Green hydrogen is produced via a process called water electrolysis. During electrolysis water is split into oxygen and hydrogen.

Promotor: A. Kros

This thesis investigates reactive interfaces in surface science across three domains: heterogeneous catalysis, environmental nanoplastics, and two-dimensional materials.

The overall theme of this thesis is to complement the electrochemical data acquired in fuel cell research with in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS).

To design the ideal water oxidation catalyst, understanding of the catalytic mechanism and decomposition pathways is essential.

The Novel chemical modalities research group is headed by Assistant Professor Sebastian Pomplun. Sebastian started at the division of Medicinal Chemistry within the LACDR in September 2021. His lab develops technologies for the discovery of novel chemical modalities that can address challenging drug…

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The research described in this Thesis was aimed at designing and synthesizing nature-inspired compounds as part of TB vaccine discovery.

This thesis is an experimental study of the UV irradiation of the interstellar ice analogues, relevant for the different stages of the star and planet formation sequence.

Fate and toxicity of copper nanoparticles was related to the water chemistry of the environment and pristine size.

Promotor: M. Ubbink, Co-promotor: G. Siegal

Evolution acts via mutations in amino acid sequences. Substitution of essential amino acids leads to a nonfunctional protein. l.

Sphingolipids are important membrane compounds with a variety of functions. In mammalian cells, different enzymes are involved in the metabolism of sphingolipids, but interruption of this metabolism process leads to different diseases.

Although it is often assumed that the stereochemistry in Ugi multicomponent reactions is determined in the final Mumm rearrangement step, experimental and computational evidence that Ugi reactions on hydroxylated pyrrolines proceed under kinetic control is reported.

Source: ChemMedChem (2015)

Contact Metals in Catalysis, Biomimetics & Inorganic Chemisrty

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is the substrate used for the introduction of the ubiquitous and highly dynamic PTM in which either one or multiple adenosine diphosphate ribose (ADPr) moieties are covalently attached to a nucleophilic side chain of an specific amino acid in the target protein…

Neuraminidases are enzymes that cleave glycosidic linkages of sialic acid. These enzymes are involved in influenza infections as well as in many cellular processes in mammals and micro-organisms.

Central in coordination and organometallic chemistry is the synthesis of new chelating ligands, the synthesis and characterization of metal complexes with these ligands, and the study of their properties. An important goal in my research is to create understanding of the relation between the structures…

LED3 is the combined effort of three excellent institutes of Leiden University. Through joined hands, we are able to give rise to a more effective early drug discovery pipeline. Let us briefly introduce the three institutes.

Sometimes an idea seems so logical and elegant at first glance, that you later wonder why no one thought of it before. Two researchers from LACDR have teamed up to develop a completely synthetic alternative to antibodies—one that mimics their size, shape and function, but which is cheaper, more stable,…

Are you interested in taking up an extra challenge during your master’s programme?

A flu virus could cause a pandemic. And then we would be poorly armed because flu viruses are starting to become resistant to flu medications like Tamiflu. Chemist Merijn Vriends successfully worked on an improved version of such medications. He will be awarded his doctorate on September 12th.

Development & demonstration of low environmental impact innovation and optimization practices in pharma production.

At Leiden Observatory, researchers investigate the origin of stars and their planetary systems. They detect and characterize planets around other stars (exoplanets). They study how stars and planets form. And they follow molecules from interstellar clouds to nascent planet systems. This way they address…

best phd theses of the faculty of science Leiden - physics, chemistry, computer science, biopharmaceutical sciences, biology, industrial ecology, environmental sciences, astronomy, mathematics. thesis

The surface and the edges of graphene are expected to provide higher sensitivity and specificity in detecting and characterizing single molecules. However fundamental physical limits exist in reaching an ultimate precision in detecting the dynamics of chemical and biological systems. The research in…

This thesis covers several aspects of quantum algorithms for near-term quantum computers and its applications to quantum chemistry and material science.

Nature uses a special class of histone proteins, histone variants, to modulate the properties of chromatin at defined genomic locations.

This project aims at determining the market value of hydrogen peroxide (HP) that is produced via our electrochemical methods that have been developed as part of the ERC-StG Cu4Energy project.

BlaC is the β-lactamase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We show that it can recover from inhibition by clavulanic acid and that phosphate helps it do so.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.P. Abrahams

Promotor: M. Ubbink, Co-Promotor: R. T. Dame

Promotor: M. Ubbink, Co-promotor: G. Siegal

Promotores: Prof.dr. H.S. Overkleeft, Prof.dr. G.A. van der Marel

Promotor: Prof.dr. H.V.J. Linnartz, Co-Promotores: S. Ioppolo, H.M. Cuppen

The research presented in this thesis explores the chemotherapeutic potential of metal-based compounds as chemotherapy agents, with an initial focus on the synthesis and DNA interaction studies of platinum and palladium compounds utilizing the [Pt(bapbpy)]2+ scaffold. The study identifies intercalation…

An objective of this research was to achieve direct, well-defined and non-rate-limiting electron transfer between respiratory enzymes and the electrode surface by means of 'Q-wires'.

This thesis focuses on the design and synthesis of activity-based probes and inhibitors targeting enzymes involved in the degradation of specific plant glycans.

Assistant Professor at the Department of Analytical Chemistry, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands

This thesis focuses on the synthesis, characterization and performance towards CO2 electroreduction of mono and bi-metallic particles based on p-block metals

Promotor: G. A. van der Marel, Co-promotor: D. V. Filippov

MHC class I and MHC class II molecules present peptides to the immune system to drive proper T cell responses. Pharmacological modulation of T-cell responses can offer treatment options for a range of immune-related diseases.

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) generation via electrochemical oxygen reduction is a sustainable production method for this bulk chemical. However, the selectivity of molecular catalysts for electrochemical H2O2 generation has hardly been investigated in a systematic manner, and it is unknown if their stability…

Promotor: Prof.dr. M. Ubbink

We report new computational and experimental evidence of an efficient and astrochemically relevant formation route to formaldehyde (H2CO). This simplest carbonylic compound is central to the formation of complex organics in cold interstellar clouds and is generally regarded to be formed by the hydrogenation…

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is an important bulk chemical that is used in various industrial processes. More than 95% of the H2O2 used in industry is made via the anthraquinone process during which a large amount of energy is going to waste.

Climate change is a challenge for both current and future generations. New biological resources have to be developed in order to meet the demand for energy as well as the demand for food.

Before the large scale use of renewable energy sources can be implemented in our society, the storage of electrical energy needs to be tackled. Storage the energy as hydrogen via the reduction of protons is a good option.

As a virtually inexhaustible source, solar energy plays a major role in future global energy scenarios.