Javier (Javi) was born in Vilafranca del Penedès, the heart of the winemaking Penedès region in Catalonia, Spain. He earned a BSc in Chemistry from the Universitat de Barcelona, specializing in Organic Chemistry (MSc). In 2017, he moved to Italy to pursue a PhD at the Università degli Studi di Padova, under the guidance of Prof. L. Dell’Amico. His doctoral research focused on unraveling the mechanisms of photochemical reactions and developing novel organic photocatalysts with balanced redox properties.

After completing his PhD in early 2022, Javi relocated to Germany for postdoctoral studies at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, where he joined Prof. T. Ritter’s group. There, his research centered on leveraging widely available salts to address long-standing synthetic challenges, with a particular focus on nitrate reduction strategies for application in aryldiazonium chemistry.

In October 2024, Javi began his independent career as a tenure-track assistant professor at the Institut für Organische Chemie, Universität Wien.

Prizes and awards

• 2025 – SusChem Young Researcher Award “Investiga Category” – SusChem, Spain
• 2025 – RSEQ Young Researcher Award “Postdoctoral Category” – RSEQ, Spain
• 2022 – CDSM-award for the Best PhD Thesis – Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy
• 2021 – Finalist of the “Premio Primo Levi 2020” – SCI, Italy

Angewandte Chemie Introducing profile