Daniel Maspoch

Daniel Maspoch

Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia

Engineering Sciences

Born in L'Escala (Girona) in 1976. He graduated in chemistry at the Universitat de Girona and obtained his PhD in Materials Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona & Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona. He then moved to Northwestern University, where he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the group of professor Chad A. Mirkin. He moved back to the Institut Català de Nanotecnologia (ICN) thanks to a Ramón y Cajal contract, where he founded the Supramolecular NanoChemistry & Materials Group. Since September 2011 he is ICREA Research Professor and Group Leader at the Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2). He is a recipient of European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator and PoC Grants.


Research interests

My research interests are focused on controlling the assembly -Supramolecular Chemistry- of molecules, metal ions and nanoparticles for the creation of functional nanostructured materials -Nanotechnology- with empty spaces; and use them to encapsulate, store, separate, react and deliver molecules of interest. My main contributions are in the fields of nanoporous Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), Covalent-Organic Frameworks (COFs), Metal-Organic Polyhedra (MOPs) and Delivery Systems for applications in myriad areas, including Energy (e.g. gas storage), Catalysis, the Environment (e.g. pollutant removal, CO2 storage), Encapsulation (e.g. long-lasting fragrances), and Life Science –Medicine and animals health– (e.g. drug-delivery systems and contrast agents).

Selected publications

– Ortin-Rubio B, Ghasempour H, Guillerm V, Morsali A, Juanhuix J, Imaz I & Maspoch D 2020, ‘Net-Clipping: an approach to deduce the topology of metal-organic frameworks built with zigzag ligands’, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 142, 20, pp. 9135 – 9140.

– Yang Y, Arqué X, Patiño T, Guillerm V, Blersch P-R, Pérez-Carvajal J, Imaz I, Maspoch D & Sánchez S 2020, ‘Enzyme-powered porous micromotors built from a hierarchical micro- and mesoporous UiO-type metal−organic framework’, Journal of American Chemical Society, 142, 50, pp.20962–20967.

– Troyano J, Çamur C, Garzón-Tovar L, Carné-Sánchez A, Imaz I & Maspoch D 2020, ‘Spray-drying synthesis of MOFs, COFs, and related composites’. Accounts of chemical Research, 53, pp. 1206 – 1217.

– Fuertes-Espinosa C, García-Simón C, Pujals M, Garcia-Borràs M, Gómez L, Parella T, Juanhuix J, Imaz I, Maspoch D, Costas M & Ribas X 2020, ‘Supramolecular fullerene sponges as catalytic masks for regioselective functionalization of C60’Chem. 6, 1, pp. 169-186.

– Hortelão A. C., García‐Jimeno S, Cano‐Sarabia M, Patiño T, Maspoch D & Sanchez S 2020, ‘LipoBots: using liposomal vesicles as protective shell of urease‐based nanomotors’. Advanced Functional Materials, 30, pp. 2002767.

– Franco C, Rodriguez-San-Miguel D, Sorrenti A, Sevim S, Pons R, Platero-Prats A. E., Pavlovic M, Szilagyi I, Ruiz Gonzalez M. L., Gonzalez-Calbet JM, Bochicchio D, Pesce L, Pavan G. M., Imaz I, Cano-Sarabia M, Maspoch D, Pane S, de Mello AJ, Zamora F & Puigmarti-Luis J 2020, ‘Biomimetic synthesis of sub-20 nm covalent organic frameworks in water’, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 142, 7, pp. 3540 – 3547.

– Boix G, Troyano J, Garzón-Tovar L, Camur C, Bermejo N, Yazdi A, Piella J, G. Bastus N, Puntes VF, Imaz I & Maspoch D 2020, ‘MOF-beads containing inorganic nanoparticles for the simultaneous removal of multiple heavy metals from water.’ ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 12, pp. 10554 – 10562.


Selected research activities

Research Excellence Award by the RSEQ