VU Amsterdam

UV Amsterdam News The Executive Board of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam has appointed the biologist Freek Vonk as its endowed professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry as of 1 February 2020. This chair has been endowed by the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, and is focused on the opportunities offered by natural toxins in the development of new medicines and a new generation of snakebite antidotes. The endowed chair is embedded within the Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences department of the Faculty of Science. The 0.2 FTE appointment is for a period of five years. Besides…

VU Amsterdam News A team of theoretical chemists led by Trevor A. Hamlin and Matthias Bickelhaupt from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, has published a step-by-step guide on how to perform the activation strain analysis, which will serve as a “recipe for researchers” who want to analyze and understand the factors controlling the reactivity of literally any chemical reaction. This makes, among other things, environmentally sustainable research possible. Chemists now have the tools to first rationally design chemical reactions using this protocol prior to carrying out the reaction in…