Floriana Tuna

Last updated
Floriana Tuna
Alma mater University of Bucharest [1] (Bsc., MSc.)
Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Romanian Academy [1] (PhD)
Known for Molecular magnetism
EPR spectroscopy
Quantum computing
Awards
Scientific career
Fields Inorganic chemistry
Magnetochemistry
InstitutionsThe University of Manchester
Doctoral advisors Luminița Patron
Marius Andruh

Floriana Tuna is a Romanian and British chemist and a professor in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Manchester. [1] Her research in general is based on inorganic chemistry, magnetochemistry, and EPR spectroscopy, and their applications to environmental, energy and quantum computing science. [3]

Contents

Education

Floriana completed her Bachelor of Science at University of Bucharest. [4] [5] She continued to read her Master of Science degree at University of Bucharest and successfully completed it in 1989 before moving to 'Ilie Murgulescu' Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Romanian Academy to read her Doctor of Philosophy degree in transition metal chemistry, which was completed in 1997 and was supervised by Marius Andruh and Luminița Patron. [5]

Research and career

Upon graduation, Floriana completed her postdoctoral research in Molecular Magnetism with Jean-Pascal Sutter at Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux (ICMCB), France and also as a visiting Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Fellow at University of Heidelberg, Germany. [4] She then received a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship at University of Warwick to work in supramolecular chemistry before moving to University of Manchester in 2003 as a Researcher. [5] She was later promoted to the position of Senior Researcher and then Reader of Inorganic Chemistry and EPR. [5] She is part of the Molecular Magnetism group at University of Manchester, together with David Collison, Nicholas F. Chilton, Grigore Timco, Eric McInnes and Richard Winpenny. [6]

Floriana's research in general is based on inorganic chemistry and magnetochemistry, specifically on molecular magnetism, EPR spectroscopy and quantum computing. [3] [6]

Notable work

In 2019, Floriana participated in a research which reported the capability of a MFI-type zeolite (NbAlS-1) could be used to convert aqueous solutions of γ-valerolactone (GVL) (obtained from biomass-derived carbohydrates) into butenes with a yield of more than 99% at ambient pressure under continuous flow conditions. [7] The conversion of the renewable biomass into butenes offered the prospect for the sustainable production of butene as a platform chemical for the manufacture of renewable materials. [8]

In 2019, she participated in a research which showed the capability to use a porous metal–organic framework (MOF) to provide a selective, fully reversible and repeatable capability to capture nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a toxic air pollutant produced particularly by diesel and bio-fuel use. [9] The NO2 can then be easily converted into nitric acid, an industry with a wide range of uses including, agricultural fertilizer for crops; rocket propellant and nylon. [10]

In 2016, Floriana confirmed the capability to use pulsed EPR spectroscopy to measure the covalency of actinide complexes in a research in collaboration with Eric McInnes and David P. Mills at the University of Manchester. [11] Prior to this research, the extent of covalency in actinide complexes was less understood as this nature of bonding was not studied due to limited technology and methods of experimentation at the time. The use of pulsed EPR spectroscopy was able to determine the covalency of thorium(III) and Uranium(III) complexes for the first time and this paved the way to further research on the use of these complexes in the separation and recycling of nuclear waste. [12] [13]

Awards and nominations

Major publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 University of Manchester. "Dr. Floriana Tuna" . Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  2. 1 2 Ilie Murgulescu. "Ilie Murgulescu Award" . Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Floriana Tuna (Publications)" . Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  4. 1 2 当前位置. "Tuna, Floriana Research Fellow" . Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Journal (Chem.) (9 April 2020). "Author Profile (Reaction: Molecular Spins as Qubits)". Chem. 6 (4): 799–800. doi: 10.1016/j.chempr.2020.03.017 . S2CID   216508632.
  6. 1 2 Molecular Magnetism Group (University of Manchester). "Personnel in the Molecular Magnetism Group at University of Manchester" . Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  7. Tuna, Floriana; Lin, Longfei; Sheveleva, Alena M.; da Silva, Ivan; Parlett, Christopher M. A.; Tang, Zhimou; McInnes, Eric J. L.; Liu, Yueming; Fan, Mengtian; Han, Xue; Carter, Joseph H.; Cheng, Yongqiang; Daemen, Luke L.; Rudić, Svemir; Ramirez-Cuesta, Anibal J.; Yang, Shihai; Tang, Chiu C. (2020). "Quantitative production of butenes from biomass-derived γ-valerolactone catalysed by hetero-atomic MFI zeolite" . Nature Materials. 19 (1): 86–93. Bibcode:2020NatMa..19...86L. doi:10.1038/s41563-019-0562-6. PMID   31844281. S2CID   209381561.
  8. Science Daily (16 December 2019). "Neutrons optimize high efficiency catalyst for greener approach to biofuel synthesis" . Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  9. Tuna, Floriana; Li, Jiangnan; Sheveleva, Alena M.; Zhang, Xinran; Cheng, Yongqiang; McCormick McPherson, Laura J.; McInnes, Eric J. L.; Teat, Simon J.; Ramirez-Cuesta, Anibal J.; Schröder, Martin; Tang, Shihai (2019). "Capture of nitrogen dioxide and conversion to nitric acid in a porous metal–organic framework". Nature Chemistry. 11 (12): 1085–1090. Bibcode:2019NatCh..11.1085L. doi: 10.1038/s41557-019-0356-0 . OSTI   1580418. PMID   31758160. S2CID   208235639.
  10. Science Daily (22 November 2019). "Clean air research converts toxic air pollutant into industrial chemical" . Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  11. Formanuik, Alasdair; Ariciu, Ana-Maria; Ortu, Fabrizio; Beekmeyer, Reece; Kerridge, Andrew; Tuna, Floriana; McInnes, Eric J. L.; Mills, David P. (2017). "Actinide covalency measured by pulsed electro paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy" (PDF). Nature Chemistry. 9 (47): 578–583. Bibcode:2017NatCh...9..578F. doi:10.1038/nchem.2692. PMID   28537586. S2CID   205297147.
  12. Dobson, Charlotte (28 December 2016). "Scientists at Manchester University where Rutherford first split the atom make another breakthrough". Manchester, United Kingdom. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  13. Evoluted New Media (9 March 2017). "A very special bond" . Retrieved 18 June 2020.