged through the
activity of your unit (e.g. Academy of Finland, Tekes, EU funding).
Table 2.4
Person months
2005
2006
2007
2008 2009 Total
Visiting Professors
Visiting senior researchers
Visiting Postdoctoral researchers
Visiting Postgraduate students
1
0
0
1
6
0
0
4
0
0
0
9
0
0
0
6
0
0
0
4
7
0
0
24
FTE for the
period
0.12
0
0
0.40
All visiting researchers
2
10
9
6
4
31
0.52
List the visiting professors, visiting senior researchers and visiting postdoctoral researchers here.
The postgraduate students will be listed in section 4E, Visits to the Unit, Table 4.7.
Table 2.5
Name
Gend
er
M
Title
Degree
Prof.
Ph.D.
Pierangelo
Metrangolo
M
Prof.
Ph.D.
Christoph
Schalley
M
Priv.
Doz.
Ph.D.
Christoph
Schalley
M
Priv.
Doz.
Ph.D.
Joao Rodrigues
Period of
visit
20.9 –
20.12.
2006
1. –
31.11.
2006
15.915.10.
2005
20.820.9.
2006
Home organisation
and the subunit
Univ. Madeira, Dept.
Chem.
Country
Portugal
Source of
Funding
PFC
Tech. Univ. Milan,
Dept. Chem.
Italy
JYU
Univ. Bonn, Dept.
Chem.
Germany
DAAD
Univ. Bonn, Dept.
Chem.
Germany
DAAD
6
B. Funding
Table 2.6
Core
funding
External
funding
Total
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
616500
653781
706273
728435
616500
437020
653781
389900
706273
452560
728435
653802
775088
150000
925088
778142
Total
3 480 077
150 000
3 630 077
2 711 424
48000
86000
137000
174000
130000
575 000
168000
198000
68000
50000
100000
584 000
Other public
sources
Industry
-
-
-
-
-
33000
25000
16000
144286
154717
373003
Private
foundations
EU
-
15000
16000
17300
1300
49600
-
-
-
-
-
-
Other foreign
organisations
-
36325
36325
36325
-
108975
1 302 520
1 404 006
1 432 158
1 804 148
2 089 247
Budget funding
Other
Academy of
Finland
Graduate
schools
(Min.Edu.)
Tekes
-
8 032 079
7
3. RESEARCH OUTPUT
A. Numbers of scientific publications and other outputs
Table 3.1
1. Articles in refereed scientific journals
2. Articles in refereed scientific edited volumes
and conference proceedings
3. Scientific Monographs (excluding theses)
4. Text books and other research volumes (e.g.
edited proceedings)
5. Research reports (e.g. laboratory reports)
6. Other scientific publications (e.g. nonrefereed articles)
7. National patents, granted
8. National patents, applied
9. International patents, granted
10. International patents, applied
11. Other, specify, chapter in science philosophy
book, ISBN: 978-951-884-448-1
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
35
51
48
38
38
1
2
1
4
4
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
2008
18
19
17
4
2009
4
19
17
4
B. Degrees
Table 3.2
Master’s degree
Number of postgraduate students
Number of full time postgraduate students
Completed doctoral degree
2005
15
15
14
0
2006
9
17
16
2
2007
10
18
16
1
8
List of doctoral dissertations in 2005-2009.
Table 3.3
Name (family
name, given
name)
Year
of
birth
G
e
n
d
e
r
Title of dissertation
Mansikkamäki
Heidi
Busi Sara
1977
F
Self-Assembly of Resorcinarenes
1978
F
Mäntykoski
Keijo
1956
M
Erkkilä Anniina
1980
F
Sami Nummelin
1968
M
Arto Valkonen
1978
M
Ngong Kodian
Beyeh
1977
M
Anna Lähde
1974
F
Juha Koivukorpi
1970
M
Tero Tuuttila
1973
M
Kirsi Salorinne
1978
F
Aho Jatta
1979
F
Synthesis, Characterization and
Thermal Properties of New
Quaternary Ammonium Compounds:
New Materials for Electrolytes, Ionic
Liquids and Complexation Studies
PCBs in Process, Products and
Environment of Paper Mills Using
Wastepaper as Their Raw Material
Advances in Amine Catalysis. Bronsted
Acids in Iminium and Enamine
Activation
Synthesis, Characterization, Structural
and Retrostructural Analysis of Selfassembling Pore Forming Dendrimers
Structural Characteristics and
Properties of Substituted Cholanoates
and N-Substituted Cholanamides
Resorcinarenes and Their Derivatives:
Synthesis, Characterization and
Complexation in Gas Phase and in
Solution
Production and Surface Modification
of Pharmaceutical Nano- and
Microparticles with the Aerosol Flow
Reactor
Bile acid-arene conjugates: From
photoswitchhability to cancer cell
detection
Functional Dendritic Polyester
Compounds: Synthesis and
Characterization of Small Bifunctional
Dendrimers and Dyes
Tetramethoxy Resorcinarene Based
cation and Anion receptors. Synthesis,
Characterization and Binding
Properties
Synthesis of the C10-epi-ABCDE
Fragment of the Pectenotoxins
Year
of
starti
ng
postg
radua
te
studie
s
2002
Year
of
compl
eting
degre
e
Years
worked
in the
unit
during
postgra
duate
studies
Present
employment (job
description,
organisation)
2006
5
2003
2006
worked
outside
unit
Researcher, BASF,
Ludwigshaven
Maternity leave
1990
2007
Reseacher, JYU
2003
2007
worked
outside
unit
4
1997
2008
6
Post doctoral
researcher, AU
2002
2008
6
Post doctoral
researcher, JYU
2005
2008
4
Post doctoral
researcher, JYU
2000
2008
worked
outside
unit
Project manager,
KuU
2002
2009
7
Teaching assistant,
JYU
2004
2009
6
not known
2005
2009
5
Teaching assistant,
JYU
2004
2009
5
Gaia Consulting
Maternity leave
9
4. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
Throughout this section, do not use abbreviations for institutes and universities but spell them out.
Target the collaboration and visits to the period of evaluation (2005-2009).
More detailed content of the collaboration and important project consortia can be described in Part
II: Collaboration.
A. Extent of collaboration
For your yearly production of refereed journal publications, give the percentages for co-authoring
partners outside your unit.
Table 4.1
Percentage from refereed journal publications
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
No co-author outside the unit
Domestic co-author
Foreign co-author
Both domestic and foreign co-authors
17.1
42.9
34.3
5.7
13.8
49.0
33.3
3.9
22.9
54.2
14.6
8.3
36.8
42.1
15.8
5.3
43.6
35.9
12.8
7.7
B. National collaboration
List your most important national collaborations. The collaborating organisation may also be from
the same university or research institute, or industrial. The type of collaboration may be e.g. joint
projects, personal collaboration, research mobility, networking.
The results may be e.g.:

Refereed scientific publications

Other publications

Patents or other outputs

Educational, MSc and PhD theses

Facilities, instrumentation

Prototypes, methodologies

Networks
Table 4.2
Main organisation and collaborating
subunit
Prof. Hannu Häkkinen, JYU,
Nanoscience Center
Prof. Ari Koskinen, AU
Dr. Elina Kalenius, Univ. Eastern
Finland, Joensuu
Prof. Reko Leino, Åbo Akademi Univ.,
Turku
Type of Collaboration and the field of
science/Collaborator*
Synthetic and computational
chemistry/MN
X-ray crystallography/KR, MN
Mass spectrometry/KR, EK, MN
Results
Combined catalysis sequences/PP
Refereed scientific publications
on-going M.Sc. thesis, starting
research collaboration
refereed scientific publications
refereed scientific publications
10
Dr. Reijo Aksela, Kemira Co., Finland
Dr. Oili Kallatsa, PCAS Co., Finland
Dr. Manu Lahtinen, JYU, Inorg. Chem.
Synthesis of chelating agents/PP
Asymmetric catalysis/PP
Thermogravimetric analysis/KR, EK
refereed scientific publications
Refereed scientific publications
Refereed scientific publications
Prof. Robert Franzén, Techn. Univ.
X-ray crystallography/KR
Refereed scientific publications
Prof. Jouni Pursiainen, Univ. Oulu
X-ray crystallography/KR,MN
Refereed scientific publications
Prof. Johan Bobacka, Åbo Akademi
X-ray crystallography, Synthetic
chemistry/KR
Refereed scientific publications
Dr. Juho Helaja, Univ. Helsinki
X-ray crystallography/KR
Refereed scientific publications
Prof. Pirjo Vainiotalo, Univ. Eastern
Mass spectrometry, X-ray
crystallography/ KR, EK
Refereed scientific publications
X-ray crystallography, Synthetic
chemistry/KR
Refereed scientific publications
Prof. Jussi Valkonen, JYU, Inorg. Chem.
X-ray crystallography/KR
Refereed scientific publications
Prof. Markku Kulomaa, IMT, Univ.
Synthesis chemistry/KR
Refereed scientific publications
Synthetic chemistry, X-ray
crystallography/KR
Refereed scientific publications
Refereed scientific publications
Prof. Ilkka Kilpeläinen, Univ. Helsinki
Halogen bonding, X-ray
crystallography/KR
Synthetic chemistry, NMR
spectroscopy/EK
Solid State NMR spectroscopy, X-ray
crystallography/EK, KR
Solid State NMR spectroscopy/EK
Prof. Kalevi Pihlaja, Univ. Turku
Dr. Jarmo Ropponen, VTT, Espoo
NMR spectroscopy/EK
Solid State NMR spectroscopy/EK
Prof. Markus Ahlskog, Univ. Jyväskylä,
Dept. Physics
Synthetic chemisty, AFM
technigues/TL,KR
Prof. Matti Haukka, Univ. Eastern
Crystal engineering/KR
Network
Synthetic chemistry/SI,EK
Recently started common research
project, no outcome yet
Tampere
Univ., Turku
Finland, Joensuu
Prof. Ari Ivaska, Åbo Akademi Univ.,
Turku
Tampere
Prof. Jouko Korppi-Tommola, JYU,
Phys. Chem.
