Jordi Poater

Universitat de Barcelona (UB)

Experimental Sciences & Mathematics

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. Afterwards I was appointed Senior Associate Researcher at the Department of Theoretical Chemistry and Amsterdam Center for Multiscale Modeling of the VUA. I have published 112 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals, which have received more than 3.600 citations. My H-Index is 33, and I appear as “Scientist” at the Essential Science Indicators.


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. Afterwards, I have become an expert in the application of Kohn-Sham molecular orbital theory complemented with quantitative bond energy decomposition analyses to biological issues. In particular, the study of the DNA replication mechanism 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 DNA bases.

Selected publications

– Ehbets J, Lorenzen S, Mahler C, Bertermann R, Berkefeld A, Poater J, Fritz-Langhals E, Weidner R, Bickelhaupt MF & Tacke R 2016, ‘Synthesis and Hydrolysis of Alkoxy(aminoalkyl)diorganylsilanes of the Formula Type R-2(RO)Si(CH2)(n)NH2 (R = Alkyl, n=1-3): A Systematic Experimental and Computational Study’, European Journal Of Inorganic Chemistry, , vol. 11, pp. 1641 – 1659.

– Poater J, Solà M, Vinas C & Teixidor F 2016, ‘Hückel’s Rule of Aromaticity Categorizes Aromatic closo Boron Hydride Clusters’, Chemistry-a European Journal, vol. 22, pp. 7437 – 7443.

– El Bakouri O, Solà M & Poater J 2016, ‘Planar vs. three-dimensional X6 2-, X2Y42-, and X3Y32- (X, Y = B, Al, Ga) metal clusters: an analysis of their relative energies through the turn-upside-down approach’, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, vol. 18, pp. 21102 – 21110.

– El Bakouri O, Poater J, Feixas F & Solà M 2016, ‘Exploring the validity of the Glidewell-Lloyd extension of Clar’s π-sextet rule: assessment from polycyclic conjugated hydrocarbons’, Theoretical Chemistry Accounts, vol. 135, no. 205, pp. 1-12.

– El-Hamdi M, Solà M, Poater J & Timoshkin AY 2016, ‘Complexes of adamantane-based group 13 Lewis acids and superacids: Bonding analysis and thermodynamics of hydrogen splitting’, Journal of Computational Chemistry, vol. 37, pp. 1355-1362.


Selected research activities

– PI of MINECO research project “Computer-aided design of unnatural DNA base pairs that can undergo DNA replication” (2016-19).

– Co-PI of Holland Research School of Molecular Chemistry (HRSMC) Fellowship Programme with the research project: “Palladium-Catalyzed Oxidative Aerobic Isocyanide Insertion – A Mechanistic Study”.

– Delivered 3 talks at 251st ACS National Meeting in San Diego (USA).

– Oral communication delivered at 6th EUCHEMS Chemistry Conference in Seville (Spain).

– Session chairman of Girona Seminar 2016 in Girona (Spain).

– Supervisor of 3 master theses.