Prof. Gennaro Pescitelli Curriculum Vitae

Prof. Gennaro Pescitelli
Curriculum Vitae
Current Position
Associate Professor in Organic Chemistry at Department of Chemistry,
University of Pisa
Address
Department of Chemistry, University of Pisa, via Moruzzi 3 – 56124 Pisa ITALY
Phone: +39 050 2219339 – Fax: +39 050 2220673
e-mail: gennaro.pescitelli@ unipi.it – website: www.dcci.unipi.it/~ripes
ResearcherID G-3536-2010 OrcID 0000-0002-0869-5076
Personal Data
Born 17/03/1972 in Benevento, Italy
Education and
Qualifications
 12/2014
Associate Professor in Organic Chemistry at Department of
Chemistry, University of Pisa
 06/2006
“Ricercatore” (Lecturer) in Organic Chemistry at Department of
Chemistry, University of Pisa
 02/2001
PhD in Chemistry, University of Pisa
 10/1997
“Laurea” (BSc) in Chemistry, University of Pisa, with summa cum
laude
 From 2013
Participant to the Unit of Pisa of PRIN project n. 2012A4Z2RY
"Aqueous processable polymer solar cells: from materials to
photovoltaic modules (AQUA-SOL)"
 From 2013
Partner of the project InnoMol – Enhancement of the Innovation
Potential through new Molecular Solutions in Research and
Development, within 7° EU Framework Programme REGPOT
 2011-2013
Participant to the Unit of Pisa of PRIN project n. 2009PRAM8L
“Understanding and controlling the role of dimensions, shape and
chirality in molecules and aggregates: fallouts and applications in
photovoltaics", financed by MIUR
 2007-2009
Principal investigator of the local unit for PRIN project n.
2007PBW44 “Organic Materials for Photovoltaic and
Electroluminescent Devices”, financed by MIUR
 From 2006
Lecturer in Organic Chemistry at Department of Chemistry,
University of Pisa
 2002-06
Research activity at Department of Chemistry, Pisa, supported by
two research grants provided by University of Pisa
 2001-02
Post-Doctoral stage under the supervision of Prof Koji Nakanishi
and Nina Berova, at Columbia University, New York
 1998-2000
Doctoral stage under the supervision of Prof Piero Salvadori at
the Department of Chemistry, University of Pisa
Professional
Experience
Area of
Scientific
activity
Structural elucidation of organic and organometallic molecules employed as chiral catalysts
and auxiliaries in enantioselective catalysis and other molecular recognition processes.
Structural investigations of biomolecules, biomimetic systems and supramolecular adducts;
of polymers employed as technological devices; of organic compounds endowed with
biological and pharmaceutical activity. Development of new methods for stereochemical
determinations by means of spectroscopic techniques (NMR, CD, VCD). Molecular
modelling of organic molecules with molecular mechanics, semi-empirical and ab initio
methods. Non-empirical calculations of chiroptical and electronic properties of organic
molecules and metal complexes.
Scientific
communication
Co-author of 117 publications (articles and communications) on international journals;
6 reviews on international journals; 4 book chapters published worldwide.
Invited to hold plenary talks at the conferences: 9th International Conference on Circular
Dichroism in Chemistry and Life Sciences – CD2003 (Budapest, Hungary, 31/0804/09/2003); CD 2005 – 10th International Conference on Circular Dichroism (Sandestin,
FL, USA, 21-25/08/2005); XXII Congresso Nazionale della Società Chimica Italiana –
SCI2006 (Firenze, 10-15/09/2006), Sessione Primo Levi; CD-ISBC 2009 – 12th
International Conference on Circular Dichroism and 5th Interdisciplinary Symposium on
Biological Chirality (Brescia, 30/08-04/09/2009); XXXV “A. Corbella” Summer School (1418/06/2010, Gargnano); CD2011 – 13th International Conference on Chiroptical
Spectroscopy (Oxford, 24-28/07/2011); CD2013 - 14th International Conference on
Chiroptical Spectroscopy (Nashville, TN, 9-13/06/2013). Co-author of posters and oral
communications at several other national and international conferences.
Member of the editorial board of the journal Chirality (Wiley).
Recent research
projects and
collaborations

