José Berná obtained his BSc (1997) and MSc (1998) degrees at Universidad de Murcia (Spain). In 2003, he completed his PhD at the same university working on phosphorus-functionalized bicyclic cage compounds under the supervision of Prof. Mateo Alajarín and Dr. Carmen Lopez-Leonardo. Between 2004 and 2007, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the group of Prof. David A. Leigh at University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom). In 2007, he returned to the Department of Organic Chemistry at Universidad de Murcia as a Postdoctoral Researcher. In 2008, he was awarded with a Ramón y Cajal contract inside of the Human Resources Hiring and Incorporation of Research National Program of the Spanish Government. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry and his research interests are focussed on the synthesis of novel interlocked compounds oriented towards the development of new functional molecular machines
Selected Publications
(1) Martinez-Cuezva, A.; Saura-Sanmartin, A.; Nicolas-Garcia, T.; Navarro, C.; Orenes, R.-A.; Alajarin, M.; Berna, J. Photoswitchable Interlocked Thiodiglycolamide as a Cocatalyst of a Chalcogeno-Baylis–Hillman Reaction. Chem. Sci. 2017, 8, 3775–3780.
(2) Martinez-Cuezva, A.; Lopez-Leonardo, C.; Bautista, D.; Alajarin, M.; Berna, J. Stereocontrolled Synthesis of β-Lactams within [2]Rotaxanes: Showcasing the Chemical Consequences of the Mechanical Bond. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 8726–8729.
(3) Martinez-Cuezva, A.; Valero-Moya, S.; Alajarin, M.; Berna, J. Light-Responsive Peptide [2]rotaxanes as Gatekeepers of Mechanised Nanocontainers. Chem. Commun. 2015, 51, 14501–14504.
(4) Martinez-Cuezva, A.; Berna, J.; Orenes, R.-A.; Pastor, A.; Alajarin, M. Small-Molecule Recognition for Controlling Molecular Motion in Hydrogen-Bond-Assembled Rotaxanes. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2014, 53, 6762–6767.
(5) Berna, J.; Alajarin, M.; Orenes, R.-A. Azodicarboxamides as Template Binding Motifs for the Building of Hydrogen-Bonded Molecular Shuttles. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 10741–10747