First doctoral thesis within the modality of Industrial Doctorates
"New methods to convert low-cost substrates into high value-added compounds, based on their chemical and pharmaceutical interest"
Today, the Institute of Natural Products and Agrobiology held the defence of the first doctoral thesis within the modality of Industrial Doctorates of the University of La Laguna, which has been completed under the Doctorate program in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of the ULL. Dr. Carmen Carro Sabina presented her research: "New methods to convert low-cost substrates into high value-added compounds, based on their chemical and pharmaceutical interest", co-directed by Alicia Boto Castro (IPNA-CSIC researcher), Gabriel García Llanos (BIOSIGMA researcher) and Dácil Hernández Mesa (IPNA-CSIC researcher), in the conference room of this research centre located in the city of La Laguna.
This thesis describes the development of innovative chemical processes to transform low-cost natural amino acid derivatives into products of high commercial value. These are domino and sequential processes that chain several reactions without purifying the intermediate products, which results in considerable savings in time, labour and materials used, and a reduction in the generation of waste. In addition, these processes do not need metallic promoters, and therefore, they are in line with the principles of sustainable chemistry.
These methods are of great industrial interest due to their greater efficiency and lower environmental impact compared to traditional methodologies. The products of these sequential processes are of interest in pharmaceutical chemistry, biomedicine, and agrochemistry.
This doctoral thesis has been funded by the Industrial Doctorate contract awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness to the company BIOSIGMA S.L., within the framework of which the doctoral candidate has conducted her research.
The company collaborates with CSIC and ULL to develop innovative chemical reagents, and has licensed patents from ULL and CSIC, as well as carrying out its own lines of research.
