In order to support the needs of research and education, the Department is divided into five distinct units, known as Divisions. You may select the links from the menu on the left in order to read a synopsis of each Division's activities:
Inorganic Chemistry
The Division of Inorganic Chemistry deals with a number of significant areas including Bioinorganic and Materials Chemistry. Central to our approach, is the synthesis, characterization and applications of functional compounds. These main axes of research touch upon a plethora of issues ranging from bioinorganic model compounds to biomineralization, from porous materials to new nanostructures, from crystal engineering to functional metal-organic frameworks.
Our Division has a strong "synthetic" arm and is heavily involved in all kinds of inorganic syntheses ("wet" and "solid state"). We also give a great deal of attention to characterization through X-ray diffraction, Raman, FT-IR, heteronuclear NMR, UV-visible, spectro-electrochemistry, surface area and gas adsorption measurements. Lastly, significant focus is also given to a variety of applications of our novel materials, such as enzyme active site modeling, bioimimetic catalysis, energy storage, optoelectronic applications, gas storage, crystal deposition diseases, or corrosion control.
Related Webpages:
Crystal Engineering, Growth and Design Laboratory (Prof. Konstantinos Demadis)
Laboratory of Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry (Prof. Constantinos Milios)
Materials Chemistry & Development Group (Prof. Pantelis Trikalitis)
Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry (Prof Coutsolelos Athanasios)
Division of Environmental & Analytical Chemistry
The Division of Environmental and Analytical Chemistry of the Department of Chemistry has strong research activities with participation in international and national competitive programs and close international cooperation. The Environmental Chemical Processes Laboratory (ECPL) conducts scientific research on environmental issues of the atmospheric chemistry, ecotoxicology, environmental geochemistry, oceanographic chemistry, the biogeochemical cycles, climate change, and aquatic chemistry. The Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry (LAC) is specialized in developing chemical sensors and biosensors and protocol analysis with chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. Furthermore, the LAC is accredited to EN ISO 17025:2005 for food analysis. The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy Laboratory is focused on the development of novel analytical NMR methodologies for food analysis, quality control, metabolomics, and cultural heritage materials analysis. The newest member of the division, just appointed on 10/2022 as Assist. Prof. is Anastasia-Chrysovalantou Chatziioannou, who specializes in analytical chemistry, metabolomics and proteomics (https://www.iarc.who.int/staff_member/anastasia-chrysovalantou-chatziioannou/).
The teaching activities of the Division of Environment and Analytical Chemistry of the Chemistry Department, cover training of undergraduate students on Environmental Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry, and holistic teaching and training of graduate students on analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry (atmospheric and water), computational environmental chemistry, climate change and sustainable development.
The division consists of three statutory laboratories: the Environmental Chemical Processes Laboratory (http://ecpl.chemistry.uoc.gr), the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry and the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy Laboratory (http://www.chemistry.uoc.gr/aspyros/spyweb/amrl.html). ECPL has three (3) experimental groups, one (1) theoretical group on environmental numerical simulations and also operates the atmospheric monitoring station at Finokalia, Lassithi, Crete ( http://finokalia.chemistry.uoc.gr ).
Main experimental activities concern modern analytical techniques (mass spectrometry, ICP-MS, ion chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), etc., with applications in environment, analysis of art and quality of materials and food; and the development of chemical sensors and biosensors with applications in food chemistry, medicine, etc.
The theoretical group collaborates with the experimental groups offering forecasts of air pollutants levels and other environmental variables for the planning of field campaigns but also compiling and analyzing environmental observations. It performs global and mesoscale chemistry-transport modeling of environmental pollution and climate impacts.
The scientific staff ECPL teaches on invitation to other Greek and foreign universities as part of their undergraduate and graduate programs as well as international summer schools.
