Dyes and Photoactive Molecules in Microporous Systems

Dr. Virginia Martínez-Martínez graduated in Chemistry in 2001 (Extraordinary Prize of Degree). She obtained her PhD at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in 2005 (Extraordinary Doctorate Award) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Fernando and Iñigo López Arbeloa. Her doctoral thesis was focused on the development and characterization of oriented hybrid dye/clay films. She did a postdoctoral stay for 2 years (2006-2008) at KU Leuven (Belgium), under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Johan Hofkens, acquiring knowledge on fluorescence microscopy at single molecule level, applied to study (bio)catalytic events in real time. She returned to the Physical Chemistry Department at the University of the Basque Country and after the Ramon y Cajal contract (2012-2017), she became Tenured Permanent Researcher. Virginia does research in Materials Chemistry and Spectroscopy. Her groups current scientific projects are: 1.Photoactive hybrid materials, based on the combinationof fluorescent dyes into inorganic and organic systems such as 2D-clays, MOFs or porous zeolitic systems, for optical applications; 2. Multifunctional dyes based on BODIPY chromophore, mainly dedicated to the development of new photosensitizers and improved fluorescent probes for bioimaging; and 3.Nanoparticles as drug carries for their implantation in photodynamic therapy and teragnosis.

Prof. Fernando López Arbeloa obtained the PhD Degree in Science at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL, Belgium) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. F.C: De Schryver in 1987. He became Full Professor at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU, Spain) in 2002. He teaches Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy in the Department of Physical Chemistry. His research fields include the photophysical characterization of fluorescence dyes both in homogeneous liquid media and polymeric matrices, and in nanostructured inorganic solids with interest in photonics applications and sensors. He developed a new method based on an anisotropy fluorescence technique with linearly polarized light to characterize the orientation of dyes adsorbed in bidimensional ordered layer materials. Recently, special interest is focused on the study of new zeolitic-type aluminophosphate materials for chiral recognition.