Prof. Pierangelo Metrangolo, VTT,
Helsinki
Prof. Jouko Vepsäläinen, Univ. Eastern
Finland. Kuopio
Prof. Olli Ikkala, Aalto Univ. , Helsinki
Refereed scientific publications, ms in
preparation
Refereed scientific publications, ms in
preparation
Refereed scientific publications, ms in
preparation
Refereed scientific publications
Refereed scientific publications, ms in
preparation
common research project
Finland, Joensuu
Prof. Janne Ihalainen, University of
Jyväskylä. Dept. Biology
*Collaborators: KR = Kari Rissanen, EK = Erkki Kolehmainen, MN = Maija Nissinen, PP = Petri Pihko, TL = Tanja Lahtinen, SI =
Satu Ikonen, JP = Jaakko Paasivirta
11
C. International collaboration
List your most important international collaborations with the same criteria as in Section 4.B.
Table 4.3
Main organisation and
collaborating subunit
Country
Type of Collaboration and
the field of
science/Collaborator*
Synthetic chemisty,
X-ray
crystallography/KR,MN
X-ray crystallography/KR
Results
Prof. Antonella Dalla Cort,
Italy
UK
Synthetic chemisty,
X-ray crystallography/KR
Germany
Synthetic chemisty,
X-ray crystallography/KR
common research project,
refereed scientific
publications
common research project
Dalcanale,
Italy
Synthetic chemisty,
X-ray crystallography/KR
Dr. S. K. Chawla, Guru
India
X-ray crystallography/KR
Germany
Synthetic chemisty,
X-ray crystallography/KR
Univ. La Sapienza, Rome
Prof. Carl Henrik Görbitz,
Norway
Univ. Oslo
Dr. Jonathan Nitschke,
Univ. Cambridge
Dr. Arne Luetzen, Univ.
Bonn
Prof.
Enrico
Univ. Parma
Nanak Dev Univ., Amritsar
Prof.
Markus
Albrecht,
Tech. Univ. Aachen
Prof. Günter Haufe, Univ.
Prof. Raj Pal Sharma, Panjab
Prof. Jean-Pierre Sauvage,
Prof.
Giuseppe
Resnati,
Univ. Strasbourg
refereed scientific
publications
X-ray crystallography/KR
refereed scientific
publications
X-ray crystallography/KR
refereed scientific
publications
X-ray crystallography/KR
refereed scientific
publications
Hungary
Adac. Scien., Budapest
Prof. Anthony Davis, Univ.
Bristol
Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn,
X-ray crystallography/KR
Italy
La Sapienza, Rome
Dr. Istvan Moldvai, Hun.
refereed scientific
publications
Italy
Tech Univ. Milan
Prof. Luigi Mandolini, Univ.
X-ray crystallography/KR
France
Univ. Strasbourg
UK
common research project,
refereed scientific
publications
refereed scientific
publications
X-ray crystallography/KR
India
University, Chanidgarh
refereed scientific
publications
common research project,
refereed scientific
publications
refereed scientific
publications
Germany
Muenster
refereed scientific
publications
NMR spectroscopy, X-ray
crystallography/EK,KR,MN
France
X-ray crystallography/KR
refereed scientific
publications
refereed scientific
publications
12
Prof. Makoto Fujita, Univ.
Tokyo
Prof. Virgil Percec, Univ. of
Pennsylvania
Prof. Ola Wendt. Univ. Lund
Japan
Dr. Zoran Dzolic, RBI,
Zagrab
Prof. Enrigue GarciaEspana, Univ. Valencia
Croatia
Prof. Lars Öhrntröm,
Chalmers Tech. Univ.
Dr Roland Fröhlich, Univ. of
Münster
Prof. Chris A. Schalley, Freie
Univ- Berlin
Sweden
Dr. H. Saxell, BASF SE
Germany
Dr. Patrick Shahgaldian,
Fachhochschule
Nordwestschweiz
Prof. Jochen Mattay,
Bielefeld University
Prof. Benjamin List, MPI,
Mülheim
Switzerland
Prof. Phil Baran, The Scripps
Research Institute, Dept of
Chemistry, USA
USA
Total synthesis of natural
products/PP
Prof. Georgios
Vassilikogiannakis,
University of Crete,
Dr. K. V. Radhakrishnan,
NIIST-CSIR / University of
Kerala, Kerala, India
Prof. Imre Papai, Hungarian
Academy of Sciences,
Hungary
Prof. Jiri Brus, Inst. Polym.
Chem., Prague
Prof. Subramanian
Chandrasekaran, Georgia
State University
Prof. Jerry Ray Dias,
University of Missouri
Prof. Pavel Drasar, Institute
of Chemical Technology,
Prague
Greece
Total synthesis of natural
products/PP
Postgraduate student visits
India
Asymmetric catalysis/PP
Initiated research
collaboration
Hungary
Computational studies in
hydrogen bonding
catalysis/PP
NMR spectroscopy/EK
Manuscript in preparation
USA
Sweden
Spain
Germany
Germany
Germany
Germany
Czech Republic
Synthetic chemisty, X-ray
crystallography/KR
Synthesis chemisty/KR
Synthetic chemisty, X-ray
crystallography/KR
Synthetic chemisty, X-ray
crystallography/KR
Synthetic chemisty, X-ray
crystallography/KR
Synthetic chemisty, X-ray
crystallography/KR
X-ray
crystallography/MN,KR
Mass spectrometry, X-ray
diffraction, Synthesis
chemistry/KR,MN
Polymorphism, Solid State
NMR spectroscopy/MN,EK
Resesrch exchange,
education/MN
Synthetic chemisty, X-ray
crystallography/MN
Organocatalysis/PP
USA
17
USA
Synthetic chemistry, NMR
spectroscopy/EK
Synthetic chemistry, NMR
spectroscopy/EK
Czech Republic
O NMR spectroscopy/EK
Common res. project, 2009
started collaboration
refereed scientific
publications
common res. project
Publication in preparation
common res. project
Publication in preparation
common res. project
Publication in preparation
common res. project
Publication in preparation
refereed scientific
publications
refereed scientific
publications
refereed scientific
publications, patents
Researcher exchange,
starting research
collaboration
research collaboration
Student exchange, ongoing
collaboration in
organocatalytic reactions
Postgraduate student visits
refereed scientific
publications
Initiated research
collaboration
refereed scientific
publications
Initiated research
collaboration
13
Prof. Ryszard Gawinecki,
University of Technology
and Life Sciences,
Bydgoszcz,
Prof. Vladimír Král, Inst.
Chem. Technol., Prague,
Prof. Nikolai V. Lukashev,
Moscow State University
Prof. Uday Maitra, Indian
Institute of Science,
Bangalore
Prof. Radek Marek,
Masaryk University, Brno
Prof. Mikiji Miyata, Osaka
University
Poland
Synthetic chemistry, NMR
spectroscopy, X-ray
crystallography/EK
refereed scientific
publications
Czech Republic
refereed scientific
publications
refereed scientific
publications
refereed scientific
publications
Dr. T. Mohan Das,
University of Madras
Prof. Vladimir A. Nikiforov,
St. Petersburg University
Dr. Borys Osmialowski,
University of Technology
and Life Sciences,
Bydgoszcz
Dr. Pal Perjesi, University of
Pecs
Prof. Chebrolu Pulla Rao,
Indian Institute of
Technology, Mumbai
India
Synthetic chemistry, NMR
spectroscopy/EK
Synthetic chemistry, NMR
spectroscopy/EK
Synthetic chemistry, NMR
spectroscopy, X-ray
crystallography/EK,KR
NMR spectroscopy, CSA
tensor analysis/EK
Solid State NMR
spectroscopy, X-ray
crystallography/EK
Synthetic chemistry, NMR
spectroscopy/EK
NMR spectroscopy, X-ray
crystallography/EK
Synthetic chemistry, NMR
spectroscopy, X-ray
crystallography/EK
Hungary
NMR spectroscopy/EK
India.
NMR spectroscopy, X-ray
crystallography/EK,KR
refereed scientific
publications
refereed scientific
publications
Dr. David Šaman, Czech
Acad. Sci., Prague
Prof. Alexander G. Shavva,
St. Petersburg University
Prof. Vladimír Sklenár,
Masaryk University, Brno
Prof. Zdenek Wimmer,
Czech Acad. Sci., Prague
Prof. Eugenijus Butkus,
Univ. Vilnius
Prof. Toomas Tamm, Univ.
Talinn
Prof. Kenneth Wärnmark.
Univ. Lund
Prof. Andrew Bond, Univ.
Odense
Prof. Giulia Licini, Univ.
Padova. dept. Chem.
Dr. Michal Hocek, IOCB,
Czech Academy of Science
Dr. Charl Faul, Univ. of
Bristol, Dept. Chem.
Czech Republic
NMR spectroscopy/EK
Russia
Synthetic chemistry, NMR
spectroscopy /EK
NMR spectroscopy/EK
Russia
India
Czech Republic
Japan
Russia
Poland
Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Lithuania
Estonia
Sweden
Denmark
Italy
Czech Republic
UK
Synthetic chemistry, NMR
spectroscopy/EK
Crystal engineering,. X-ray
crystallography/KR
Crystal engineering, X-ray
crystallography/KR
Crystal engineering, X-ray
crystallography/KR
Crystal engineering, X-ray
crystallography/KR
Synthetic chemisty, X-ray
crystallography/KR
Synthetic chemistry,
biochemistry/SI
X-ray crystallography/KR
refereed scientific
publications
Initiated research
collaboration
Initiated research
collaboration
refereed scientific
publications
refereed scientific
publications
refereed scientific
publications
Initiated research
collaboration
refereed scientific
publications
refereed scientific
publications
Network
Network
Network
Network
common res. project
Publication under review
Common research project,
refereed scientific publ.
starting research
collaboration
14
Prof. Jan Triska, Univ. of
Budejovice
Czech Republik.