Assignment of absolute configuration of bio-active fungal secondary metabolites
with a novel solid-state CD-TDDFT method (in collaboration with Prof. Karsten
Krohn, Paderborn, Germany; Dr. Tibor Kurtán, Decebren, Hungary; Prof. Jinning Gao, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China; Dr. Muhammad Saleem,
Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan)

Structural elucidation of chiral metal complexes and other synthetic compounds
used in enantiorecognition processes (in collaboration with Prof. Lorenzo Di
Bari and with Christoph Janiak, Düsserdolf, Mohammed Enamullah,
Jahangirnagar University, and José V. Prata, CIEBQ, Lisbona)

Study of the chiroptical properties and aggregation modes of chiral organic
conjugate polymers (in collaboration with Prof. Lorenzo Di Bari and Gianluca M.
Farinola, Bari)

Interpretation of chiroptical properties of rhodopsin and analogue proteins (in
collaboration with Prof. Robert W. Woody, Colorado State University, and with
Prof. Koji Nakanishi and Nina Berova, Columbia University, USA)

Study of the chiroptical properties and aggregation modes of chiral organogelators (in collaboration with Dr. Stefano Cicchi, Firenze)

Development of new methods for the interpretationa and simulation of
chiroptical properties (in collaboration with with Benedetta Mennucci, Pisa,
Fabrizio Santoro, CNR-ICCOM Pisa, and Torsten Bruhn, Würzburg)
Recent selected
publications
 C. Resta, G. Pescitelli, L. Di Bari, Natural α-Amino Acid-Functionalized
Poly(phenyleneethynylene)s (PPEs): Synthesis and Chiroptical Characterization
of Aggregate States, Macromolecules, 2014, 47, 7052-7059.
 G. Pescitelli, H. E. Kato, S. Oishi, J. Ito, A. D. Maturana, O. Nureki, R. W.
Woody, Exciton Circular Dichroism in Channelrhodopsin, The Journal of
Physical Chemistry B, 2014, 118, 11873-11885
 T. Bruhn, G. Pescitelli, S. Jurinovich, A. Schaumlöffel, F. Witterauf, J. Ahrens, M.
Bröring, G. Bringmann, Axially Chiral BODIPY DYEmers: An Apparent Exception
to the Exciton Chirality Rule, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2014,
53, 14592-14595.
 C. Resta, S. Di Pietro, M. M. Elenkov, Z. Hameršak, G. Pescitelli, L. Di Bari,
Consequences of Chirality on the Aggregation Behavior of Poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV), Macromolecules, 2014, 47,
4847-4850.
 G. Pescitelli, L. Di Bari, N. Berova, Application of electronic circular dichroism in
the study of supramolecular systems, Chemical Society Reviews, 2014, 43,
5211-5233
 L. Lascialfari, D. Berti, A. Brandi, S. Cicchi, M. Mannini, G. Pescitelli, P.
Procacci, Chiral/ring closed vs. achiral/open chain triazinebased organogelators:
induction and amplification of supramolecular chirality in organic gels, Soft
Matter, 2014, 10, 3762-3770.
 G. Pescitelli, V. Barone, L. Di Bari, A. Rizzo, F. Santoro, Vibronic Coupling
Dominates the Electronic Circular Dichroism of the Benzene Chromophore 1Lb
band, Journal of Organic Chemistry 2013, 78, 7398-7405
 G. Pescitelli, O. Hassan Omar, A. Operamolla, G. M. Farinola, L. Di Bari,
Chiroptical Properties of Glucose-Substituted Poly(p-phenyleneethynylene)s in
Solution and Aggregate State, Macromolecules, 2012, 45, 9626-9630.
 G. Pescitelli, T. Kurtán, K. Krohn, Book chapter: Assignment of the absolute
configuration of natural products by means of solid-state circular dichroism and
