معرفی
Dr. David Van Craen is a Research Fellow in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Technical University of Dortmund.
His research focuses on supramolecular chemistry, specifically developing metal-based self-assembled cages and helicates with electropositive cavities for anion recognition. His work targets biologically and environmentally relevant anions, with special emphasis on chiral anion recognition. Dr. Van Craen's group creates containers with solubilizing groups to study anion recognition in aqueous environments that mimic body fluids.
Methodologically, his research employs computational modeling (using Spartan software) to evaluate container designs before synthesis. Experimental work involves organic ligand synthesis followed by metal complex formation. Analytical techniques include NMR, UV-Vis, and fluorescence spectroscopy, as well as ITC and CPL spectroscopy to study binding processes. A key research direction investigates the catalytic activity of host-guest complexes for enantioselective catalysis.
Dr. Van Craen maintains an active research group and is seeking students for PhD, master's, and bachelor's theses in supramolecular chemistry with anions. His recent work includes a publication in Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry and the development of 3D printable VSEPR models for chemistry education.