Bio-organic chemistry/JP
refereed scientific
publications
*Collaborators: KR = Kari Rissanen, EK = Erkki Kolehmainen, MN = Maija Nissinen, PP = Petri Pihko, TL = Tanja Lahtinen, SI =
Satu Ikonen, JP = Jaakko Paasivirta
D. Visits abroad
In the following, list only senior and postdoctoral researchers of Table 2.2. Do not include visits done
by the listed persons during their postgraduate studies. Minimum duration of visit: one month.
Table 4.4
Name
Ngong Kodiah Beyeh
Target
organisation and
visited subunit
Country
Period of visit
Source of
funding
Freie Univ. Berlin,
Dept. Chem.
Germany
1.2. – 31.3.2009
Academy of Finland
In the following, list the visits abroad made by postgraduate students. Visits shorter than one month
are not taken into account.
Table 4.5
Name
Sara Busi
Ngong Kodiah Beyeh
Elisa Nauha
Elisa Nauha
Kirsi Salorinne
Anniina Erkkilä
Jatta Aho
Antti Pohjakallio
University and
subunit
Freie Univ. Berlin,
Dept. Chem.
Freie Univ. Berlin,
Dept. Chem.
BASF SE
University of Münster
University of Münster
Max-Planck Institut
für Kohlenforschung,
Mülheim,
University of Crete,
Heraklion
The Scripps Research
Institute, Dept Chem.
Country
Period of visit
Source of funding
Germany
1.9. – 30.11.2006
Academy of Finland
Germany
3.9. – 28.11.2007
Academy of Finland
Germany
Germany
Germany
Germany
1.12.08-30.6.2009
28.10.-27.11.2009
1.- 28.2.2006
1.10.2005-21.12.2005
BASF SE
JYU
Academy of Finland
Academy of Finland
Greece
1.10.2006-30.11.2006
COST D28
USA
1.4.2007-30.6.2007
Graduate School
E. Visits to the Unit
Include visiting professors, visiting senior researchers and visiting postdoctoral researchers when
the funding has not been organised through the activities of your unit. Minimum duration of
visit: one month. Do not include visiting researchers from section 2. A2.
15
Table 4.6
Name and title
of the visitor
Home organisation
and visitor’s subunit
Country
Field of
science
Period of
visit
Source of
funding
NO VISITS
In the following table list the visits to the unit made by postgraduate students from other universities
irrespective of the funding source. Visits shorter than one month are not taken into account.
Table 4.7
Name
Jens Illigen
Sascha Zhuxia Shu
Mr. Alberte Veiga
Ralf Troff
Joao Figueira
Joao Figueira
Dominic Weimann
Ralf Troff
Joao Figueira
University and
subunit
Univ. Bonn, Dept.
Chem.
Univ. Bonn, Dept.
Chem.
University of Santiago
de Compostela
Freie Univ. Berlin,
Dept. Chem.
Univ. Madeira, Dept.
Chem.
Univ. Madeira, Dept.
Chem.
Freie Univ. Berlin,
Dept. Chem.
Freie Univ. Berlin,
Dept. Chem.
Univ. Madeira, Dept.
Chem.
Country
Period of visit
Source of funding
Germany
1.9. - 1.10.2005
DAAD
Germany
4.8. - 14.12.2006
DAAD
Spain
1.4. - 30.6.2007
Germany
20.8. - 18.11.2007
University of Santiago
de Compostela
DAAD
Portugal
15.9. - 31.12.2007
FCT, Portugal
Portugal
1..1. - 31.3.2008
FCT, Portugal
Germany
10.9. - 10.11.2008
DAAD
Germany
29.9. - 10.11.2008
DAAD
Portugal
2.2. - 31.5.2009
FCT, Portugal
F. Industrial collaboration
In the following table list only such collaborations where senior and postdoctoral researchers listed
in Table 2.2 have participated.
Table 4.8
Collaborating organisation and
subunit
PCAS Finland
Soligs, Abbott GmbH & Co
Country
Type of collaboration
Results of collaboration
Finland and
France
Germany
Research collaboration in
asymmetric catalysis
Research collaboration in
structural chemistry
Refereed scientific
publication
Research report
In the following, list cases where industrial collaboration has constituted an essential part of
completed postgraduate studies.
16
Table 4.9
Collaborating organisation and
subunit
No collaboration
Country
Title of dissertation
(From Table 3.3 )
In the following, list MSc theses done in industry.
Table 4.10
Collaborating organisation and
subunit
BASF SE, Ludwigshafen
Country
Title of MSc thesis
Germany
KemFine
Finland
Bio-Tie Therapies
Finland
Santen
MAP Medical Technologies
Finland
Finland
Elisa Nauha: Polymorph screening of
tiophanate-methyl
Elsa Hukari: Optimization of an
Aromatization Process
Sari Norrlund, Design and Synthesis of
non-peptide integrin inhibitors
Niina Ketola, Bisanthrones
Karoliina Nurminen, The Imaging of
Brain Serotonin Transporters with
Radiopharmaceuticals
5. OTHER SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIETAL ACTIVITIES
Throughout this section include only senior and postdoctoral researchers of Table 2.2. Target the
activities to the period of evaluation (2005-2009). Do not use acronyms of journals, conferences,
institutions etc., but spell them out.
Invited presentations in scientific conferences
Table 5.1
Name
Kari Rissanen
Title of presentation
Supramolecular Assemblies
Through Weak Non-Covalent
Interactions
Petri Pihko
Organocatalytic Tools for
Asymmetric Synthesis
Petri Pihko
Organocatalytic Tools for
Asymmetric Synthesis
Petri Pihko
Organocatalytic Tools for
Asymmetric Synthesis
Name of the conference
COST D31 Symposium on
“Organising Non-Covalent Chemical
Systems with Selected Functions”,
Leuven, Belgium,
ERA-Chemistry Workshop 2006:
Stereo-controlled chemistry related
to the solution of major biological
problems, Madrid, Spain
CERC3 Workshop on
Organocatalysis, Stockholm,
Sweden
International Symposium on
Organocatalysis in Organic
Synthesis, Glasgow, UK
Year
2005
2006
2006
2006
17
Kari Rissanen
Functional Dendrimers
Petri Pihko
Organocatalytic Tools for
Asymmetric Synthesis
Kari Rissanen
Ion-Pair Recognition by Uranyl
Salophens
Kari Rissanen
Supramolecular Assemblies
Through Weak Non-Covalent
Interactions
Guanidine Based Hydrogen Bonded
Networks
Kari Rissanen
Petri Pihko
Petri Pihko
Probing the Limits of
Organocatalysis with Simple
Catalysis
Organocatalytic Tools for Synthesis
Kari Rissanen
Supramolecular Chemistry
Kari Rissanen
Multiple Interactions in Solid State
Supramolecular Chemistry
Kari Rissanen
Weak Intermolecular Interactions
in the Solid State, the
Supramolecular Chemistry
Perspective
Tubular and Porous Materials from
Rigid Macrocycles via Halogen
Bonding
Tools for the Asymmetric Synthesis
of Polyketides
Kari Rissanen
Petri Pihko
Nanotechnology in formulation,
delivery & targeting of
(biotechnological) drugs, Helsinki
COST D28 Symposium “Natural
Products as a Source for Discovery,
Synthesis and Application of New
Pharmaceuticals”, Santorini,
Greece
COST D31 Symposium on
“Organising Non-Covalent Chemical
Systems with Selected Functions”,
Athens, Greece
7th International Conference on
Optical Probes of π-Conjugated
Polymers, Turku,. Finland
MC8: Advancing Materials
by Chemical Design, University
College London, UK
International Conference on
Asymmetric Organocatalysis, Otsu,
Shiga, Japan
15th European Symposium on
Organic Chemistry (ESOC),
University College Dublin, Ireland
DAE-BRNS Basic Sciences School on
Condensed Matter Interface with
Chemistry and Biology, Homi
Bhabha Centre for Science
Education, Mankhurd, Mumbai,
India
Gordon Research Conference on
Organic Structures & Properties,
Lucca (Barga), Italy
The Eighteenth Croatian-Slovenian
Crystallographic Meeting, Varazdin,
Croatia
2006
238th American Chemical Society
National Meeting & Exposition,
Washington DC, USA
XXII Conference on Advances in
Organic Synthesis (AOS), Karpacz,
Poland
2009
2006
2007
2007
2007
2007
2007
2008
2008
2009
2009
Memberships in editorial boards of scientific journals.
Table 5.2
Name
Kari Rissanen
Kari Rissanen
Erkki Kolehmainen
Journal
New Journal of Chemistry
CrystEngComm
Molecules (Bile acids: Special Issue Editor)
Period
2000 ->
2003 - 2008
2007- 2008
18
Representatives in international scientific boards, committees, and equivalent.
Table 5.3
Name
Kari Rissanen
Kari Rissanen
Kari Rissanen
Kari Rissanen
Kari Rissanen
Kari Rissanen
Kari Rissanen
Kari Rissanen
Erkki Kolehmainen
Erkki Kolehmainen
Maija Nissinen
Maija Nissinen
Maija Nissinen
Maija Nissinen
Petri Pihko
Petri Pihko
Kari Rissanen
Board etc. and task
Chairtman Committee of the COST Chemistry
Action D31 (Organising Non-Covalent Chemical
Systems with Selected Functions), 2004 - 2009
Management Committee of the COST
Chemistry Action D31 (Organising NonCovalent Chemical Systems with Selected
Functions), 2004 - 2009
Member of the Scientific Committee of Finnish
Chemical Indistry
Member of the Research Council for Natural
Sciences and Engineering of the Finnish
Academy,
Chairman of the Steering Committee of the
Academy of Finland nanoscience research
programme, FinNano
Member of the Steering Committee of the
Academy of Finland nanoscience research
programme, FinNano
Member of the Science Council of the
University of Jyväskylä
Member of TEKES FinNano Chemical Industries
vision workgroup
Chairman of the 15th and 16th Jyväskylä
International Summer School
Period
2004 - 2005
Course coordinator for 17th - 19th Jyväskylä
International Summer School
Scientific evaluator in EC FP7 Marie Curie IOF,
IIF and EIF panel
Scientific evaluator in EC FP6 Marie Curie IOF,
IIF and EIF panel
Scientific evaluator in EC FP7-NMP-SMALL
panel
Member of Management Committee of COST
MP0701
Management Committee Member of COST
Action CM0804 “Chemical Biology with Natural
Products”
Management Committee Member of COST
Action CM0905 “Organocatalysis”
Member of International Advisory Committee
(IAC) of the Doctoral School "Vito Volterra".