quantum mechanical calculations; in Comprehensive Chiroptical Spectroscopy,
ed. N. Berova, P. L. Polavarapu, K. Nakanishi, R. W. Woody, Wiley, 2012, ch.
2.6, p. 217-250
 G. Pescitelli, R. W. Woody, The exciton origin of the visible circular dichroism
spectrum of Bacteriorhodopsin, J. Phys. Chem. B. 2012, 116, 6751-6763
 L. You, G. Pescitelli, E. V. Anslyn, L. Di Bari, An Exciton-Coupled Circular
Dichroism Protocol for the Determination of Identity, Chirality, and Enantiomeric
Excess of Chiral Secondary Alcohols, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 7117-7125
 J. M. Dragna, G. Pescitelli, L. Tran, V. M. Lynch, E. V. Anslyn, L. Di Bari, In situ
assembly of octahedral Fe(II) complexes for the enantiomeric excess
determination of chiral amines using Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy, J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 4398-4407
 G. Pescitelli, L. Di Bari, N. Berova, Conformational Aspects in the Studies of
Organic Compounds by Electronic Circular Dichroism, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2011,
40, 4603-4625
 J. W. Walton, L. Di Bari, D. Parker, G. Pescitelli, H. Puschmann,. D. S. Yufit
Structure, resolution and chiroptical analysis of stable lanthanide complexes of a
pyridylphenylphosphinate triazacyclononane ligand, Chem. Commun. 2011, 47,
12289-12291.
 I. N. Siddiqui, A. Zahoor, H. Hussain, I. Ahmed, V. U. Ahmad, D. Padula, S.
Draeger, B. Schulz, K. Meier, M. Steinert, T. Kurtán, U. Flörke, G. Pescitelli, K.
Krohn, Diversonol and blennolide derivatives from the endophytic fungus
Microdiplodia sp.: absolute configuration of diversonol, J. Nat. Prod. 2011, 74,
365-373
 L. Di Bari, G. Pescitelli, Book chapter: Electronic Circular Dichroism; in
“Computational Spectroscopy”; ed. Jörg Grunenberg; Wiley-VCH: New York,
2010; ch. 9, p. 241-277
 G. Pescitelli, T. Kurtán, U. Flörke, K. Krohn, Absolute structural elucidation of
natural products - A focus on quantum-mechanical calculations of solid-state CD
spectra, Chirality 2009, 21, E181-E201
 N. Berova, G. Pescitelli, A. G. Petrovic, G. Proni, Probing molecular chirality by
CD-sensitive dimeric metalloporphyrin hosts, Chem. Commun. 2009, 5958-5980
 W. Zhang, K. Krohn, Zia-Ullah, U. Flörke, G. Pescitelli, L. Di Bari, S. Antus, T.
Kurtán, J. Rheinheimer, S. Draeger, B. Schulz, New Mono- and Dimeric
Members of the Secalonic Acid Family: Blennolides A–G Isolated from the
Fungus Blennoria sp., Chem. Eur. J. 2008, 14, 4913-4923
 N. Berova, L. Di Bari, G. Pescitelli, Application of electronic circular dichroism in
configurational and conformational analysis of organic compounds, Chem. Soc.
Rev., 2007, 36, 914-931
 H. Hussain, K. Krohn, U. Flörke, B. Schulz, S. Draeger, G. Pescitelli, S. Antus, T.
Kurtán, Absolute Configurations of Globosuxanthone A and Secondary
Metabolites from Microdiplodia sp. - A Novel Solid-State CD/TDDFT Approach,
Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2007, 292-295
 F. Babudri, D. Colangiuli, L. Di Bari, G. M. Farinola, O. Hassan Omar, F. Naso,
G. Pescitelli, Synthesis and Chiroptical Characterization of an Amino Acid
Functionalized Dialkoxypoly(p-phenyleneethynylene), Macromolecules, 2006,
39, 5206-5212
[ A complete list of publications may be found at the ResearcherID profile website
www.researcherid.com/rid/G-3536-2010 or at University of Pisa Unimap site
unimap.unipi.it/cercapersone/prodottiricerca.php?iddoc=080331]