Victor Borovkov

Sensing, capturing and separating enantiomers is important for environmental safety, agricultural chemistry, and drug design. The use of hemicucurbiturils is an effective strategy because of the combination of various monomers in a single-step templated mechanochemical synthesis. Due to the absence of bulk solvent the self-organizing efficiency is amplified and there is less waste - the process is green and sustainable. The current work will study the fundamentals of self-organization of hemicucurbiturils, the binding (capturing) of chiral molecules, and detecting chirality using supramolecular complexes. In the long term, the empirical observations will be combined with results from computational chemistry and cheminformatics to build models for predicting necessary monomers and reaction conditions to form macrocycles with desired properties. The outcomes of the project are expected to be highly useful for organizations and industries that monitor, use, or manufacture chiral compounds

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a clinically established cancer treatment but remains limited by the lack of precise control over singlet oxygen (¹O₂) generation, leading to off-target toxicity and prolonged photosensitivity. This project, Programmable Molecular Systems for Oxygen Control (PMSOC), proposes a dual-gated PDT platform integrating a porphyrin photosensitizer with a light-driven molecular motor and a pH-responsive linker. The system enables controlled singlet oxygen generation via triplet–triplet energy transfer and includes an endoperoxide trap for delayed oxygen release. By requiring both light and an acidic tumor environment, PMSOC introduces a molecular logic-gated approach to PDT. The project will develop and evaluate these systems, establishing a framework for spatiotemporally controlled photomedicine with improved precision, reduced side effects, and potential applications in catalysis.