University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy
2007 - 2009
2005 - 2009
2002 -2007
2004 –2006
2005 - 2006
2007 ->
2006 - 2009
2006
2005 – 2006
2008
2006-2007
2008-2009
2008->
2009->
2008->
2009->
Prizes awarded to researchers, honours, scientific positions of trust, and equivalent.
19
Table 5.4
Name
Kari Rissanen
Kari Rissanen
Kari Rissanen
Kari Rissanen
Kari Rissanen
Pihko Petri
Pihko Petri
Sami Nummelin
Erkkilä Anniina (TKK)
Jatta Aho (TKK)
Prize, position etc.
Knight, First Class, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (SVR R 1), 2008
Magnus Ehrnrooth Prize in Chemistry, Societas Scientiarum Fennica, 2005
Fellow of the Royal Chemical Society, 2005->
Member of Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, 2004 ->
Member of Academia Europaea, 2008 ->
Helsinki University of Technology: Outstanding Junior Research Group, 20042005
Thieme Journal Award, 2007
The 2008 Ph.D. thesis award of The Society for Wood and Polymer Chemistry in
Finland
Publication Prize of the Division of Synthetic Chemistry, Association of Finnish
Chemical Societies, 2007
Publication Prize of the Division of Synthetic Chemistry, Association of Finnish
Chemical Societies, 2007
Representatives in committees and in scientific advisory boards, companies, or other similar
tasks of not primarily academic nature.
Table 5.5
Name
-
Company, board etc. and task
Period
PART II
THE UNIT’S SELF-ASSESSMENT
A. Describe the Unit’s research and strategy (max. 2 pages)
A. 1 Unit’s research
Since its foundation in the late 1960’s the Department of Chemistry of University of Jyväskylä has
had structural chemistry in its all variations as the main research theme across all laboratories of the
department. The unit (organic chemistry) led by Professor Jaakko Paasivirta was the leading site for
chemistry oriented NMR research and education in Finland in the 1970’s. In the middle of 1980’s
Prof. Paasivirta made the major chance in his research profile as he focused into environmental
analytics, especially to ecotoxicology. He still (after his retirement in 1994) is one of the most cited
scientists in the category ecology/environment in the ISI highlycited.com.
The unit experienced the third research profile change in 1995 when Professor Kari Rissanen
(currently academy professor) started in the unit. With him the profile of the unit was shifted toward
supramolecular chemistry, especially to solid state structural as well as synthetic supramolecular
chemistry. This profile was further reinforced by a very strong NMR research group led by
Professor Erkki Kolehmainen, who started as a professor in 2001. The activities of both Rissanen
and Kolehmainen led to a marked increase both in the publication output as well as in the number
of high standard international collaborations (see item II.F).
20
Since 1995 unit has had a major role on the study of nanosized molecules and supramolecular
assemblies within the Faculty of Mathematics and Science and thus the unit had a major impact on
the foundation of the Nanoscience Center at the University of Jyväskylä (NSC). Since the start of
the NSC in 2003 the unit has been, together with the theoretical research groups, a major
contributor of the scientific output of the NSC. In 2005 a new 5-year term professorship on
“Synthetic chemistry of hybrid materials” at the NSC was founded and in JAN 2006 Dr. Maija
Nissinen started in this position. Prof. Nissinen originates from the unit (Ph.D. in 2001) and her
scientific work and education duties are elemental part of the activities of the unit. The department
has in early 2010 decided to tenure Prof. Nissinen’s position.
Due to the Academy professorship of Dr. Rissanen in 2008–2012, Dr. Petri Pihko was nominated as
a professor for Prof. Rissanen’s leave of absence. Dr. Pihko started in April 2008 and built up a
research group focusing on total synthesis of natural products, organocatalysis and the development
of synthetic methods. The research profile of Dr. Pihko is complementary to the more structurally
oriented groups of Rissanen, Kolehmainen and Nissinen and reinforces significantly the research
profile and output of the unit. In addition to the four professors the unit has three senior scientist
research groups, namely Academy Research Fellow Elina Sievänen, University Lecturer Juhani
Huuskonen and Senior Teaching Assistant Tanja Lahtinen. Of these three groups Dr. Sievänen is
connected, yet being independent, with the Kolehmainen group, while both Dr. Huuskonen and Dr.
Lahtinen affiliate to the Rissanen group.
The research profiles of each group are shortly summarised below.
Rissanen: X-ray crystallography based studies on supramolecular structures and weak
intermolecular interactions, synthetic chemistry of resorcinarenes and related cyclophane hosts;
anion receptors based on uranyl salophens; new ligands for self-assembling Fujita-type nanopheres
and -cages; small polyester dendrimers/dendrons and organoiodide compounds. The interaction
studies in the solid state (single crystal X-ray diffraction, SS NMR), in solution (NMR) and in gas
phase (mass spectrometry) are targeted to halogen and hydrogen bonding, transition metal ion
coordination chemistry, cation-π, anion-π, C-H-π, hydrophobicity, dispersion and packing forces in
order to understand the principles behind these interactions and to use them in the design and
construction of novel supramolecular systems.
Kolehmainen: Design, synthesis and structural characterization (NMR, MS, X-ray, thermoanalysis,
molecular modeling, microscopies) of bile acid and other steroid derived conjugates and receptors,
prodrugs, hydro- and organogelators etc. An especial goal is to develop prodrugs with improved
bioavailability where a drug molecule bound with natural bile acid is introduced into liver via
enterohepatic circulation. As the most recent approach is the research of polymorphs, solvates and
co-crystals (with drugs) of bile acids and their derivatives by solid state NMR, powder and single
crystal X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis. The ultimate goal in this research is to develop
pharmaceutically and medically useful compounds and preparations.
Nissinen: Synthetic chemistry of novel resorcinarene, pyrogallarene and calixarene derivatives,
especially bridged and podand derivatives, which possess enhanced receptor properties. The
receptor, i.e. complexation properties and interactions, as well as detailed structural and
conformational features are investigated by means of NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography,
UV-vis spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, which is the other main focus of the research group
and complements the structural chemistry oriented research profile of the whole unit. The third
important part of the research profile is the polymorphism, solvate and co-crystallization studies,
21
especially with industrially significant compounds, such as agrochemicals.
Pihko: Total synthesis of natural products and the development of synthetic methods. Current
natural product targets of interest include the marine toxin pectenotoxin-2 (PTX-2), bearing a
nonanomeric spiroketal, as well as smaller polyketides. Our synthetic methodology focuses on
utilization of organocatalysis in synthesis; the focus has been on amine catalysis but is gradually
shifting towards hydrogen bond catalysis, as well as redox catalysis, especially catalytic
hydrogenation and oxidative coupling methods.
Sievänen: Development of smart andfunctional supramolecular gels derived from bile acids. This is
established by synthesizing new bile acid-derived molecules with thepotential to act as low
molecular weight gelators and characterizing the structures of the synthesized molecules in detail.
The ability of the prepared molecules to promote gel formation is systematically investigated, the
structures and properties of the formed gels examined, and the potential applications of the gels
charted. The versatile collection of analytical tools used includes NMR, IR, and CD spectroscopy,
X-ray crystallography, mass spectrometry, microscopic techniques, as well as thermoanalytical
methods combined with theoretical studies. The ultimate goal of the research is to understand the
process of gel formation.
Huuskonen: Design, synthesis and structural characterization (NMR, mass spectroscopy, X-ray,
elementar analysis) of small bioactive molecules for inhibiting protein-protein interactions. Proteinprotein interactions are pivotal in most biological processes and thus represent an appealing target
for innovative drug development and one goal in this research is to find new potential anticancer
agents. Another goal is to develop microwave synthesis methods to produce molecule libraries
faster for biological testing.
Lahtinen: The design and synthetic chemistry of ionic liquids, mass spectrometry based
complexation studies of supramolecular complexes and assemblies. Utilization of weak
supramolecular interactions in the modification of carbon nanotubes and graphene (in collaboration
with NSC physics group).
The whole unit consists presently (15.2.2010) of 4 professors, 12 senior or post doc. researchers, 19
post graduate (Ph.D.) students, 10 graduate (M.Sc.) students and 9 undergraduate (B.Sc.) students
and 3 laboratory technicians, a total of 57 person count, out of which 36 are full-time.
A. 2 Unit’s strategy
The strategy of the unit is to further strengthen the scientific output, impact and visibility to become
the leading unit in organic and supramolecular chemistry in Northern Europe. The present high
level in research and education coupled with the diversity in research expertise and the multicultural research environment are the key features of the unit and they will be exploited to attract
young talented researchers (students, postdocs) into the unit. The yet quite modest collaboration
within the NSC and other UJ departments will be given a high prority and the group-to-group
collaborations within the unit itself, taking advantage of the complementary skills in full, will be
taken into full action. Special attention is given to the tutoring and guidance of the domestic and
international students and researchers in all levels. The research infrastructure will be maintained at
the present high level and all means to further improvement in the instrumentation and operational
skills will be utilized. The unit is an active actor in the Chemistry Department aim to be the leading
educational institute in Chemistry in 2012.
