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 Prof. 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) Advanced, 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
- Sánchez-Naya R, Mugarza A, Maspoch D et al. 2025, 'Excision of organic macrocycles from covalent organic frameworks', Science, vol. 388, no. 6753, pp. 1318-1323.
- Hernández-López L, Khobotov-Bakishev A, Cortés-Martínez A, Garrido-Ribó E, Samanta P, Royuela S, Zamora F, Maspoch D & Carné-Sánchez A 2025, 'DNA-based networks formed by coordination cross-linking of DNA with metal-organic polyhedra: from gels to aerogels to hydrogels', Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 147, pp. 16560-16567.
- Fernández-Seriñán P, Samanta P, Imaz I & Maspoch D 2025, 'Excision in two dimensions: synthesis of 2D Metal-Organic nanosheets via Clip-off Chemistry.' Journal of American Chemical Society, vol. 147, no. 50, pp. 45849–45854.
- Sánchez-Férez F, Carné-Sánchez A & Maspoch D 2025, ‘Transferring porosity across physical states using metal-organic cages: porous liquids, glasses, rubbers, and more’, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, pp. e12455.
- Cortés-Martínez A, Fernández-Seriñán P, von Baeckmann C, Caules C, Hernández-López L, Gutiérrez Gómez M.S., Yang Y, Sánchez-Naya R, Suárez del Pino J.A., Juanhuix J, Imaz I, Carné-Sánchez A & Maspoch D 2025, 'Isoreticular synthesis of mesoporous metal-organic polyhedra with permanent porosity to gas and water', Angewandte Chemie International Edition, pp. e202505682.
- Pena G, Albalad J, Maspoch D & Imaz I 2025, 'Synthesis of organic molecules via spray-drying', Chemical Science, vol. 16, pp. 5770-5775.
- Yang Y, Fernández-Seriñán P, Ortín-Rubio B, Samanta P, Gándara F, Proserpio D.M., Nam D, Juanhuix J, Imaz I & Maspoch D 2025, 'Merging and clipping nets for the synthesis of three- and two-merged net metal-organic frameworks', Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 147, pp. 1344-1355.
Selected research activities
Scientific Excellence Award 2025 - SCQ (Societat Catalana de Química)