Maurizio Prato (scientist): Difference between revisions
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Maurizio Prato | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Maurizio Prato October 11, 1953 |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Citizenship | Italy |
| Alma mater | University of Padua |
| Known for | Chemistry of nanocarbons |
| Spouse(s) | Elisabetta Schiavon (m. 1999) |
| Children | Two (Carlo, Emma) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | University of Trieste BiomaGUNE, San Sebastián |
| Website | www |
Maurizio Prato (born in Lecce October 11, 1953), is an Italian Organic Chemist, who is best known for his work on the functionalization of carbon nanostructures, including fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and graphene. He developed a series of organic reactions that make these materials more biocompatible, less or even non toxic, amenable to further functionalization, and easier to manipulate. He is Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Trieste and Research Professor at CIC BiomaGUNE in San Sebastián, Spain.
Scientific Research[edit]
Maurizio Prato is an organic chemist, equally fluent[citation needed] in materials science and nanomedicine. From the beginning of his career, Maurizio Prato used his physical organic and synthetic chemistry backgrounds to expand the horizons of the chemical reactivity of fullerenes[citation needed].
In 1993, together with M. Maggini and G. Scorrano, he published the first paper on the azomethine ylide cycloaddition to C60, which resulted to be a very useful reaction of functionalization of fullerenes.[1]
In 2002, he extended the same reaction to carbon nanotubes.[2] The reaction is very versatile, consisting in the condensation of an alpha-amino acid and an aldehyde to generate a reactive 1,3-dipole that then adds to a double bond of C60 or CNT, giving a pyrrolidine ring fused to the carbon skeleton. Many alpha-amino acids and aldehydes can be used very efficiently, for a total control of the functionalization process.[3] This addition, later called Prato reaction, was adapted from a very old reaction scheme, originally reported by Huisgen and then developed by many others.[4] Prato and his colleagues were the first[citation needed] to apply it to fullerenes.
Because of its versatility and applicability, this approach paved the way to the use of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes in important applications in fields as different as photovoltaics and drug delivery. In particular, Maurizio Prato, in a longstanding collaboration, initially with Alberto Bianco and later with Kostas Kostarelos, demonstrated the utility of carbon nanotubes to serve as efficient scaffolds for the delivery of vaccines and drugs. Carbon nanotubes are very well suited to act as drug carriers, because of their extraordinary capability to cross cell membranes.[5] This result has thrown open a very active area of research, which explores the applications of CNT in biology and medicine.[6]
In another interesting technological development of functionalized carbon nanotubes, Prato, in collaboration with neurophysiologist Laura Ballerini at the University of Trieste, has used carbon nanotubes as substrates for neuronal growth.[7] Carbon nanotubes integrate in an incredible way with nerve cells, leading to a boost in the spontaneous activity of the neurons. These researchers also found that two isolated slices of spinal cord can restart communicating through a bridge of carbon nanotubes.[8] The implications of this work is that in a (hopefully) not too distant future, carbon nanotubes might be used to repair or replace the function of damaged, altered and severed neurons and neuronal tissue.[citation needed]
The scientific career of Maurizio Prato indicates a remarkable evolution from “pure” physical organic chemistry to bio-nanotechnology/materials[citation needed]. He has explored new synthetic protocols, new analytical methods, to discover new materials tearing down the traditional barriers between Chemistry and other disciplines such as Physics, Biology and Medicine[citation needed]. His philosophy has very frequently been transmitted to the members of his group, who were able to grow in a “multilingual” laboratory[citation needed]. Of the numerous students and postdoctoral fellows that have worked in his laboratory, the majority of which financially supported by EU RTN or Marie-Curie networks, many have a current successful academic career.[citation needed]
Awards[edit]
- Federchimica Prize, Association of the Italian Chemical Industries (1995)[citation needed]
- National Prize for Research, Italian Chemical Society (2002)[citation needed]
- Ciamician-Gonzalez Prize, Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (2008)[citation needed]
- Nominee for the Descartes Prize for Excellence in Scientific Collaboration (2006), European Commission[citation needed]
- Recipient of the ERC Advanced Grant (2008), European Research Council[citation needed]
- Mangini Gold Medal, Italian Chemical Society (2009)[citation needed]
- Ree-Natta Lectureship, Korean Chemical Society (2010)[citation needed]
- Member of Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (National Academy of Sciences of Italy)[citation needed]
- EuCheMS Lecture Award (2013)[citation needed]
- Blaise Pascal Medal, European Academy of Sciences (2013)[citation needed]
- Natta Gold Medal, Italian Chemical Society (2014)[citation needed]
- European Carbon Association Award (2015)[citation needed]
- French-Italian Chemical Societies Award, French Chemical Society (2015)[citation needed]
- ACS Nano Lectureship Award, American Chemical Society (2015)[citation needed]
References[edit]
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Scholia has an author profile for Maurizio Prato (scientist). |
- ^ Maggini, M.; Scorrano, G.; Prato, M. “The Addition of Azomethine Ylides to C60: Synthesis, Characterization and Functionalization of Fullerene-Pyrrolidines” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1993, 115, 9798-9799.
- ^ Georgakilas, V.; Kordatos, K.; Prato, M.; Guldi, D. M.; Holzinger, M.; Hirsch, A. “Organic Functionalization of Carbon Nanotubes” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 760-761.
- ^ Prato, M.; Maggini, M.: Fulleropyrrolidines “A Family of Full-Fledged Fullerene Derivatives” Acc. Chem. Res. 1998, 31, 519-526.
- ^ Tsuge, O; Kanemasa, S. “Recent Advances in Azomethine Ylide Chemistry” Adv. Heterocycl. Chem., 1989, 45, 231-349
- ^ Pantarotto, D.; Briand, J.-P.; Prato, M.; Bianco, A. “Translocation of bioactive peptides across cell membranes by carbon nanotubes” Chem. Commun. 2004, 16-17.
- ^ Kostarelos, K.; Bianco, A.; Prato, M.: “Promises, Facts and Challenges of Carbon Nanotubes in Imaging & Therapeutics” Nat. Nanotech. 2009, 4, 627-633.
- ^ Lovat, V.; Pantarotto, D.; Lagostena, L.; Cacciari, B.; Grandolfo, M.; Righi, M.; Spalluto, G.; Prato, M.; Ballerini, L.: Carbon nanotube substrates boost neuronal electrical signaling. Nano Letters 2005, 5, 1107-1110.
- ^ Usmani, S.; Aurand, E. R.; Medelin, M.; Fabbro, A.; Scaini, D.; Laishram, J.; Rosselli, F. B.; Ansuini, A.; Zoccolan, D.; Scarselli, M.; De Crescenzi, M.; Bosi, S.; Prato, M.; Ballerini, L. “3D meshes of carbon nanotubes guide functional reconnection of segregated spinal explants” Science Advances 2016, 2, 10.
