Prof. Rubén Martín Romo
ICREA Research Professor and ICIQ Group Leader at Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ)
My hobbies are diverse, ranging from bike riding, soccer or reading historical novels to building new LEGO creations with my sons.
Two of my favourite quotes are “It is better to create than to learn. Creating is the essence of life” (attributed to Julius Caesar) and “time is your most precious gift, make sure you use it wisely”.
Rubén Martín was born in Barcelona in 1976. He received his Ph.D in 2003 at the Universitat de Barcelona with Prof. Antoni Riera, working on the total synthesis of glycosidases inhibitors. In January 2004 he moved to the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung as a Humboldt postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Alois Fürstner, where he worked on the application of novel iron catalysts for cross-coupling and Alder-ene type reactions.
In May 2005 he undertook further postdoctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a MEC postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Stephen L. Buchwald where he developed new synthetic strategies for metal-catalyzed C-C and C-N bond-forming reactions. In September 2008 he joined the ICIQ as a group leader. His current research interests concern the discovery and development of synthetically useful organometallic methodologies. Rubén Martín was promoted to Associate Professor in July 2013. In October 2013, he became ICREA (Catalan Institution of Research and Advanced Studies) Research Professor.
During his time at ICIQ, he received the 2010 RSEQ Young Investigator Award, 2011 Thieme Chemistry Journal Award, 2011 Eli Lilly Young Research Investigator Award, 2015 RSEQ Excellent Research Award, 2017 Marcial Moreno Lectureship Award, 2017 OMCOS Award, 2017 Liebig-Lectureship Award, 2018 Pharmaron Lectureship Award, 2018 Bristol-Myers-Squibb Lectureship Award, 2018 Genentech Lectureship Award, 2018 ChemSocRev Pioneering Investigator Award, 2018 Hirata Award, 2018 IOCF Lectureship Award, 2018 Banc Sabadell Award to Sciences and Engineering, 2019 ParazaPharma Lectureship Award, 2019 Boehringer Ingelheim Award, 2019 MIT/Merck Lectureship Award, 2019 Novartis Chemistry Lectureship Award and 2020 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award. Moreover, he has received 4 ERC Grants (1 x ERC-Starting Grant, 2 x Proof-of-concept ERC Grants and 1 x ERC-Advanced Grant).
- Sun S.Z. et al., sp3 Bis-Organometallic Reagents via Catalytic 1,1-Difunctionalization of Unactivated Olefins. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60 (21), 11740-11744.
- Day C.S. et al., Deciphering the dichotomy exerted by Zn(II) in the catalytic sp2 C–O bond functionalization of aryl esters at the molecular level. Nat Catal 2021, 4, 124–133.
- Cong F. et al., Dual Catalytic Strategy for Forging sp2–sp3 and sp3–sp3 Architectures via β-Scission of Aliphatic Alcohol Derivatives. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142 (49), 20594-20599
- Tortajada F. et al., Transition Metal-Catalyzed Carboxylation reactions with Carbon Dioxide. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57 (49).
- Juliá-Hernández F. et al., Remote Carboxylation of Halogenated Aliphatic Hydrocarbons with Carbon Dioxide. Nature 2017, 545, 84-88.
