Doctural students
Our doctoral students, who are among the most promising young scientists, have set themselves the goal of conducting joint research in various projects on SPECtroscopic Tools for challenging REduction reactions - Catalytic coupling of CO2.
Lennart Kruse
Contact
University of Rostock
Institute of Chemistry
Office
Albert-Einstein-Str. 27
18059 Rostock
Phone: +49 381 - 498 - 6522
E-Mail: Lennart.Kruse[at]uni-rostock.de
ORCID: 0000-0002-8631-1840
Introduction
I was born and raised in a small town near Hamburg, Germany. After school I moved to Rostock for my chemistry studies, where I graduated 2023 in the field of infrared spectroscopy. During my master thesis I investigated ionic liquids and the change of their molecular structure upon CO2 uptake. In earlier parts of my studies, I performed spectro-electrochemical experiments to investigate manganese-based complexes for CO2-reduction. After graduation I worked as a research assistant in the group of Prof. Ralf Ludwig at the University of Rostock and was responsible for NMR relaxometry measurements.
Esha Suresh Babu
Contact
Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse e. V.
Albert-Einstein-Straße 29a
18059 Rostock
Phone: +49 381-1281-335
E-Mail: Esha.Suresh[at]catalysis.de
Introduction
Coming from the picturesque state of Kerala in India, often referred to as "God's Own Country," I am a passionate chemist with a keen interest in unravelling the mechanistic intricacies of catalytic CO2 conversion to oxalate. I hold a BS-MS dual degree from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati. I completed my MS thesis on "Exploring C5 and C7 Functionalization of Indoles via Photoredox Catalysis" under the guidance of Dr. Gopinath Purushothaman at IISER Tirupati. My research focused on site-selective functionalization reactions, specifically C5 sulfonylation and C7 acylation of indoles via the use of photoredox and dual palladium-photoredox catalysis, respectively.
Throughout my graduate studies, I have gained experience in multiple aspects of catalysis through several projects. Before starting my MS thesis, I worked on two semester projects at IISER Tirupati, where I focused on dual metallaphotoredox-catalyzed C-H functionalization of carbazoles. This opportunity introduced me to the burgeoning field of photoredox catalysis. In 2019, during the early years of my BS-MS degree program, I undertook a summer internship under Dr. Dinesh Jagadeesan at the esteemed Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Palakkad. During this time, I was engaged in the synthesis and characterization of perovskite catalysts.
Currently, in the PhD program within the RTG SPECTRE at LIKAT, my focus is on uncovering the mechanistic and kinetic aspects of the reductive coupling of CO2 to oxalate with transition metal complexes via the use of in-situ/operando spectroscopy. I will be performing in-situ/operando FTIR spectroscopic studies complemented by other spectroscopic methods (e.g. Raman, UV-Vis, NMR) to identify the species involved and substantiate the mechanistic hypothesis. This project aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the structure-activity relationship of transition metal complexes involved in this reaction.
Neeraja Kaimal
Contact
Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse e. V.
Albert-Einstein-Straße 29a
18059 Rostock
Phone: +49 381 - 1281-324
E-Mail: Neeraja.Kaimal[at]catalysis.de
Introduction
I grew up in Kerala, India, a land renowned for its stunning landscapes and rich cultural traditions. I completed my undergraduate studies in chemistry from Alphonsa College, Pala, in 2021, where my bachelor’s thesis focused on producing nanosilica from rice husk ash. I then pursued my master’s degree from St. Thomas College, Pala, graduating as a rank holder in 2023. My master’s thesis was focused on synthesizing copper oxide nanoparticles and exploring their applications in the photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes.
After graduation, I worked as a Research Assistant at the School of Chemical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, under the guidance of Prof. Dr. G. Anilkumar. My research there focused on organic synthesis, particularly transition metal-catalysed C-C and C-heteroatom bond-forming reactions, C-H activation, and coupling reactions. I specifically worked on the cobalt-catalysed tandem synthesis of 2-aminobenzothiazoles via C-H activation.
