Guillermo Canudo-Barreras was born in 1998 in Zaragoza, Spain. He embarked on his journey of discovery in 2016 when he began his studies at the University of Zaragoza. In the summer of 2019, he had the opportunity to intern at the HOCA group —ISQCH research institute— where he worked on dihydropyridine derivatives synthesis as a tool for discovering new anticancer drugs.
In 2020, Guillermo graduated with a degree in Chemistry, with his final year project titled: Synthesis of Target Compounds Promoted by Gold Catalysts. He didn’t stop there and continued to push the boundaries of his knowledge by completing a Master’s in Molecular Chemistry and Homogeneous Catalysis at the same university, the following year. During this time, he worked on his Master’s thesis, focusing on “Synthesis of Heterocycles Promoted by Gold Catalysts” in the laboratories of Asymmetric Organocatalysis (HOCA) and Gold and Silver Chemistry.
Currently, Guillermo is in his second year of a Ph.D. program in the Department of Inorganic Chemistry under the supervision of Dr. Raquel P. Herrera and Prof. M. Concepción Gimeno Floría in the HOCA and Gold and Silver Chemistry research groups. His passion for gold catalysts, novel heterocycles synthesis, and biological studies drive him. He has already entered the scientific community by publishing two scientific articles (J. Org. Chem. 2022, 87, 10747 and Molecules 2021, 26(22), 6891) and presenting his research at several forums, such as the 8th International Electronic Conference on Medicinal Chemistry, the 8th Latin American Symposium on Coordination and Organometallic Chemistry, and the XVIII Symposium of Young Chemical Researchers (RSEQ), among others. Last year, he won two awards for the best flash presentations in the XXXVIII Biennial Meeting of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ) and the I Symposium on Molecular Chemistry and Catalysis. He also obtained a predoctoral grant from the DGA to pursue his Ph.D.