We are a young team working in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Milan, within the Professor Passarella’s research group. Our research is focused on the design of novel methodologies for the synthesis of bioactive molecules. Explore our website and socials for the latest news about us!
Latest news
11/2025:ย Congratulations to Arianna Montoli for attending the PhD Course in Medicinal and Process Chemistry organised by Boehringer Ingelheim in Germany! Extra kudos for being selected through a very competitive callโonly 20 PhD students from all over Europe made it!
11/2025: Claudio Lutti has received the 2025 Best Thesis Award from the โOrdine dei Chimici e dei Fisiciโ! This award, given for his work on benzoxaboroles, recognizes the best theses among MSc chemistry students in Lombardy. We are proud of you, Claudio!
10/2025: Miriana Guarnaccia, Claudio Lutti, Alessandro Fiori, and Federico Gullรฌ have completed their projects with us โ thank you so much for your valuable contributions! We also welcome Laiba Maryam and Luca Cingolani as our new students. Good luck to all of you!
08/2025: Our investigation into carbonyl bispidine rotamers has been published in Organic Letters. Well done to Francesco Migliano and Luca Pozzi for dealing with these puzzling NMR spectra!
08/2025: We made Glycybridin B in just a few steps! Congrats to Alice Maiocchi and the rest of the team for this total synthesis. More about it in Chem. Eur. J.!
06/2025: Our collaboration with Professor Ingleson (University of Edinburgh) has just been published in Angewandte Chemie. Glad to see Miriana’s research visit to Scotland has paid off so nicely!
06/2025: The group attended the International School on Organic Synthesis, a lovely occasion to discuss chemistry at Lake Garda!
05/2025: Alessandro Dimasi and Francesco Migliano have presented our work on benzoxaboroles and bispidines, respectively. Brilliant presentations at ISPROCHEM 2025!
03/2025: Our review on late-stage functionalisation of pyridine-containing bioactive molecules has been recognised as a top cited article and as a top viewed article by Wiley. Hopefully, a useful work!
03/2025: Federico Gullรฌ has started his BSc thesis with us. Best of luck, Fede!
02/2025: Our endeavour in the deuteration of N-heterocyclic oxides and pyridyl phosphonium salts is out now in Adv Synth Catal and RSC Advances, respectively. Well done to Arianna Montoli for this double success as first author!
01/2025: Our approach to a sustainable synthesis of triazoles using Cyrene as a biodegradable solvent in click chemistry is hot off the press in ChemSusChem! Kudos to Andrea Citarella and Alessandro Fiori (first paper for the latter!).
11/2024: Alessandro Dimasi has been selected for the 4 EU+ University Diploma in Entrepreneurial and Intrapreneurial Project Management, an ambitious programme designed by the EU to enhance sustainable and digital project management skills. Top stuff, Ale!
11/2024: Arianna Montoli has moved to Parma for her industrial experience at Chiesi Farmaceutici while Miriana Guarnaccia has gone even further (at the University of Edinburgh) for her Erasmus project with Prof. Mike Ingleson. We are looking forward to seeing the outcomes of both collaborations!
10/2024: We say goodbye to Cinzia Bressanelli and Vittorio Sora (thanks for the great work in our group!) and we welcome Alessandro Fiori as our new MSc student. Good luck to all of you!
08/2024: Our group has attended SCI 2024, the XXVIII National Congress of the Italian Chemical Society. Well done on the posters!
08/2024: The use of nicotinic acid derivatives as inhibitors for ฮฑ-amylase and ฮฑ-glucosidase has been published in ACS Med. Chem. Lett.. Congrats to Andrea Citarella for directing this work!
07/2024: Alessandro Dimasi has presented our work on caerulomycin K as an oral presentation at the 9th EuChemS Congress, in Dublin! Well done, mate!
07/2024: Miriana Guarnaccia has been awarded a mobility grant by the EU to work with Prof. Michael Ingleson at the University of Edinburgh. Nice job, Miri: looking forward to starting this collaboration!