22
B. SWOT – evaluation of the Unit’s scientific strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats (expertise, funding, facilities, organisation; max. 2 pages).
Strengths
- excellent international level in structural chemistry,
especially in solid state (single crystal X-ray
diffraction, NMR) and solution (NMR)
- excellent international level in synthetic chemistry,
especially in enantioselective total synthesis of natural
products
-extremely active and productive international and
national collaboration with the leading research
groups
- participation to nanoscience research via the NSC and
collaborations with nanophysics and nanobiology
research groups
- co-existence of senior and younger research groups
- very good research facilities and infrastructure
- very publication record both in quantity and quality
- broad spectrum of publishing forums
- the high level of the in-house educated Ph.D. students
- multi-cultural research environment (at present 8
nationalities)
Weaknesses
- dependency on external funding
- research facilities and infrastructure based possibilities
for joint research is not fully employed
- too specialized and purely academic research using very
expensive instruments
- difficulties in motivating contemporary chemistry
students
- industrial and commercial applications of the chemistry
are largely missing
- weak research and education in qualitative and
quantitative analytical organic chemistry
- societal impact and public visibility could be stronger
- low success-rate for EU and other international funding
- slowness to adapt to reforms and react to changes
- very cumbersome and tedious patenting process due to
weakly developed UJ IPR policies
Opportunities
Threats
- integration of structural, supramolecular and synthetic
chemistry could result in breaththoughs in new
supramocular and other materials, in organic and
organometallic catalysis and in bioactive substances
- extension of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary
collaboration, especially to nanophysics, nanobiology
and clinical sports medicine
- utilization of international students and post docs in the
teaching and mentoring within the unit.
- multidisciplinary education at M.Sc. level with other
laboratories and departments
- commercializing potential of some areas of the research,
especially bile acid related compounds
- the maintenance and upgrading of the research
infrastructure (NMR, MS, X-ray diffraction
equipments)
- the imbalance between the growing administrative
duties and time for research
- insecurity of external funding and lack of proper budget
funding
- the drop-out rate of undergraduate students
- large amount of unmotivated or escaping students (to
other disciplines)
- lack of in-house educated M.Sc’s for postgraduate
studies
- dimishing or ceasing interest of international post docs
and students to apply to unit
- lack of significant chemical industry and job
opportunities in the Central Finland area
- the negative image and job prospects in chemical
industry
The major strengths of the unit associates with the level of the research quality, quantity and knowhow, the level of international and national collaborations and the connection to the nanoscience
research. The major weaknesses relate to the dependence of the research on the external funding
and the insecurity of it. The mainly academic research coupled with weak societal impact can also
be considered a weaknes of the unit. The major opportunity is the possibility to join the excellent
expertise within the unit supplemented by the nanoscience groups into an innovative yet
academically very high standard research environment focusing of the most topical areas of
23
contemporary chemistry and nanoscience. Major threats associate with the true fear that the
previously well-organized system for maintenance and upgrading of the research infrastructure will
be ruined by the new legal status of the Finnish Universities and that it will later severely decimate
both the quality and quantity of the current high standard of research.
C. Assess the research infrastructure available (max. 1 page)
The unit has excellent facilities and research equipment at the Department of Chemistry, University
of Jyväskylä. Three NMR equipments (Bruker DPX-250, Avance 400 (solid state) and DPX500
MHz) coupled with two very modern X-ray diffractometers (Bruker-Nonius Kappa APEXII with
Mo and Cu radition and Oxford Cryosystem liquid nitrogen cooling), three mass spectrometers
(ESI-MS/MS (AB Qstar Elite), ESI-TOF (Micromass LCT) and MALDI-TOF (Micromass
LYNX)), elemental analysis equipment (ELEMENTAR Analysensysteme Vario EL) provide the
solid basis for the structural characterisations.
The analytical and chemical reaction equipment include GC-MS and GC (Perkin-Elmer Clarus
500+560S and Agilent 7890A), IR spectrophotometer (Bruker Tensor 27), Polarimeter (PerkinElmer 341B), Ozoniser, (Pacific Technologies G21), two HPLC’s [Shimadzu LC-8A with FRC10A fraction collector, SPD-M20A diode array detector and SIL-10AP autosampler, and Waters
616 pump, 600S controller, 2847 detector and 717 Autosampler)], CombiFlash-system (Teledyne
ISCO), microwave reactor (CEM Discovery S class), cooling device (Neslab CC100) and dry
solvent facility (MBrayn SPS800).
Collaboration with inorganic chemistry laboratory allows access to methods for the analyses of the
thermal behavior of the prepared molecules and assemblies (TG, DSC, TDA, powder
diffractometers) and collaboration with the physical chemistry laboratory will provide means for
photophysics and advanced optical spectroscopy studies (several femto-second laser systems, IR-,
CD, UV-vis and Raman spectrometers) as well as for efficient utilization of computational
resources of the University and on the national level. Excellent microscopic facilities (TEM, SEM,
STM, SNOM, AFM, confocal) and other specialized equipment for (particle size analyzator,
vacuum avaporators, CVDs etc) for nanochemistry research are available via collaboration with
Nanoscience Center (NSC). Instrumentation for measuring nano-electrical, structural, mechanical,
acoustic, thermal and magnetic properties in low temperatures are also available at NSC.
Modern synthetic laboratories at the Department of Chemistry and at Nanoscience Center (space
enough to accommodate 20 - 30 graduate and undergraduate students as well as post doctoral
researchers) are adequately equipped and already in effective use with the current members of the
unit.
D. Most important publications
Rissanen:
1.
P. Mal, B. Breiner, K. Rissanen and J. R. Nitschke, White Phosphorus is Air-Stable within a
Self-Assembled Tetrahedral Capsule, Science 324 (2009), 1697 - 1698.
In this paper we were able to show unambiguously that white phosphorus, viz. P4 molecules were
encapsulated within the container molecules prepared by the Cambridge team and structurally
characterized in Jyväskylä. Within these capsules, the phosphorus becomes air stable for months.
24
Even being tightly bound it is possible to release the encapsulated P4 by the addition of a competing
guest, benzene. Once removed, the white phosphorus regains its air-sensitivity, rapidly reacting
with oxygen if present. This work thus provides a novel way to handle white phosphorus safely, and
a potentially new means of stabilizing similar very sensitive and reactive chemicals from the
environment, and conversely, protecting the environment from hazardous substances.
2.
P. Metrangolo, Y. Carcenac, M. Lahtinen, T. Pilati, K. Rissanen, A. Vij and G. Resnati, NonPorous Organic Solids
Capable of Dynamically Resolving Mixtures
of
Diiodoperfluoroalkanes, Science 323 (2009), 1461 – 1464.
The chemical separations using porous solids mostly rely on size selection, meaning that
compounds too large to squeeze through the pores are excluded. The current paper describes a
class of ionic solids that can selectively capture certain fluorocarbons dynamically. The crystals
comprise dicationic hydrocarbon chains capped at each end by positive ammonium groups, with
negative iodide ions to balance the charge. Although structurally nonporous, the solids
spontaneously stretch to accommodate iodine-capped fluorocarbon chains, which form robust
intermolecular halogen bonds with iodides at each end. In other words, the solids used behave like
a sponge that can absorb a specific molecule. This encapsulation is highly selective for the
fluorocarbon, with a chain length scaled to the lattice dication. Moreover, the process is reversible,
with the guests liberated by heating, offering potential for use in industrial fluorocarbon
separations.
3.
S. S. Zhu, H. Staats, K. Brandhorst, J. Grunenberg, F. Gruppi, E. Dalcanale, Arne Lutzen, K
Rissanen and C. A. Schalley, Anion Binding to Resorcinarene-Based Cavitands: The
Importance of C–H···Anion Interactions, Angew. Chem. 47 (2008), 788 - 792.
This paper shows with very sophisticated mass spectrometry studies that the interaction strength
between host and guest anion can amount to substantial values. From a fundamental point of view,
this
study provides new insight into the nature and importance of C-H···anion interactions. This mode
of hydrogen bonding, that is, hydrogen bonds between an anion and a nonaromatic C-H bond, is
very rare and was not well studied before this paper and we were able to show that neutral
cavitands complex different anions exclusively through this type of weak interaction.
4.
P. Mal, D. Schultz, K. Beyeh, K. Rissanen and J.R. Nitschke, An Unlockable-Relockable Iron
Cage via Subcomponent Self-Assembly, Angew. Chem. 47 (2008), 8297 – 8301.
This paper demonstratest the first time reversible locking and unlocking by the tetrahedral cage
formed in water by a linear diamine, formylpyridine, and iron(II). Addition of acid unlocks the
cage, releasing the hydrophobic guest molecule, and subsequent addition of base relocks it. A
triamine can be used to dismantle the tetrahedral host structure.
5.
M. Albrecht, C. Wessel, M. de Groot, K. Rissanen and A Lüchow, Structural Versatility of
Anion- Interactions in Halide Salts with Pentafluorophenyl Substituted Cations, J. Am. Chem.
Soc. 130 (2008), 4600 - 4601.
In this paper we presented the first systematic solid state structural approach to “metal-free” salts,
which contain pentafluorophenyl as a substituent and which exhibit extensive anion-π interactions.
25
We observed anion-donor-π-acceptor as well as “η6” anion-π-complex type interactions. The latter
kind was also proven by high level quantum chemical calculations and showed the strong attraction
due to anion-π interaction in addition to hydrogen binding. Based on our studies we were able to
add a new “η2”-type binding mode as an additional alternative, in which the anion is not located
above the center of an aromatic ring and does not interact with only one specific carbon atom of
the π-system, to the yet elusive anion-π interactions.
6.
N. K. Beyeh, M. Kogej, A. Åhman, K. Rissanen and C. A. Schalley, Flying Capsules: Mass
Spectrometric Detection of Pyrogallarene and Resorcinarene Hexamers, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.
