We’re excited to share our latest publication in ChemSusChem! 🎉
In this article, we report the use of silk fibroin from Bombyx mori cocoons as a recyclable, organocatalyst for the selective Michael addition.
🧪 The reaction proceeds in mild conditions, with excellent yields and the catalyst remains active for over 50 cycles!
💡 In silico studies reveal the presence of catalytic pockets formed by polar amino acids within the silk structure, pointing to a truly bio strategy for green catalysis.

Check out the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202500584

Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting the research group of Prof. Jozef Krajcovic from the Brno University of Technology. During their stay, we engaged in stimulating discussions and fruitful exchanges on a wide range of scientific topics!

We thank our colleagues from Brno for their visit and look forward to continued scientific cooperation!

We’re excited to share our latest publication! 🎉
Magnetic Diatom Shells to Deliver Neuronal Cells in Biological Systems: Where Chemistry Meets Nanobiotechnology 😍

Read more:
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/tb/d5tb00352k

We're thrilled to announce that Annarita and Davide recently defended their PhD theses!
This marks the culmination of years of research and commitment.
Join us in congratulating them on this significant milestone!

We are excited to announce a new PhD position funded through the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Project "GREENS". This position focuses on the functionalization of biosilica of diatom microalgae with functional molecules and catalysts.
We are looking for highly motivated candidates!
Find here the link for the application:
https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/328904

We are thrilled to announce that Carola and Mariella have successfully defended their Ph.D. theses in Chemical and Molecular Sciences and have officially earned their doctorates!

We are incredibly proud of their hard work and dedication to their research, and we can't wait to see what they will accomplish in the future.

Congratulations on this outstanding achievement, Carola and Mariella! 🎉👏

We’re thrilled to announce that we have recently published a Perspective article as part of the Early Career Series Revisited of ChemPlusChem. This work aims to be a checkpoint on diatom biosilica as a platform for functional materials. 🎉

Diatoms are photosynthetic microalgae with a unique nanostructured biosilica shell (frustule), known for its high surface area, mechanical resistance, and photonic properties. Our research has explored how these remarkable structures can be chemically functionalized for applications in sensing, biomedicine, optoelectronics, and energy storage.

Check out the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1002/cplu.202400462

This year's MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit has been specially exciting! We have been honored to give 3 invited talks (2 by Prof. Farinola and 1 by our young researcher Rossella Labarile), and one oral communication by postdoctoral fellow Cesar Vicente-Garcia.
Dr. Labarile has also contributed as organizer of symposium SB11 on “Biological and Bioinspired Polymers”

We’re glad to announce a new publication on Advanced Functional Materials!
A bioinspired adhesive hydrogel fiber that mimics nature’s tunable threads! 🌿🧵 Combining silk fibroin and dopamine, this innovation enables instant fiber formation with remarkable strength and adhesion, unlocking new possibilities in biomaterials, robotics, and beyond.

Read the full text of the article at: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202414219
You can find more about the story: https://www.snexplores.org/article/spider-man-silk-sticky-web-shooter

We are delighted for our new publication on Springer Nature Scientific Reports! The work is about new biorganic approaches to functionalize living cells with xeno-functional groups, making them living…platforms! Conversely to classical methods of hazardous organic synthesis or genetics, here we have presented functional decoration of individual living cells using polydopamine, a melanin-like synthetic polymer, bearing phenylboronic units. This aims to decorate the living cell surfaces via a direct ester formation between boronic units and surface glycoproteins. Moreover, these organic coatings grown around living cells are also able to catch soluble biomolecules, exhibiting e huge reactivity and versatility.
Living is better.

For info:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-68932-4

We are pleased to share our latest publication on Wiley Advanced Sustainable Systems! Here for the first time we present an envisaging way to exploit porous biosilica from marine microorganisms. An innovative biorganic approach let us treat microalgae shells as microcontainers for living probiotics. Moreover the use of 2 natural polymers (Shellac from insects and Chitosan from crustaceans) results effective to seal these biobased micro-pills, making them be resistant to gastric passage till an almost complete “opening” in contact with intestinal tract.
Sometimes it’s all a pH matter!

For more info:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adsu.202400384

We’re excited to announce our latest publication on European Journal of Organic Chemistry!
In this study, we present a novel palladium catalyst supported on silk fibroin (Pd/SF), highlighting its versatility in synthetic chemistry. This innovative catalyst effectively promoted Sonogashira coupling reactions between a wide range of aryl iodides and terminal alkynes using Et3N in ethanol under copper-free conditions. Additionally, The Pd/SF-based protocol was then successfully extended to the synthesis of benzofurans through Sonogashira-Cacchi type annulation, demonstrating its potential in organic synthesis.

Read the full text of the article at:
https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.202400632

We are pleased to share our latest publication on ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering!
The development of hybrid organic/inorganic robust biophotoanodes from diatom microalgae are a more sustainable alternative to fully synthetic electrodes. In this work, we demonstrated the suitability of a series of diatom species to act as biophotoconverters, coating the surface of ITO photoanodes in a model BPV cell. Noteworthy, biophotoanodes coated with diatom species are remarkably more resistant to photocurrent extraction and medium-term dehydration, than those from the model green microalga D. tertiolecta, proving themselves promising for the building up of highly desiccation-resistant biophotoanodes for durable BPV devices.

For more info: https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c00935

The FarinolaGroup attended ISCH 2024 in Aveiro! Prof. Farinola had a talk on "Direct arylation and cross-dehydrogenative couplings of (hetero)arenes: Sustainable route to organic semiconductors for photovoltaics. Our PhD Student Matteo Martina presented his latest results about Direct Arylation reaction induced by IR during the poster session.

The FarinolaGroup was present at the EuChemS Chemistry Congress in Dublin! Prof. Gianluca Farinola showed the exciting potential of functional biohybrid nanomaterials from diatom microalgae and bacteria recently developed in our group. Our PhD Student Carola Ricciardelli presented her latest research on the application of silk fibroin in catalysis. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet prominent figures in the field.

We are thrilled to announce that Cesar has successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis in Chemical and Molecular Sciences and has officially earned his doctorate. We are incredibly proud of his hard work and dedication to his research as a part of Marie Curie BEEP ITN consortium, and we can't wait to see what he will accomplish in the future.
Congratulations on this outstanding achievement, Cesar!

The FarinolaGroup is present in Boston for participating in the MRS Fall Metting 2023 with four oral communication! Prof. Gianluca Farinola showed all the powerful opportunities of functional biohybrid nanomaterials from diatoms microalgae recently developed in our group!

We warmly welcome our new PhD students Vincenzo Tedeschi, Riccardo Ciciriello and Enrico Scelsi to join our group!

We are pleased to share our latest publication on Journal of the American Chemical Society!
Singlet diradicaloids are emerging as a promising class of molecular materials due to their potential multiple applications in several fields. In this work we reported comprehensive investigation of the photoinduced processes and mechanisms linked to the outstanding luminescence of a novel singlet diradicaloid based on the Thiele hydrocarbon backbone. Its fluorescence arises from the low-lying dark doubly excited zwitterionic state, typically found in diradicaloids, with a mechanism similar to sudden polarization, which typically occurs in olefins.

More info: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c05251

We are thrilled to share our recent publication on Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics!
Silk Fibroin (SF) is an exceptionally versatile biopolymer that can be modified using a wide range of chemical techniques, imparting tailored chemical-physical properties to the material. In this paper, we present a systematic investigation of various methods for grafting long alkyl chains onto SF with the aim of modulating its hydrophobic behavior.

Read the full text of the article at
https://doi.org/10.1002/macp.202300145