Alexandr Shafir: New Group Leader at ICIQ

ICIQ Starting Career Programme (ICIQ-SCP) is a new programme launched recently at ICIQ with the aim to attract new talent and help young researchers (post-doc level) to start their independent careers.

The first call for candidates was closed on May 31^st this year. Following the corresponding candidates’ assessment and evaluation by ICIQ Scientific Advisory Board, we are proud to announce that Dr. Alexandr Shafir is the recipient of the first ICIQ-SCP call.

He will join ICIQ in January, with his own research line and his own research group composed by 3 researchers.

Dr. Alexandr Shafir

Alexandr Shafir was born in Kharkov, Ukraine (USSR at the time). He moved to US to finish a BA in Chemistry at the Hunter College within the City University of New York system. He went on to get his PhD from the UC Berkeley, where he worked under the direction of Prof. J. Arnold on the synthesis of metal complexes supported by ferrocene-based ligands. His interest in catalysis led him to a postdoctoral stay with Prof. S. L. Buchwald (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) developing ligands for Cu-catalyzed C-N and C-O bond forming reactions. In 2007, Alex was awarded a Ramón y Cajal scholarship to work at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (with R. Pleixats and A. Vallribera) where he has been up until now.

Research Interests: On-target olefin oligomerization

Some of Dr. Shafir current research interests include metal catalysis, the use of hypervalent iodine in oxidative C-C bond formation, and, more recently, size control in olefin oligomerization. Towards the latter goal, he has been awarded and EXPLORA grant (MICINN), as well as a Young Researcher APOSTA grant (UAB).