Engl. 45 (2006), 5214 - 5218.
Here we present for the first time evidence that the hydrogen-bonded pyrogallarene and
resorcinarene hexamers can be successfully ionized and transferred into the high-vacuum of a mass
spectrometer. The comparison of different guest cations which provide the charge clearly show that
the size, shape, and symmetry of the guest are important features for an efficient generation of
hexamer ions with a capsule structure. Evidence for a capsular structure even in the gas phase after
ionization comes from IRMPD experiments with mass-selected hexamer parent ions. Our results not
only indicate the stabilizing influence of suitable templating cations, they also point to the
remarkable intrinsic softness of electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, which permits their
characterization in the gas phase as isolated molecules without the influence of solvents and
counterions.
7.
M. Cametti, M. Nissinen, A. Dalla Cort, L. Mandolini and K. Rissanen, Recognition of Alkali
Metal Halide Contact Ion Pairs by Uranyl-Salophen Receptors Bearing Aromatic Sidearms.
The Role of Cation--Interactions. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 127 (2005), 3831-3837.
The results presented in this paper, in addition to our previous results of tetralkylammonium halide
complexation, show that certain uranyl salophen complexescan be quite adaptable as a receptor, in
that upon guest complexation its conformationally flexible sidearms adapt to achieve a stable
arrangement, in which multiple CH-π or cation-π interactions are established. The sidearm
positions and, consequently, the molecular and crystal structures of the resulting complexes are
controlled by interactions of the aromatic sidearms with the different guests. This work has opened
the way toward the development of novel zwitterion receptors and in the recognition of a number of
zwitterions, including betaine and related compounds and phospholipids.
8.
K. Raatikainen, J. Huuskonen, M. Lahtinen, P. Metrangolo and K. Rissanen, Halogen bonding
drives the self-assembly of piperazine cyclophanes into tubular structures, Chem. Comm.
(2009), 2160 - 2164.
In this paper we show that a preorganized rigid ring shape with strong halogen bonding (XP)
acceptor sites offers an excellent way to organize molecules into desired tubular/porous
architectures via halogen bonding. Our results demonstrate that the use of XB with larger and rigid
macrocycles will lead to formation of porous organic materials and also to a better understanding
of the potential role of halogen bonding as an important interaction in crystal engineering and
materials chemistry.
26
Kolehmainen:
1. O. Jurček, Z. Wimmer, H. Svobodová, B. Bennettová, E. Kolehmainen, and P. Drašar,
Preparation and preliminary biological screening on cholic acid-juvenoids conjugates, Steroids
74 (2008), 779 – 785.
Synthesis and biological testing of bile acid derivatives aimed for pest control.
2. Nonappa, M. Lahtinen, S. Ikonen, E. Kolehmainen, and R. Kauppinen, Solid state NMR, X-ray
diffraction and thermoanalytical studies towards the identification, isolation and structural
characterization of polymorphs in natural bile acids, Crystal Growth & Design 9 (2009), 4710
– 4719
Characterization of natural bile acid polymorphs for pharmaceutical use.
3. N. V. Lukashev, A. V. Kazantsev, A. D. Averin, M. S. Baranov, P. A. Donez, E. Sievänen and E.
Kolehmainen, Novel macrocyclic bile acid derivatives. Selective and easy binding of two
cholic acid moieties at 3 and 3’ positions, Synthesis (2009), 4175 – 4182.
Improved synthesis of bile acid derived macrocycles, which can act as anion/cation receptors.
4. V. Noponen, S. Bhat, E. Sievänen, and E. Kolehmainen, Novel two-step synthesis of gold
nanoparticles capped with bile acid conjugates, Mat. Sci. Eng. C., 28, (2008), 1144 – 1148.
Improved synthetic procedure to prepare bile acid capped gold nanoparticles for drug targeting.
5. E. Sievänen, V. Noponen, E. Kolehmainen, V. Král, and T. Břiza, 1H, 13C, 19F NMR and ESI
mass spectral characterization of two geminal difluorosteroids. Magn. Reson. Chem., 46,
(2008), 392 – 397.
Improved synthesis of geminal difluorosteroids aimed for medical applications.
6. J. Králová, V. Král, J. Koivukorpi, Z. Kejík, P. Poučková, P. Martasek, E. Sievänen and E.
Kolehmainen, Porphyrin - bile acid conjugates: from saccharide recognition in solution to
selective cancer cell fluorescence detection, Org. Biomol. Chem. 6 (2008), 1548 - 1552.
Bile acid derivatives aimed for cancer diagnosis/therapy and other medical applications.
7. A. Valkonen, M. Lahtinen, and E. Kolehmainen, Syntheses and structural study of bile acid
amidoalcohols, Steroids 73 (2008), 1228 – 1241.
Liquid state and crystal structure characterization of novel bile acid derivatives, which can act as
gelators and drug carriers.
8. T. Bartl, Z. Zacharová, P. Sečkářová, E. Kolehmainen, and R. Marek, Experimental NMR
quantification of tautomeric populations in biogenetic purine bases, Eur. J. Org. Chem. (2008),
1377 - 1383.
A long-term collaboration on tautomerism research of nucleobases with the group of prof. Marek.
27
Nissinen:
1. K. Salorinne, T.-R. Tero, K. Riikonen and M. Nissinen: Synthesis and structure of mono-bridged
resorcinarene host: Ditopic receptor for ammonium guests, Org. & Biomol. Chem. 20 (2009), 42114217.
Synthesis and properties of a ditopic receptor for organic cations is described. A unique type of
receptor molecule, which has a lot of potential for on-going further studies and which has awoken
interest on international level (the poster of this topic was awarded as the best poster, already cited
although the article was published in late 2009).
2. K. Salorinne and M. Nissinen, Synthesis, Characterization and Complexation Properties of
Tetramethoxy Resorcinarene Bis-Crown-Ethers, Org. Lett., 8 (2006), 5473-5476.
Starting point of the research of a novel class of supramolecular hosts. This research has later
produced seven original publications (including an invited review article) and will produce several
more within a next few years.
3. K. Salorinne and M. Nissinen, Alkali Metal Complexation Properties of Resorcinarene BisCrown Ethers: Effect of the Crown Ether Functionality and Preorganization on Complexation,
Tetrahedron 64 (2008), 1798-1807.
A link between earlier alkali metal complexation studies and applications of novel bis-crown ether
hosts. The research has raised international and national interest and further collaboration
research is currently underway.
4. A. Åhman and M. Nissinen, Pyrogallarenes as alkali metal receptors: The role of cation-π
interactions for complexation, Chem. Comm. (2006), 1209-1211.
The first and rare examples of conformational change and alkali metal complexation of
unfuctionalized resorcinarene-type hosts.
5. E. Nauha, H. Saxell, E. Kolehmainen, R. Schlecker and M. Nissinen, Polymorphism and versatile
solvate formation of tiophanate-methyl, CrystEngComm 11 (2009), 2536-2547.
Another main research area of group Nissinen done in close collaboration with international
industry. Two more publications of the same research theme will be submitted in March 2010.
Significant relevance in polymorphism and solvate study of agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals.
6. K. Salorinne, D. P. Weimann, C. A. Schalley and M. Nissinen, Resorcinarene podand with amine
functionalized side arms – synthesis, structure and binding properties of a neutral anion receptor,
Eur. J. Org. Chem. (2009), 6151-6159.
Novel anion receptor was synthetised and its properties investigated.
28
7. K. Salorinne and M. Nissinen, Twisting of the resorcinarene core due to solvent effects upon
crystallization, CrystEngComm 11 (2009), 1572-1578.
Novel resorcinarene conformations were found and fully characterized and their formation
mechanism was studied. Relates to another main research area of the group, i.e. solid state
structural chemistry.
8. K. Helttunen, P. Prus, M. Luostarinen and M. Nissinen, Interaction of aminomethylated
resorcinarenes with rhodamine B, New J. Chem. 33 (2009), 1148-1154.
New insights of interactions between supramolecular hosts and organic dyes.
Pihko:
1. A: Pohjakallio and P.M. Pihko, Enantioselective Synthesis of 2-Isoxazolines by an One-Flask
Conjugate Addition – Oxime Transfer Process, Chem. Eur. J. 15 (2009), 3960-3964.
A highly useful protocol is presented for the enantioselective synthesis of 2-isoxazolines from
acetone oxime and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes. A full paper on this protocol, with improved yields
and enantioselectivities, is in progress. The resulting isoxazolines can also be readily converted
into chiral β-hydroxynitriles without loss of enantiomeric purity. A manuscript on this protocol is
also under preparation.
2. L. Evanno, J. Ormala and P.M. Pihko, A highly enantioselective access to tetrahydroisoquinoline and β−carboline alkaloids with simple Noyori-type catalysts in aqueous media,
Chem. Eur. J. 15 (2009), 12963-12967.
A highly practical protocol for accessing a variety of tetrahydroisoquinoline and b-carboline
skeletons, including two natural products, harmicine and cripsine, under mild aqueous conditions.
In contrast with previously published protocols, this method avoids the use of specially prepared
ligands, and also expands the scope of the reaction with lanthanide activation of the substrate. This
research was carried out in its entirety on industrial support.
3. H. Helmboldt, J. Aho and P.M. Pihko, Synthetic Studies Toward Pectenotoxin 2. Part II.
Synthesis of the CDE and CDEF Ring Systems, Org. Lett. 10 (2008), 4179-4182.
Our strategy towards the synthesis of the pectenotoxin skeleton is described, including the assembly
of the nonanomeric AB spiroketal ring system. This strategy was successfully applied to the
synthesis of C10-epi-ABCDE ring system of pectenotoxin-2 (Ph.D. Thesis of Jatta Aho,
http://lib.tkk.fi/Diss/2009/isbn9789522480767/)
4. A. Erkkilä and P.M. Pihko, Rapid Organocatalytic Aldehyde-Aldehyde Condensation Reactions,
Eur. J. Org. Chem. (2007), 4205-4216.
