Born in 1977. I got my PhD in Chemistry in 2003 at the Universitat de Girona (UdG) with a thesis on the analysis of chemical bonding and aromaticity of organic systems with tools based on the electron-pair density. Next I moved to the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA), with a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship, where I carried out research on the DNA replication mechanism by means of Kohn-Sham molecular orbital theory complemented with quantitative bond energy decomposition analyses. In 2008 I was awarded with a Ramón y Cajal tenure-track position at the Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis of the UdG. Next I was appointed Senior Associate Researcher at the Department of Theoretical Chemistry and Amsterdam Center for Multiscale Modeling of the VUA. And in 2015 I became ICREA Research Professor at UB. I have published 209 scientific publications, with more than 9.400 citations. My H-Index is 50 and I am top 2% cited researcher (2024, Stanford Ranking).
Research interests
My research takes off from two main lines, which are interconnected and reinforce each other. First, the study of aromaticity in organic and metal systems, with tools derived from the electron-pair density, with the purpose of analyzing the electronic structure and molecular bonding in a wide range of molecular systems. The main focus now is the 3D aromaticity of boron clusters. I have also become an expert in the application of Kohn-Sham molecular orbital theory complemented with quantitative bond energy decomposition analyses to the analysis of non-covalent interactions. In particular, the study of DNA related systems has become my main research line. I have got closer to experiment by studying the selectivity in DNA replication mechanism taking into study the steric shape, hydrogen bonds, pi-stacking and solvent effects in natural and artificial DNA bases.
Selected publications
- Satheesh S, Poater J et al. 2025, 'Bismuth Meets Olefins: Ethylene Activation and Reversible Alkene Insertion into Bi―N Bonds', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 64, e202505434.
- Noori Z & Poater J 2025, 'Aromaticity switch of borabenzene: from aromatic when free or weakly aromatic when fused to 2D PAHs to non-aromatic when fused to 3D carboranes', Organic Chemistry Frontiers, 12, 4321-4331.
- Geist F, Poater J et al. 2025, 'Diaryl Bismuthides and Acyl Bismuthanes Enable Visible-Light-Induced Reversible Carbon Monoxide Insertion and Extrusion', Nature Communications, 16, 10234.
- Kundu G, Fetoh A, Poater J & Lichtenberg C 2025, 'The Careful Combination of Bismuth Compounds and CAAC: Formal Halonium and Nitrenium Transfer via Radical Pathways', Chemistry A European Journal, 31, e202501291.
- Santiago R Carvajal MA Poater J Moreira IDR Bromley ST Deumal M Ribas-Ariño J 2025, 'Rational design of organic diradicals with robust high-spin ground state based on antiaromatic linkers', Chemical Science, 16, 430 - 447.
Selected research activities
- PI Spanish research grant (125K€, 2023-26).
- María de Maeztu Grant to IQTCUB researcher (2M€, 2022-26).
- Achieved H-Index 50 (56 on Google Scholar) and confirmed as top 2% cited researcher (Stanford Ranking 2024).
- Lead poster exposition at Library of Chemistry UB to celebrate 200 years of benzene.
- Member of young forum of the Spanish Royal National Academy of Medicine.
- Delivered 4 invited lectures in international conferences: Merida (MX), Kuala Lumpur, Beijing.
- Member of 2 PhD commitees.
- Reached 25 manuscripts cited more than 100 times, and 12 of them with more than 200 citations.
- I appear as Best Scientists of Universitat de Barcelona (Research.com).
- PI of Juan de la Cierva junior researcher and FI-SDUR PhD student grants.