Research teams in the field
1. ECPL / Laboratory of Environmental Organic Chemistry (Prof. Evripides Stephanou)
2. ECPL/ Laboratory of Chemistry and Physics of the Atmosphere (Prof. Nikos Mihalopoulos)
( http://finokalia.chemistry.uoc.gr)
3. ECPL/ Laboratory of Speciation Analysis of Elements (Prof. Spyros Pergantis)
http://www.chemistry.uoc.gr/spergantis
4. ECPL/ Laboratory of /Numerical Simulations of Environmental Chemistry and Climate (Prof. Maria Kanakidou)
http://ecpl.chemistry.uoc.gr/kanakidou
6. NMR Spectroscopy Laboratory (Assistant Professor Apostolos Spyros)
http://www.chemistry.uoc.gr/aspyros
Biochemistry
The field of Biochemistry is at the forefront of life sciences research. The Division of Biochemistry of the Department of Chemistry at The University of Crete provides excellent research training in protein biochemistry, biophysics, biotechnology, proteomics and analytical biochemistry at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels. The main research interests in the Biochemistry division are the following:
Protein Biochemistry (isolation and characterization of enzymes and various proteins with emphasis of membrane proteins), Physical Biochemistry (use of biophysical techniques for studying he structural and functional properties of enzymes), Enzyme mechanism elucidation (mechanistic studies for the elucidation of the mechanisms of enzymatic reactions), Biotechnology (enzyme immobilization, applications of enzymes) and Biodegradation (application of bacteria in waste treatment), Membrane proteomics (Development of methods to analyze hydrophobic proteins by mass spectroscopy), Medical Applications (e.g. Intracellular pathogenic bacteria: Life cycle of pathogenic bacteria and the role of the bacterial proteins in their survival, and role of membrane proteins in the antibiotic resistance), Biomaterials (Work is focused on Nanobiohybrids/Drug delivery)
Related Webpages:
Laboratory of Biophysical Chemistry (Nikolaos Eleftheriadis, Assistant Professor)
Enzyme Technology Lab )Ioannis Pavlidis, Assistant Professor in Biological Chemistry)
Organic Chemistry
Since the establishment of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Crete, the Organic Chemistry Division has proven itself to be a dynamic team whose members have pursued a broad range of exciting research interests at the cutting edge of many key fields.
Organic chemistry is a very important science. Myriad other disciplines, from material sciences and nanotechnology to pharmaceutics, rely heavily on organic chemistry. It is central to their progress, for without knowledge of things like the transformations possible for a molecule, reaction mechanisms, and biological chemistry they would all stall. Perhaps paramount, a thorough comprehension of organic chemistry is a pre-requisite to understanding "life". We need organic chemistry to help us deconvolute the biochemistry of plants and all living organisms, the behavior of macromolecules (such as proteins and DNA), as well as, the workings of planets and matter.
The Organic Chemistry Division at the University of Crete covers the extraordinary breadth and depth of organic chemistry well through their diverse research interests. There are projects focusing on the isolation and/or synthesis of bioactive natural products running alongside research aimed at developing new methodologies to use in synthesis generally. The power of nature's catalysts, enzymes, for conducting asymmetric transformations is probed by others, as is the use of silicon-based zeolites to catalyse difficult synthetic transformations. There is significant expertise in photochemistry within the division. Photochemistry is being successfully applied in both reactions aimed at functionalizing various organic substrates and in reaction cascades directed at the synthesis of bioactive natural products. New materials, such as novel buckminsterfullerene adducts and metallo-polymer ligands, are also being investigated. Furthermore, the groups that make up the division all boast impressive international collaborations, giving an added dimension to their research.
From this brief summary, we hope you can see that the Organic Chemistry Division at the University of Crete is an exciting place to be whether the purpose is study, research, or a visit.
Related Webpages:
Organic Chemistry Division Website
Laboratory of Organic Synthesis Website (Prof. Vassilikogiannakis Georgios)
Neochoritis Group (Multi-component Reactions) (Assist. Prof. Konstantinos Neochoritis)
Physical Chemistry
From the onset of the department of Chemistry emphasis was given in the direction of physical chemistry, both in the experimental and theoretical research. The first laboratories equipped with light scattering, CO2 laser, and mass spectrometry techniques soon were multiplied with laboratories in NMR applications and a variety of laser spectroscopies.
Today, the division has six professors, four experimentalists and two theoreticians, carrying out research in the fields of chemical dynamics, chemical kinetics, atmospheric chemistry, laser photochemistry, biological chemistry, theoretical spectroscopy and dynamics, and computational materials science.
Though our division is strongly research oriented, equal attention is given to educational and academic activities. The development of a highly competitive and modern undergraduate and graduate curricula offering accredited B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees has been among our continuous efforts. Collaborations in research and education, mainly via European grants, with reputable departments and research groups exist and are expanded.
Related Webpages:
Laboratory of Theoretical & Computational Chemistry