Full details as well as an improved, highly chemoselective and mild protocol for α-methylenation of
aldehydes bearing a variety of functionalitie are reported. We also report full kinetic studies that
probe the reaction mechanism, demonstrating that the reaction is 2nd order with respect to the
catalyst, in contrast to the conventionally accepted mechanism of the Mannich reaction.
29
5. A. Erkkilä and P.M. Pihko, Mild Organocatalytic α-Methylenation of Aldehydes, J. Org. Chem.
71 (2006), 2538-2541.
This is our first-generation α-methylenation paper. This protocol has been used by a number of
synthetic research groups worldwide.
E. Evaluate the Unit in relation to its leading scientific competitors (max. 1 page).
Maybe the best and most unbiased way to compare the UJ organic chemistry laboratory to its
national competitors is to use Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Knowledge (WoK)
publication and citation records. The analysis (see below) was done using two different, yet
complementary, methods. Firstly an ISI WoK search for amount of publications and their citations
(Table II.1.) for the 10-year period (years 2000 – 2009) for the active professors (based in the
Academy of Finland units to be evaluated list). Secondly the number of publications in the high
impact factor journals (the 47 journals in all areas of chemistry with highest impact factors, min. IF
= 4.147) of the same professors during 2000 – 2009 was analyzed (Table II.1, third column). To
compare the units’ performace in relation to all evaluated chemistry units, the same analysis was
made for the leading units in other areas of chemistry, for this the six other units at the Helsinki
University (UH) were selected and the results are presented in the table II.1 below the organic
chemistry units. The comparison of UJ organic chemistry to the UH units in inorganic, analytical,
Swedish speaking, physical, polymer and radiochemistry units clearly reveals that UJ organic
chemistry is, together with the inorganic chemistry laboratory of UH, the leading national chemistry
unit when compared to the publication amount, impact and quality from the ISI Web of Knowledge
for the 10-year period 2000 - 2009. The reader has to keep in mind that the present analysis gives a
very narrow, yet unbiased, view of the status of UJ organic chemistry in relation to organic and
other units in chemistry in Finland.
Table II.1 Publication and citation analysis for 2000 - 2009
Unit (Professors)
Number of
publications
UJ (Rissanen, Kolehmainen, Nissinen, Pihko,
Paasivirta)
UH (Wähälä, Kilpeläinen, Oivanen)
UEF (Rouvinen, Jänis, Vainiotalo)*
ÅA (Leino, Sjöholm)
UT2 (Lönnberg, Salminen)**
HUT (Koskinen, Jokela)
UO (Hormi, Lajunen)
TUT (Franzen)
391
171
135
112
115
90
42
11
UH, Inorg. chem (Leskelä, Ritala, Repo)
UH, Anal. chem. (Riekkola, Kotiaho)
UH, Swed. chem. (Pyykkö, Sundholm)
UH, phys. chem. (Halonen, Räsänen)
UH, polym. chem. (Tehnu, Maunu)
UH, radiochem. (Lehto)
326
222
158
149
123
17
Number of high
impact
publications
79
Number of
citations
h-index
4943
32
10
10
15
6
10
4
0
2384
1239
1175
942
864
214
111
27
18
20
17
14
7
4
60
46
40
18
5
0
4531
3530
3207
2372
2092
150
33
30
28
25
25
6
* Prof. P. Vainiotalo included since she was active during 2000 – 2009 (retired DEC 2009)
** Prof. O. Solin is left out from this analysis, since he is a radiochemist, not organic chemist
30
The publication and citation analysis unambiguously reveals that UJ is the leading organic
chemistry laboratory in Finland. The UJ unit itself makes up 37% of all publications published by
the organic chemistry units, 59% of the high impact publications and 42% of total citations over the
period of 2000-2009. In all fields of chemistry the UJ organic chemistry is a leading chemistry unit
together with UH inorganic chemistry.
F. Collaboration (max. 2 pages)
The international and national collaborations of the unit are extremely extensive and strong as
witnessed by the tables 4.2 ands 4.3 above. Each research group has their own collaborators, but
there are a few collaborators which do collaborate simultaneously, yet independently, with different
groups of the unit. There is also active group-to-group collaboration within the unit resulting in
joint publications.
The Rissanen group collaborations can be categorized into structural (utilizing single crystal X-ray
diffraction, NMR or MS technigues), synthetic (synthesis done in UJ), exchange (M.Sc., Ph.D. and
post doc. levels) and networking collaborations. Due to special expertise on the X-ray
crystallography on large supramolecules and assemblies in the Rissanen group, the most numerous
and productive collaborations are in the area of structural chemistry. The long-standing (> 10
years) structural collaborations with Nobel-laureate J.-M. Lehn (rotaxanes, grids, helicates); A.
Dalla Cort and L. Mandolini (ditopic receptors); E. Dalcanale (cavitands); M. Albrecht (anion
recognition, anion-pi interactions), being the most important and have been very successful and
produced over the years 38 joint publications (among them 4 Angew. Chem., 1 PNAS, 4 JACS, 3
CEJ and 2 Chem. Comm.). The more recent impost structural collaborations involve J.-P. Sauvage
(rotaxanes); J. Nitschke (cages, helicates); G. Resnati (halogen bonding) and have since 2007
resulted in 11 very high standard publication (2 Science, 1 Angew. Chem., 1 JACS, 2 CEJ and 1
Chem. Comm.). The most important and very recent synthetic chemistry collaborations include V.
Percec (denrons); M. Fujita (nanospheres); U. Maitra (gelators); E. Dalcanale and A. Luetzen
(cavitands), some of these collaborations have started in 2009. The collaboration with V. Percec has
produced one Science paper (2010, to be accepted after revision). A special kind of collaboration
exists with professor Christoph Schalley, Friei Univ. Berlin. Germany, this collaboration involves
structural and synthetic chemistry coupled with a research exchange (funded jointly by the
Academy of Finland DAAD/Germany in 2006 – 2009) of Ph.D.’s and post doc.’s. A new kind of
networking collaboration was funded by Nordforsk/Oslo, Norway and this collaboration involves
11 different group from Nordic and Baltic states: Finland (Rissanen/UJ, Haukka/UEF), Sweden
(Öhrström and Håkansson/Gothenburg; Wärnmark and Wendt/Lund), Norway (Görbitz/Oslo),
Denmark (McKenzie and Bond/Odense), Lithuania (Butkus/Vilnius) and Estonia (Tamm/Tallinn).
The Kolehmainen group has a long term collaboration in bile acid research with prof. Vladimir
Král (Inst. Chem. Technol., Prague) in preparing fluorinated steroids, bile acid-porphyrin
conjugates and their receptor characteristics, with prof. Jerry Ray Dias in analyzing 13C NMR
substituent effects of bile acid derivatives, with prof. Nikolay Lukashev (Moscow State Univ.) in
preparing and characterizing macrocyclic bile acid derivatives, with prof. Uday Maitra (Ind. Inst.
Sci., Bangalore) in preparing bile acid gapped gold nanoparticles and supramolecular gels. A
collaboration with prof. Zdenek Wimmer (Inst. Exp. Bot., Prague) is targeted for preparation of bile
acid-juvenoid and bile acid-drug conjugates. Some biological tests are in progress in Univ.
Olomouc. Other biological tests are planned to take place with collaboration of prof. Julian Zhu
(Univ. Monreal). In addition prof. Anthony P. Davis (Univ. Bristol), prof. Olga Bortolini (Univ.
31
Calabria) and Dr. Milos Budecinsky (Inst. Org. Chem. Biochem, Prague) have acted as referees of
the theses of my doctoral students. With prof. Mikiji Miyata (Univ. Osaka) a planned collaboration
on solid state NMR and X-ray crystallographic characterization of bile acid-co-crystals and
solvates. With prof. Alexander Shavva (Univ. St. Petersburg) we have started a collaboration to
prepare steroid gapped gold and magnetic nanoparticles. In tautomerism research of nitrogen
heterocycles my group has long term collaboration with prof. Ryszard Gawinecki (Univ. Tech. Life
Sci., Bydgoszcz) and prof. Radek Marek (Masaryk Univ., Brno). We have used high-resolution
liquid and solid state multinuclear (1H, 13C and 15N) magnetic resonance spectroscopy in
characterizing different tautomers and their NMR parameters related with their structural
characteristics. These results can be used in planning site specific synthetic routes. Joint with these
projects also molecular modeling is frequently used.
The Nissinen group collaboration is based on areas where additional expertise or resources are
needed or in areas where the group can offer expertise to collaborators. Examples of such are mass
spectrometry of supramolecular complexes (Prof. C.A. Schalley, Freie Universität Berlin and Dr. E.
Kalenius, UEF) or computational chemistry of supramolecular compounds combined with metal
clusters and cations (Prof. H. Häkkinen, JYU). The group has offered expertise in structural and
synthetic chemistry to collaborators, especially in Nanoscience Center. Joint thesis and research
projects are on-going within NSC. Other important forms of collaboration are educational
collaboration and research exchange (Dr. R. Fröhlich, Universität Münster) and industrial
collaboration in forms of M.Sc. thesis and Ph.D. thesis (Dr. H. Saxell, BASF SE). The industrial
collaboration offers unique prospects to the current development of industrial chemistry and, on the
other hand, to the current academic research for industry. For researchers working in the group
contacts with collaborators offer possibilities of networking. The most significant outcome of
collaboration is realized in forms of joint publications (see Part II. D., Nissinen: no.6, page 30)
The Pihko group in extensively engaged with a consortium project “Enabling Synthesis
Technologies”, with four academic groups (Pihko / Jyväskylä, Leino / Åbo Akademi, Koskinen /
Aalto Univ., Franzén /Tampere Univ. of Tech.) and five companies is one of the largest consortium
projects in chemistry, with ca. 1.6 M€ total funding. The project is coordinated by Petri Pihko at
Jyväskylä and funded by Tekes as well as the participating companies. The central goals of this
project include catalytic methods for asymmetric synthesis of quaternary centers as well as
challenging oxidations. Other key collaborative contacts of the Pihko group include ongoing
collaboration with Prof. Rik Wierenga (University of Oulu, Department of Biochemistry) on the
structure and mechanisms of enolizing enzymes as well as the development of synthetic enolization
catalysts and the computational collaboration related to hydrogen bonding catalysis with Prof. Imre
Papai (Hungarian Academy of Sciences).