07/2024: We welcome Claudio Lutti as our new MSc student in Chemistry!
06/2024: The total syntheses of minor cannabinoids and an analogue of epothilones have been published in J. Nat. Prod. and ChemPlusChem, respectively. Kudos to Alice Maiocchi and Simone Borsoi for leading the projects!
06/2024: Our work on N-heterocycles reached the International School on Organic Synthesis thanks to Alessandro, Mattia, and Arianna who presented it as posters. Well done, guys!
06/2024: Congrats to Arianna Montoli, Alice Maiocchi, and Marco Fattalini (PhD students from left to right) for being the finalists of the Marinella Ferrari Award. Arianna has been awarded the first prize and a giant bank cheque too!
05/2024: Our review on the Late-Stage Functionalisation of Pyridines has been acknowledged as Readers’ choice article for EurJOC (the most voted paper among the three most viewed articles in 2023).
05/2024: Arianna Montoli and Simone Borsoi have presented our recent work at ISPROCHEM 2024. Well done both!
04/2024: The illustration for our recent publication is out as EurJOC Front Cover!
03/2024: We have organized a mini-symposium on natural products which will be held on the 27th of March 2024 in Aula BETA at the University of Milano. Come and join us!
03/2024: We welcome Vittorio Sora as our new BSc student in Industrial Chemistry!
03/2024: Our total synthesis of caerulomycin K as a case-study on pyridine functionalization is now out in RSC Advances. Well done to all involved!
02/2024: The electrochemical synthesis of unnatural amino acids (UAA) from aspartic/glutamic acids has just been published in ACS Omega, a work led by Paolo Ronchi at Chiesi. What a great collaboration!
02/2024: We published an efficient synthetic strategy for nucleophilic aromatic substitutions of nicotinic esters in the green solvent Cyrene. Great team effort led by Andrea Citarella! More about it in EurJOC.
10/2023: Alessandro Diamsi & Arianna Montoli (PhD students) and Miriana Guarnaccia (MSc student) have just started with us. Welcome on board!
10/2023: Mattia Failla and Giacomo Lombardo have finished their projects with us, both securing a PhD position in Italy and France, respectively. Well done guys!
08/2023: Marissa Panethiere has returned to the USA to continue her studies. Nice job, Marissa!
07/2023: Our endeavour in the field of cannabinoids has lead to a new publication in Frontiers in Natural Products. Glad to be part of this great collaboration!
07/2023: We welcome Cinzia Bressanelli as our new Master student. Good luck, Cinzia!
05/2023: Marissa Panethiere has joined our group for a brief visiting experience from the USA. Welcome on board, Marissa!
04/2023: The illustration for our recent publication is out as EurJOC Front Cover!
04/2023: An overview of the Young Research Award 2022 (Methodologies in Organic Chemistry) has been highlighted in La Chimica e l’Industria.
02/2023: First group’s publication is out in EurJOC as Very Important Paper. Well done to all involved!
02/2023: Dr Placido Franco (R&D Geolog) gave a seminar about career opportunities for chemists in the Oil & Gas sector. Very much appreciated!
01/2023: Dr Diego Caprioglio and Dr Daniela Imperio (from the University of Eastern Piedmont) delivered two fantastic lectures about cannabinoids derivatisations and novel glycosylation reactions. Thank you for coming!
12/2022: Giacomo Lombardo and Mattia Failla join the pyridine team. Good luck both!
09/2022: Valerio receives the Young Researcher Award from the Italian Society of Chemistry
Highlights from previous postdoctoral work in the Aggarwal Group
A robotic platform has been instructed to build complex structures iteratively.
More about it in Nature Synthesis
How big is the pinacol boronic ester? More about it in Angewandte
Installing the CH2F and CHF2 groups asymmetrically? More about it in Angewandte
FasanoLAB 