Julio Lloret-Fillol

Institut Català d'Investigació Química

Experimental Sciences & Mathematics

Dr. Julio Lloret-Fillol graduated in Chemistry from the Universidad de Valencia in 2001 where he also obtained his PhD in 2006, working under the supervision of Prof. P. Lahuerta and Prof. J. Pérez-Prieto. After his PhD he moved to the University of Heidelberg to the group of Prof. L. H. Gade as a postdoctoral MEyC fellow and postdoctoral Marie Curie fellow. Since 2010 he has been working as independent research leader at Universitat de Girona (Ramón y Cajal programme). In 2014 he obtained a position as Young Research Group Leader at the Institut de Química Computational i Catàlisi (UdG). In November 2014 he move to his actual position of group leader at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ).


Research interests

My research is mainly focused on designing new catalysts for a more sustainable chemistry through the use of artificial photosynthetic schemes (APS) (ERC Consolidator Grant). Although artificial photosynthetic schemes are a potential solution for a future sustainable society, basic science still needs to be done in order to achieve this objective. Accordingly, my research dream is to address the production of fine chemicals using solely CO2, water and light as driving force. To this end, we are working in developing new methodologies to employ light as a driving force to produce reductive organic transformation and in the understanding of one of the most important reactions in earth, the water oxidation, identified as one of the bottlenecks for the production of solar fuels. Mechanistic investigations will aid to understand multi-proton multi-electron transformations. These areas of research can open up new avenues for newer and greener synthetic methods.

Selected publications

- Call A, Franco F, Kandoth N, Fernández S, González-Béjar M, Pérez-Prieto J, Luis, JM & Lloret-Fillol J 2018, 'Understanding Light-driven H2 Evolution through the Electronic Tuning of Aminopyridine Cobalt Complexes', Chem Sci, 9, 2609 - 2619. (Editors’ Choice Collection)

- Franco F, Pinto M, Royo B & Lloret-Fillol J 2018, 'A Highly Active N-Heterocyclic Carbene Manganese(I) Complex for Selective Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction to CO', Angew Chem Inter Edit, 57, 4603-4606

- Call A & Lloret-Fillol J 2018, 'Enhancement and control of the selectivity in light-driven ketone versus water reduction using aminopyridine cobalt complexes', Chem Commun , 9643-9646

- Pinto M, Friaes S, Franco F, Lloret-Fillol J & Royo B 2018, 'Manganese N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complexes for Catalytic Reduction of Ketones with Silanes', ChemCatChem, 10, 2734-2740. (Cover Picture)

- Mas-Balleste R, González-del Moral O, Call A, Franco F, Moya A, Nieto JA, Frías M, Fierro JLG, Costas M, Lloret-Fillol J & Alemán J 2018, 'Bioinspired Electro-Organocatalytic Material Efficient for Hydrogen Production', Chem Eur J, 24, 3305 - 3313.

- Smirnova ES,Acuna-Pares EF, Escudero-Adan EC, Jelsch C & Lloret-Fillol J 2018 'Synthesis and Reactivity of Copper(I) Complexes Based on C3-Symmetric Tripodal HTIM(PR2)3 Ligands', Eur J Inorg Chem, 23, 2612-2620. (Cover Picture)


Selected research activities

  • Member of the Young Academy of Europe
  • Professor at the Master's in Advance Catalysis and Molecular Modelling (UdG)
  • Member of CARISMA COST Action
  • Co-founder of Gioxcat spin-off. http://gioxcat.com/

Conferences &Talks

Selected talks:

  • GDR Solar Fuels, Collège de France – Paris (France) Plenary Lecture
  • Girona Seminar 2018 (Spain) Key Note
  • ICCC2018 – Sendai (Japan) Invited
  • Metting ECIRM – Barcelona (Spain) Invited
  • Workshop On: Solar Fuel Production, Braga, (Portugal), Key Note
  • Invited lecture at Uni. Sevilla, DIPC (Spain) and U. Arizona (USA).

 Gordon Research Conference; Renewable Energy: Solar Fuels – Ventura (USA) 2018Selected for oral presentation