Agostino Attinà
Tutor: Santo DI BELLA
Agostino Attinà was born in Catania in 05/11/1998. He received his bachelor’s degree in Industrial Chemistry from University of Catania in 2020 (graduated with honors) and his master’s degree in Chemistry (Chemistry of Materials and Nanotechnologies curriculum) at the same University in 2022 (graduated with honors), discussing a thesis entitled “Complessi di Zinco(II) Derivati da Basi di Schiff come Chemosensori di Diammine e Cationi Metallici”. He obtained his professional qualification as a chemist in 2023. Since 2023 he is a Ph.D. student of the international Ph.D. program of Chemical Sciences at the University of Catania under the supervision of Prof. Santo Di Bella. Within the PhD program, he worked at the Institut de Chimie Moléculaire de l'Université de Bourgogne (Dijon, France), under the supervision of Prof. Marcel Bouvet for a period of six months (sept. 2024-mar. 2025). He is author of three scientific publications, two oral communications and one poster communication. Furthermore, during the XXVIII national conference of Società Chimica Italiana (SCI) he won an “outstanding poster award” from “Chemical Sciences” (Royal Society of Chemistry). His current doctoral research activity is funded by SAMOTHRACE project and focuses on the development of nanostructured molecular materials based on zinc(II) metal complexes as chemosensors for volatile organic compounds.
[09.04.2025]
Thesis title: Development of nanostructured molecular materials based on zinc(II) metal complexes as chemosensors for volatile organic compounds
Keywords: Zn(salen)-type complexes, chemosensors, volatile organic compounds, vapochromism, stimuli-responsive materials.
Abstract: The last decades have been characterized by the widespread of industries and growth of the population, consequently an exponential increase in environmental pollution has also been observed. Several volatile compounds and gases are released from chemical plants into the environment, causing potentially hazardous conditions for human health. Among these, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a class of atmospheric pollutants that can easily volatilize at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, and this feature makes them highly dangerous due to the risk of inhalation. The main goal of the doctoral research activity, developed within the SAMOTHRACE project, is the development of new molecular chemosensors with vapochromic and vapoluminescent properties, for the vapor-phase detection of these air pollutants. Zn(salen)-type complexes are a class of molecular materials characterized by tunable Lewis acidic and photophysical properties, thus they are good candidates for development of VOCs chemosensors having Lewis basicity. In particular, a Zn(salmal) complex having alkoxy chains as lateral substituents has been studied for its vapochromic and vapoluminescent properties and applied for the development of simple, disposable, and low-cost chemosensors. After the synthesis, glass and paper-based sensors were prepared, and the optical properties of these films were achieved by optical absorption and fluorescence measurements. Thanks to the distinctive changes in the optical properties of these films observed after exposure to vapors of some class of VOCs, quantitative detection of specific VOCs under static exposure conditions was also performed.
Stay abroad: from 09/09/2024 to 10/03/2025, Institut de Chimie Moléculaire de l'Université de Bourgogne (Dijon, France).