G. Societal impact (max. 1 page)
Describe the societal impact of the Unit's activities.
Describe the Units' public visibility.
The unit participates in the development and discussions with the surrounding society whenever
possible. The most important forms of participation are industrial (tables 4.8 and 4.10) and
educational collaborations, for example in forms of hosting visits of student and interest groups.
Professor Pihko has also been active in the field of chemical education, co-authoring a series of
textbooks for the use in Finnish high schools (book series “Reaktio”).
32
Jyväskylä has a major societal impact on chemistry education, both at M.Sc. and Ph.D. levels, since
the chemical industry of Finland is largely located outside of the Helsinki area and students
educated in Jyväskylä tend to have a greater tendency to relocate all around Finland than those
trained in the capital region.
Some additional contribution to the societal impact via public visibility for the UJ organic
chemistry comes from the media coverage (internet, printer press, TV) of some of the Ph.D. thesis
and the research results from the unit. e.g. about the 2009 Science papers from the unit.
H. Administrative and educational load (max ½ pages)
Describe the nature of administrative and educational load.
The administrative load has significantly increased during the last few years in forms of internal
administrative duties of the University as well as in forms of increased need to get external funding
and, on the other hand, changed and more complicated practises in the control of external funding.
Increased internal administrative duties apply both for research and education. The education load
has remained quite constant but demand for higher quality and quantity of study counseling has
required change in attitude but on other hand results in more motivated students and researchers.
Recent changes to study program (2008 – 2009) have improved the quality of teaching and the
educational load is evenly distributed among teaching staff.
I. Funding
Assess from your point of view the funding from the following sources:
The funding by Academy of Finland in promoting the scientific, educational and societal
impact of research (max. 1/2 pages).
The unit has been very successful in getting the funding from Academy of Finland (AF) and thus
funding plays a crucial role in the unit overall funding. In year 2008 the AF funding was 36.2 % and
2009 37.2 % of the units overall financial resources, being very close to the 40.4% (2008) and 37.1
% (2009) direct budget funding from the University of Jyväskylä. The major part of the AF funding
for 2008 and 2009 comes from the academy professorship (Rissanen) and Academy Research
Fellow (Sievänen), where both the salary and the research funding of these posts comes solely from
the AF.
The AF funding plays a key role for the employment of talented post doctoral researchers and Ph.D.
students. In research AF funding has played a central role in initiating novel areas of research as
well as in ensuring adequate funding for consumables and travelling. In addition it has provided the
freedom to concentrate on high-standard curiosity driven basic academic research (such as
intermolecular interactions, organocatalysis, total synthesis of complex natural products and
supramolecular self-assembly) without having to involve too heavily on commercial applications or
company-only funding.
The AF funding has been directly or indirectly involved in ca. 30% of all Ph.D. degrees produced
by the unit during 2005 – 2009, ca. 60 % based on Graduate School or TEKES funding. Most of the
AF funding has ben directed to the post doctoral level.
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List the researchers that have held an Academy position (Academy Professor, Academy Research
Fellow, Postdoctoral Researcher’s Project)
Name
Kari Rissanen
Elina Sievänen
Maija Nissinen
Elina Sievänen
Position
Academy Professor
Academy Reseach Fellow
Academy Reseach Fellow
Postdoctoral Researcher’s Project
Period
1.1.2008 – 31.12.2012
1.8.2008 – 31.3.2014
1.9.2003 – 31.12.2005
1.8.2004 – 31.7.2007
The funding awarded by other funding organisations in promoting the scientific,
educational and societal impacts of research. Assess especially Tekes and EU funding (max.
1 page).
For the whole unit the Tekes funding (TF) has been important in the 1990’s and early 2000’s but it
has been highly instrumental in the early stage of the Pihko group (still in HUT). The funding from
Tekes has become much more difficult since the outsourcing of the R&D in all except
pharmaceuticals industry. As the big chemical companies such as Neste Chemicals ceased to exist
and larger, still active companies such as Kemira severy diminished their chemistry related R&D
rules out in many cases the possibility for Tekes funding. As the true company involvement in the
Tekes funded research must be present, this offers possibilities for Tekes funding for only a few
chemistry research groups. In UJ only Prof. Pihko’s group is heavily encaged in Tekes funding and
has noted some fundamental differences in Tekes and Academy of Finland funding. Based on
Pihko’s experiences what matters is whether the research is promising and has potential
applications (and also appears attractive to the industry), and although academic credentials are
considered, in Pihko’s view, Tekes has been able to promote researchers at an earlier stage of their
career compared to the Academy of Finland. In fact, Tekes and chemical industry started to fund
Pihko’s research for three years before the Academy of Finland. In addition, Tekes funding allows
the academic groups to stay in close contacts with the chemical industry, promoting exchange of
ideas, suggesting potential topics for further research, and sprouting industry-sponsored research
projects.
The unit has been active several times in the 6th and 7th framework programs of EU, but the
consortia UJ has been involved with have not been funded bu EU.
The funding obtained from industry in promoting the scientific, educational and societal
impacts of research (max. 1 page).
The units’ participation in industrial collaborative projects has been highly rewarding, resulting in
not only refereed scientific publications but also new insights into the actual needs of the society.
From the process chemistry standpoint, many topical research areas (e.g. green chemistry) have
been overlooked by academic chemists. Very important environmental aspects of industrial
chemical processes such as the choices of solvents, catalysts, workup conditions, simpler chemical
reactions and the overall safety and efficiency are all issues that are not currently very well
addressed by the academia. New ways to improve e.g. large scale synthesis methods, control of
polymorph formations, preventation of harmful or dangerous sideproducts, lower production costs,
etc., are constanly sought by the chemical industry.
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J. Future prospects
Even though the unit is currently the Finland’s leading unit in chemistry, especially in organic
chemistry and supramolecular chemistry, and intends to maintain its position, there are many
factors that will affect the future prospects of the unit. The unit has now five active professors
(Rissanen, Kolehmainen, Nissinen, Pihko and Paasivirta) and the publication activity and quality is
of high international level. As professor Kolehmainen has a plan to retire in 2011 and continue as
emeritus the number of active professors will, after some time, decrease to three (Rissanen,
Nissinen and Pihko). As Dr. Kolehmainen has been solely responsible of the NMR teaching of the
unit, his retirement will cause rearrangements in the NMR teaching. The unit has a plan to recruit a
Ph.D. level NMR researcher, whose responsibility would be, in addition to the maintenance of the
three existing NMR-equipments, to teach NMR spectroscopy at B.Sc. and M.Sc. levels. This plan is
crucial for maintaining the level of NMR education within the unit and the department.
The new legal status of the Finnish universities has driven them into financial turmoil. This has had
a clear impact on the University of Jyväskylä plans how to maintain and up-date the currently high
standard research equipment. The unit needs, as large/expensive research instruments, for its
research up-to-date single crystal diffractometers, solution and solid state NMR’s and high-quality
mass spectrometers. At present all these instruments are at good level and in active use. However if
feasible and robust enough mechanism for the up-date of research infrastructure within University
of Jyväskylä is not created, it is very likely thatdecay in the quality of the research infrastructure is
evident. If this happens, it will automatically lead to the lowering of the quality of the research and
the inevitable loss of high standard international collaborators. At present only the newest mass
spectrometer (Applied Biosystems, Qstar Elite) is up-to-date (two years old), the 250 and 500 Mhz
NMR’s are 14 years old (the software can no longer be upgraded due to the obsolete electronics)
and the two single crystal diffractometers (Bruker-Nonius Kappa APEX-II) are hybrids of two
olders instruments and needs to be modernized as soon as possible.
On the other hand from 2011 Spring onwards the units three profesors are young (Rissanen will be
51, Nissinen 37 and Pihko 40) when compared to other chemistry units in Finland. Both Nissinen
and Pihko have quite young research groups and the full power in research and education of these
groups will be rearched in ca. 5 years. The research in UJ organic chemistry has been quite flexible
and has been able to adapt to contemporary research topics fast, yet still keeping their core
expertise. These new developments include the Rissanens’ recent synthesis work on metal-ion
mediated self-assembly of nano-sized cages and spheres (collaboration with M. Fujita, Tokyo and J.
Nitschke, Cambridge, UK) and halogen bonding interactions (collaboration with P. Metrangolo,
Helsinki/Milan and G. Resnati, Milan), the Kolehmainens’ synthesis work on fluorinated steroids
(collaboration with V. Kral, Prague) and gapped gold nanoparticles and supramolecular gels
(collaboration with U. Maitra, Bangalore), Nissinen synthesis work on supramolecule protected
nanoparticles (collaboration with H. Häkkinen, NSC, Jyväskylä) and Pihkos’ structural chemistry
work on the mechanistic studies of iminium catalysis (collaboration with H. Tuononen, UJ, Inorg.
Chem. and Rissanen from the same unit).
As the ultimate goal of the unit is to create an unique research environment where all the groups
will collaborate and share their expertise on common goals by combining molecular design,
structural information, supramolecular intermolecular interactions, synthetic chemistry and
nanoscince into a truly multidisciplinary consortium of experts focusing on the studies of
underlying principles, design, preparation and utilization of new functional supramolecular
materials, structure-based design in catalysis (enantioselective catalysis, both organocatalysis and
metal catalysis) and biomimetic catalysis.
35