Group members

Agustín Lara-Sánchez was born in La Solana (Ciudad Real), Spain, in 1972. He obtained his graduate degree in 1995 from the University of Castilla-La Mancha and his Doctorate in 1999 with Prof. Antonio Otero and Dr. Juan Fernández. From 2000–2001, he worked as a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the University of East Anglia with Prof. Manfred Bochmann researching in the design of catalysts for the polymerization of olefins and the synthesis of biodegradable polymers. From 2002 to 2019 he was a lecturer at the University of Castilla-La Mancha. In September 2019, he was appointed Full Professor in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Castilla-La Mancha. He has authored more than 100 publications in reviewed journals. His current research interests have been directed towards the study of catalytic processes for the synthesis of products of industrial interest such as cyclic carbonates and biodegradable polymers from CO₂ and renewable resources.

Agustin.Lara@uclm.es

Juan Tejeda was born in Madrigalejo (Cáceres), Spain, in 1960. He obtained his graduate degree in 1984 from the University Complutense of Madrid, Spain, and his PhD in 1992 from the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, under supervision of Profs. Enrique Díez-Barra and Antonio de La Hoz. From 1992 to 1993, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the “Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination” (CNRS) in Toulouse (France) with Dr Guy Bertrand studying the preparation of anti-aromatic derivatives bearing a phosphorus atom. From 1990 to 1997, he was teaching assistant at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. In March of 1997, he was appointed lecturer at the University of Castilla-La Mancha and in September of 2019 he was promoted to full professor at the same university. His current research interests include the catalytic synthesis of bio-sourced compounds and the use of mesoionic carbenes to coordinate transition metals.

Juan.Tejeda@uclm.es

Santiago García Yuste was born in 1965 in Miralrío, Guadalajara (Spain). He received his B.A. degree from the University of Alcala (UAH) in 1990 and his Ph.D. degree in inorganic chemistry from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) in 1995 under the guidance of Professors A. Otero and A. Antiñolo, where he began research in Organometallic Chemistry. Concretely in activation of small molecules (CO₂, activated alkynes) using Hydride Niobocene complexes. He completed postdoctoral studies with Professor Lutz H. Gade at the University of Wuerzburg (Germany) in 1996 and 1997. He returned to UCLM where is now a Lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemical Sciences and Technologies. He was interested in hydride Niobocene Organometallic Chemistry research including “non-classical” di-hydrogen complexes; insertion reaction processes of small molecules (i.e. CO₂, Alkynes or Alkenes) into Nb-X bond (X = H, C, P) and ROP-Polymerization processes from 1991–2012. Since 2012 he has focused his studies on Carbon Dioxide Utilization (CDU) environmental strategies from minor CO₂ sources (CO₂-AFP strategy and CO₂-RFP strategy).

santiago.gyuste@uclm.es

Dr. Luis Fernando Sánchez-Barba was born in Valdepeñas (Spain) in 1975. From 1993 to 1997 he studied chemistry at the Facultad of Ciencias Químicas de Ciudad Real and received a MS in inorganic chemistry at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in 1998. Then, he joined the group of Prof. Antonio Otero at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), where he obtained his PhD in 2002 for his work on the studies of new group 4 and 5 complexes with heteroscorpionate systems of new generation. Later, he moved as a Marie Curie fellow to the School of Chemical Sciences and Pharmacy in Norwich (England) with Prof. Manfred Bochmann, and worked on the production of advanced macromolecular architectures and functional materials via lanthanides catalysis during 2004. Since 2009, he has been working as an Inorganic Chemistry Lecturer at the department of Biology and Geology, Physics and Inorganic Chemistry in the University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid. His main research interests are the design of new heteroscorpionate group 2 (and analogous)-based complexes applied to both the Ring-Opening Polymerization of cyclic esters for the production of polymeric bio-renewable materials, and more recently, CO2 valorisation processes through its transformation on organic molecules and materials industrially demanded.

luisfernando.sanchezbarba@urjc.es 

Carlos was born in 1978 outside Ciudad Real, Spain. In 2000, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Castilla-La Mancha. Alonso-Moreno earned his Ph.D. at University of Castilla-La Mancha in 2005 for his dissertation on metallocene catalyzed olefin polymerization. After a two-year postdoctoral appointment at the School of Pharmacy in the University of East-Anglia, United Kingdom, and a short brief of one-year at the University of Rey Juan Carlos, Spain, Alonso-Moreno began his independent career at University of Castilla-La Mancha in 2008. In 2010, he was promoted to Associate Professor and in 2018 was named Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the School of Pharmacy in the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, in which he was Vice-dean (2012–2017). His research has been mainly involved in the design and development of new organometallic entities as efficient catalysis to produce biodegradable polymers. Today, he is mainly interested in the application of the tailor-made polymeric macrostructures in oncology by the generation of nanodevices.

Carlos.Amoreno@uclm.es

Dr. Andrés Garcés Osado received his PhD in Chemistry in 2001 from Alcala University after joining the Rey Juan Carlos University a year earlier. In 2003, he did a postdoctoral stay in the group of Professor Robin Bedford at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom, to finally return to the Rey Juan Carlos University where he currently carries out his teaching and research work. Throughout his research career, he has worked mainly in the field of homogeneous catalysis through the preparation of organometallic species capable of facilitating different catalytic processes of interest. In all this time he has participated in more than 20 research projects that have allowed him to publish more than 40 articles in high-impact journals and participate in more than 30 national and international scientific congresses. He has an h-index of 18 and his citation percentile is above 70.

andres.garces@urjc.es

José Antonio Castro-Osma is a lecturer at the School of Pharmacy of the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. After completing his PhD studies at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha in 2013 under the supervision of Prof. Antonio Otero and Dr. Agustín Lara-Sánchez, he completed a postdoctoral position with Prof. Michael North at the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence at the University of York. His current research is focused on the development of new catalytic processes for the transformation of CO₂ and biomass-derived chemical feedstocks into high-value added chemical products and polymers.

JoseA.Castro@uclm.es

Felipe de la Cruz Martínez was born in Badajoz (Spain) in 1990. He studied chemistry at University of Extremadura where he began his career research working on the design of anticancer agents. Then, he moved at the University of Castilla-La Mancha where he completed his PhD studies on the carbon dioxide utilization for the synthesis of industrial valuable products under the supervision of Prof. Agustín Lara Sánchez and Dr. José A. Castro Osma. He also did a PhD stay at the University of York under the supervision of Prof. Michael North focused on the synthesis of CO₂-based hydroxyurethanes. In 2021, he joined Dr. Jesús Campos group at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Sevilla as a postdoctoral fellow working on the development of bimetallic pairs for the activation of small molecules. Since September 2022, he is based at the University of Castilla-La Mancha as an Assistant Professor.

Felipe.Cruz@uclm.es

María graduated in Pharmacy (2021) from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM). During her undergraduate studies, she acquired research experience in Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Nanotechnology, complemented by an internship at the University of Twente (Netherlands) after her graduation. She is currently a PhD student in the Doctoral Program in Chemistry at UCLM. Her present research is based on the development of new nanosystems to enhance the activity of PROTACs, a promising technology for cancer.