Ramisah Rabyea
Contact
University of Rostock
Institute of Physics
Office
Albert-Einstein-Str. 23-24
18059 Rostock
Phone: +49 381 - 498 - 6913
E-Mail: ramisah.rabyia[at]uni-rostock.de
ORCID: 0000-0001-8619-7120
Introduction
'My name is Ramisha Rabeya, and I am a PhD candidate working in the 'SPECTRE' project 'Time-resolved UV-vis spectroelectrochemistry. I completed my Master's in Mechanical Engineering and focused on Material Science. During my studies, I conducted research on the optical, chemical, and morphological properties of quantum materials. I synthesized these materials in an environmentally friendly manner, functionalized them with a novel ionic liquid of different concentrations, and compared them with commercial ones to evaluate their performance in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC), which I fabricated from them.
To understand the performance of the materials and correlate them with the electrical performance of the cell, I used several spectroscopic characterization tools such as UV-Vis, XPS, XRD, Raman, FTIR, EIS, PL, AFM, TEM, and Current-Voltage Analysis. Through this research, I achieved a superior power conversion efficiency for environmentally friendly quantum dot-based DSSC.
As I moved forward, I got interested in exploiting the potential of these tools to improve chemical reactions. This has motivated me to be a part of the research training group SPECTRE. We want to do spectroelectrochemistry with a time-resolution as high as possible in order to observe short living intermediates in electrochemical reactions by UV-vis spectroscopy. To this end, we have generated a femtosecond white light continuum from an ultrashort laser pulse which we will guide through a 3-electrode electrochemical cell. We shall monitor the redox reaction of the solution applying an electric potential and analyzing the absorption spectra which we record by feeding the white light into a spectrograph after it passed through the cell. We aim to record any additional absorption bands that may occur due to the existence of intermediates.
Koushik Mondal
Contact
Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse e. V.
Albert-Einstein-Straße 29a
18059 Rostock
Phone: +49 381-1281- 200
E-Mail: Koushik.Mondal[at]catalysis.de
Introduction
Koushik Mondal was graduated with B.Sc.(Hons.) in Chemistry (2020) from the Visva-Bharati University, West Bengal, India. There he continued his study to pursue his master’s (2022) in Chemistry. During that time, he worked under the supervision of Prof. Alakananda Hajra to synthesize complex organic molecules containing quinoxaline core moieties using Ru-based transition metal catalysts. Finishing his master’s, he continued his research in Prof. Hajra’s lab for the next year and half, learning various electrochemical methods towards synthesizing complex organic molecules. In August 2024, Koushik moved to Germany and started as a doctoral student in the RTG SPECTRE (P2.1) at the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis, Rostock to investigate “electrochemical approaches toward CO2-to-oxalate conversion” under the supervision of Prof. Robert Francke.
Luisa Zach
Contact
Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse e. V.
Albert-Einstein-Straße 29a
18059 Rostock
Phone:
E-Mail: Luisa.Zach[at]catalysis.de
Introduction
I was born and raised near Hof, a small town in northern Bavaria. To conduct my chemistry studies, I moved to Rostock, where I graduated in the field of organic photoredox catalysis at the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis. Under the guidance of Dr. Jola Pospech, my master’s thesis built on my earlier work on pyrimidopteridine-catalyzed photo-mediated hydroacetoxylation. In my bachelor’s research, I had utilized a symmetrical catalyst scaffold, but for my master’s thesis, I targeted the transformation of this scaffold into a chiral version to enable asymmetric photomediated synthesis. Additionally, I gained valuable experience in drug discovery and peptide synthesis during my stay at Bayer in Wuppertal, where I worked closely with teams focusing on early-stage pharmaceutical research.
During my studies, I encountered the SPECTRE RTG while on a research stay at the University of Bath, where I worked on the homogeneous hydrogenation of CO. This project deepened my interest in small molecule activation and solidified my focus on the potentials of photoredox catalysis, with a particular focus on their application in sustainable chemical processes.
Lukas Prestin
Contact
University of Rostock
Institute of Mathmatics
Office
Ulmenstraße 69
18057 Rostock
Phone: +49 381 - 498 - 6643
E-Mail: lukas.prestin[at]uni-rostock.de
ORCID: 0009-0004-5206-3465
Introduction
During my mathematics studies at the University of Rostock, I have always been particularly interested in numerical mathematics and its areas of application. Therefore I wrote both my Bachelor's thesis in the field of the nonnegative matrix factorization problem and my Master's thesis with a focus on pattern recognition methods at the Chair of Numerics. This allowed me to gain some experience in the field of numerical chemometrics and dealing with spectroscopic data. In my work as a research assistant at the Chair of Numerical Mathematics, I have dealt with approaches for the determination of pure component spectra as well as automation techniques within the FACPACK package.
