The scientific activity has been focus on the target-oriented organic synthesis, and the scientific interests have diversified in several areas always base on the design and synthesis of new molecules and new reactions, which can contribute to interdisciplinary solutions.
The research interests are mainly:
a) Synthesis of saturated and unsaturated heterocycles namely aziridines, coumarins and alkaloids among others. Recently, the synthesis of heterocycles with application as chromophores for sensitizers for solar cells has been an important area of work, as also the synthesis of natural products and derivatives with potential biological interest.
b) Synthesis and applicability of N-heterocyclic olefins (NHO)
c) Development of new catalytic systems involving recyclable magnetic nanoparticles. General application of organic chemistry in different transformations such as oxidation, reduction reactions, and multicomponents reactions.
d) The synthesis of several metabolites resulting from the action of xenobiotics in the human organism has been an important area of work
d) Development of new methods for the synthesis of APIs as well as new molecules with potential biological activity (in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry).
Peixoto, D.; Malta, G.; Cruz, H.; Barroso, S.; Carvalho, A. L.; Ferreira, L. M.; Branco, P. S
“N-Heterocyclic Olefin Catalysis for the Ring Opening of Cyclic Amidine Compounds: A Pathway to the Synthesis of e-Caprolactam- and ?-Lactam-Derived Amines” J. Org. Chem., 2019, in press. DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.8b02823.
Peixoto, D.; Figueiredo, M.; Malta, G.; Roma-Rodrigues, C.; Baptista, P. V.; Fernandes, A. R.; Barroso, S.;Carvalho, A. L.; Afonso, C. A. M.; Ferreira, L. M.; Branco, P. S., “Synthesis, cytotoxicity evaluation in human cell lines and in vitro DNA interaction of a hetero arylidene-9(10H)-anthrone”, Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2018, 545-549. DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.201701500
Martins, S.; Avó, J.; Lima, J.; Nogueira, J.; Andrade, L.; Mendes, A.; Pereira, A.; Branco, P.S. “Styryl and phenylethynyl based coumarin chromophores for dye sensitized solar cells”, J. Photochem. Photobiol. A: Chemistry, 2018, 353, 564–569. DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotochem.2017.12.018.
Peixoto, D.; Figueiredo, M.; Gawande, M.B.; Corvo, M.C.; Vanhoenacker, G.; Afonso, C.A.M.; Ferreira, L.M.; Branco, P. S., “Developments in the Reactivity of 2-Methylimidazolium Salts” J. Org. Chem., 2017, 82 (12), 6232-6241. DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.7b00807
Sá, S., Gawande, M. B., Velhinho, A., Veiga, J. P., Bundaleski, N., Trigueiro, J., Tolstogouzov, A., Teodoro, O. M. N. D., Zboril, R., Varma, R. S., Branco, P. S. “Magnetically recyclable magnetite-palladium (Nanocat-Fe-Pd) nanocatalyst for the Buchwald-Hartwig reaction”, Green Chem. 2014, 16, (7), 3494-3500. DOI: 10.1039/C4GC00558A
Gawande, M. B.; Rathi, A. K.; Branco, P. S.; Nogueira, I. D.; Velhinho, A.; Shrikhande, J. J.; Indulkar, U. U.; Jayaram, R. V.; Ghumman, C. A. A.; Bundaleski, N.; Teodoro, O., “Regio- and Chemoselective Reduction of Nitroarenes and Carbonyl Compounds over Recyclable Magnetic Ferrite-Nickel Nanoparticles (Fe3O4-Ni) by Using Glycerol as a Hydrogen Source” Chem.-Eur. J. 2012, 18, (40), 12628-12632. DOI: 10.1002/chem.201202380.
Gordo, J.; Avo, J.; Parola, A. J.; Lima, J. C.; Pereira, A.; Branco, P. S., “Convenient Synthesis of 3-Vinyl and 3-Styryl Coumarins” Org. Lett. 2011, 13, (19), 5112-5115. DOI: 10.1021/ol201983u.
Gawande, M. B.; Branco, P. S., “An efficient and expeditious Fmoc protection of amines and amino acids in aqueous media”, Green Chem. 2011, 13, (12), 3355-3359. DOI: 10.1039/c1gc15868f.
Branco, P. S.; Raje, V. P.; Dourado, J.; Gordo, J., “Catalyst-free aziridination and unexpected homologation of aziridines from imines”, Org. Biomol. Chem. 2010, 8, (13), 2968-2974. DOI: 10.1039/c001894e.
Antunes, A. M. M.; Bonifacio, V. D. B.; Nascimento, S. C. C.; Lobo, A. M.; Branco, P. S.; Prabhakar, S., “Palladium(II) mediated aziridination of olefins with bromamine-T as the nitrogen source: scope and mechanism” Tetrahedron 2007, 63, (30), 7009-7017. DOI: 10.1016/j.tet.2007.05.020.