Fitxa persona

Gonzalo Blay Llinares was born in El Real de Gandia, a small village in the beautiful area of La Safor in the province of València. PhD in Chemistry from the University of Valencia (1992), I have developed my research and teaching career at this university as an Assistant Professor (1992-1996), Associate Professor (1996-2012), and, since 2012, as a Full Professor. My research activity has focused on two different areas of Organic Synthesis. From 1998 to the early 2000s, my research primarily centered on the synthesis of natural products with potential biological activity, mainly sesquiterpene lactones and related compounds. Since then, my work has evolved toward more methodological aspects related to the development of procedures for Asymmetric Catalysis using both metal catalysts and organocatalysts, a field in which I am currently active. Among my most significant contributions in this area are the design and synthesis of new ligands, such as hydroxamic acid derivatives and imino- and aminopyridine types, as well as the application of these ligands and others described in the literature to the development of enantioselective reactions. These include cycloaddition reactions (Diels-Alder and 1,3-dipolar), alkylation of carbonyl compounds, alkynylation of carbonyl compounds, imines, and electrophilic alkenes; Henry, aza-Henry, and nitro-Michael reactions; Friedel-Crafts reactions with nitrogen heterocycles and hydroxyarenes; and Michael-type reactions with unsaturated imines. This research line continues with the development of new enantioselective catalytic reactions using multicatalytic systems that combine two or more catalysts, enabling novel reaction patterns not achievable with a single catalyst. Throughout my career, I have completed research stays at foreign universities. First, from 1993 to 1994 as a postdoctoral researcher at Wageningen University (Netherlands) with Professor Aede de Groot, and in 2005 as a visiting researcher at Aarhus University (Denmark) with Professor Karl Anker Jorgensen. I have delivered invited lectures at various symposia and scientific meetings, as well as at national and international universities. As a result of this research trajectory, I have published 182 articles in prestigious international scientific journals to date, several book chapters, and numerous communications at national and international conferences, some as an invited speaker. I have supervised ten doctoral theses (five of them with European or international distinction) and several master's theses, as well as numerous undergraduate final projects and Erasmus projects. I am the co-author of a problem-solving book titled 200 Problems in Structural Determination of Organic Compounds (Ed. Visión) and a popular science book titled Anabolic Steroids (Ed. Paidotribo). From March 2018 to March 2024, I served as the Head of the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Valencia.