Zahra Tayebi
Contact
Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse e. V.
Albert-Einstein-Straße 29a
18059 Rostock
Phone: +49 381-1281-272
E-Mail: Zahra.Tayebi[at]catalysis.de
Introduction
I am a PhD student at the Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse e.V. (LIKAT) in Rostock, Germany, specializing in computational chemistry. I completed my Master of Science in Physics at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS) in Zanjan, Iran. My thesis, titled “Impurity Effects on Electronic Properties of 2D Topological Nodal-Line Semimetals” focused on theoretical and computational aspects of two-dimensional materials, specifically investigating the effects of impurities on the electronic properties of gapped nodal-line semimetals. This research involved detailed analysis of electron density, momentum distribution functions, and thermoelectric responses in the presence of disorder, utilizing both analytical and numerical techniques using the self-consistent Born approximation.
In my Master’s work, I developed models to study how impurity scattering affects the Fermi energy and momentum distribution of these materials. The project also explored the influence of impurities on thermoelectric transport properties, providing insights into the behavior of Seebeck coefficients and thermal conductivity in disordered systems. These findings contribute to the broader understanding of electronic transport in low-dimensional materials, which is critical for advancing future technologies in electronic and thermoelectric devices.
Joshua Sorst
Contact
University of Rostock
Institute of Chemistry
Office 118
Albert-Einstein-Str. 3a
18059 Rostock
Phone: +49 381 - 498 - 6404
E-Mail: joshua.sorst[at]uni-rostock.de
ORCID: 0009-0000-9688-4979
Introduction
I was born in Wuppertal, where I went to school and graduated at the Bergische Universität Wuppertal in the field of inorganic chemistry. During my bachelor studies I investigated Palladium- and Platinum-carbene-complexes.
I moved to Rostock for my master studies and graduated in the group of Prof. Dr. Schulz on the topic of pseudohalides and their reactions with titanocene-complexes.
In this project of the RTG SPECTRE I will focus on the synthesis of biradical metal catalysts. These compounds will be applicated for the reductive reaction of CO2 to oxalate.
Shashank Krishna
Contact
Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse e. V.
Office - 2.026, Building 2,
Albert-Einstein-Straße 29a
18059 Rostock
Phone: +49 381-1281-408
Email: Shashank.Ramana[at]catalysis.de
Introduction
Graduating from the International Masters in Green and Sustainable Catalysis, from Université de Rennes in Bretagne, France, his masters thesis was focused on the development of porphyrin-based supramolecular catalysts for C-H activation of Heteroaryl moieties, utilizing the secondary interactions to organize the substrates in a manner such that the proximity is brought about between the site of interest and the catalytically active metal centre, thereby mediating selectivity. In October 2024, he moved to the Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse e.V. (LIKAT) in Rostock, Germany, to work on project P1.1 of the SPECTRE RTG, focusing on the "synthesis, characterization, and reactivity studies of mono- and bis-alkoxycarbonyl metal phosphine complexes" under the guidance of Prof. Matthias Beller and Dr. Henrik Junge for experimental research, and Dr. Olga Bokareva for computational studies.
Simon Walkenhorst
Contact
Leibniz-Institut für Katalyse e. V.
Albert-Einstein-Straße 29a
18059 Rostock
Phone: +49 381-1281-263
E-Mail: Simon.Walkenhorst[at]catalysis.de
ORCID: 0009-0009-8629-1358
Introduction
I was born and raised in a small town near Bielefeld, Germany, where I graduated at the Bielefeld University in the field of inorganic chemistry. During my Master’s degree I worked on frustrated Lewis-pairs and their use as catalysts for hydroamination and -phosphanidation.
After my Master’s degree, I moved to Rostock to start my PhD at the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis to continue my growing interest in the field of catalytic chemistry.
I am currently working on (bifunctional) complexes of group IV metals to achieve a reductive coupling of CO2 to oxalate.