Jordi Poater

Universitat de Barcelona

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 120 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals, which have received more than 4.050 citations. My H-Index is 35, 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

- Baus JA, Poater J, Bickelhaupt FM & Tacke R 2017, 'Silylene-Induced Reduction of [Mn-2(CO)(10)]: Formation of a Five-Coordinate Silicon(IV) Complex with an O-Bound [(OC)(4)Mn=Mn(CO)(4)](2-)Ligand', European Journal Of Inorganic Chemistry, 1, 186 - 191.

- Hamlin TA, Poater J, Guerra CF & Bickelhaupt FM 2017, 'B-DNA model systems in non-terran bio-solvents: implications for structure, stability and replication', Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 19, 26, 16969 - 16978.

- Orenha RP, Rocha MVJ, Poater J, Galembeck SE & Bickelhaupt FM 2017, 'Nature of the Ru-NO Coordination Bond: Kohn-Sham Molecular Orbital and Energy Decomposition Analysis', ChemistryOpen, 6, 3, 410 - 416.

- Poater J, Paauwe J, Pan S, Merino G, Fonseca Guerra C & Bickelhaupt FM 2017, 'Kekulene: Structure, stability and nature of H•••H interactions in large PAHs', Molecular Astrophysics, vol. 8, pp 19-26.

- Simó Padial J, Poater J, Nguyen DT, Tinnemans P, Bickelhaupt FM & Mecinovic J 2017, 'Stabilization of 2,6-Diarylanilinum Cation by Through-Space Cation−π Interactions', Journal of Organic Chemistry, vol. 82, pp 9418-9424.

- Arnold N, Bertermann R, Bickelhaupt FM, Braunschweig H, Drisch M, Finze M, Hupp F, Poater J & Sprenger JAP 2017, 'Formation of a trifluorophosphane platinum(II) complex by PF bond activation of phosphorus pentafluoride with a Pt0 complex', Chemistry A European Journal, vol. 23, pp 5948–5952.


Selected research activities

- Supervised PhD thesis: Dr. Ouissam El-Bakouri (22nd Nov 2017).

- Supervised 2 TFG undergraduate students.

- Delivered 3 talks in Pisen, Dubai and Lisbon.

- Member of 3 PhD dissertation commitees (Amsterdam, Girona and Barcelona).

- PI of MINECO research grant (2017-2019).

- Dissemination in activities organized by Científicos Retornados en España (CRE); Fundación para la ayuda a niños y jóvenes de altas capacidades (Fanjac Girona); and Càtedra de Cultura Científica i Comunicació Digital (UdG).