Mechanochemical Organic Synthesis

Dr. Davor Margetic is senior research scientist and acting head of the division of organic chemistry and biochemistry at Ruder Boskovic research Institute in Zagreb, Croatia. He is the head of the laboratory for physical organic chemistry and Professor of physical organic chemistry at Rijeka University.He graduated with a degree in chemical engineering at Zagreb University and continued in the field of organic syntheses with Ms.Sc. and Ph.D. studies in the field of theoretical and physical organic chemistry (Zagreb). The completion of his Ph.D. was followed by a postdoctoral research studies at the Centre for Molecular Architecture, Central Queensland University, Australia. There he worked with Professors Ronald Warrener and Doug Butler for 9 years (synthetic organic and computational chemistry). In 2002, he returned to Croatia to take up a position at RBI, and in 2009 he was promoted to senior research scientist (an equivalent of full professor at the university). Research interests of Dr. Margetic include the synthesis and investigation of theoretically interesting molecules, the study of reaction mechanisms, computational organic chemistry, and the development of environmentally-friendly organic reactions using novel techniques (extreme high pressures, microwave irradiation, and mechanochemistry). During his scientific career, Dr. Margetic has published 90 research papers, 42 electronic conference papers, and 9 book chapters. He has authored one book: "Microwave Assisted Cycloaddition Reactions" with Nova Science Publishers, New York (2011); and edited two books: Croatica Chemica ActA Special issue dedicated to the 70th birthday of Professor Z. B. Maksic (2009), and Special issue dedicated to 70th birthday of Professor M. Eckert-Maksic (2014).

Dr. Vjekoslav Strukil is a research associate at the laboratory for Physical Organic Chemistry at Rudjer Boskovic Institute in Zagreb, Croatia. He obtained his B.Sc. (2005) and Ph.D. (2010) degrees from the Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia. During several short visits to the Department of Chemistry, Cambridge University, United Kingdom (2009-2011), Dr. Strukil started research in mechanochemistry and continued his training as a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Chemistry, McGill University in Montreal, Canada, (2012-2013) working under the supervision of Professor Tomislav Friscic. In 2013, he received the Annual Award for Junior Researchers in Croatia. Apart from organic mechanochemistry, his scientific interests also include the synthesis and reactivity of guanidine and polyguanide derivatives, theoretical and experimental study of their physico-chemical properties, and the application of green synthetic methods in organic chemistry. Dr. Strukil has co-authored 21 scientific papers.