Dr. Giulia Lavarda

Giulia Lavarda received her B.Sc. in Chemistry in 2012 and her M.Sc. in Chemistry in 2014 from the University of Padua (Italy). She then moved to the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain), where she completed her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Tomás Torres. Her doctoral research focused on the synthesis and study of bowl-shaped aromatics for solar energy conversion. During this period, she conducted research stays in the laboratories of Prof. A. Osuka at Kyoto University (Japan) and Prof. D. M. Guldi at Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen–Nürnberg (Germany). In 2021, she joined the group of Prof. E.W. (Bert) Meijer at Eindhoven University of Technology (The Netherlands) as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow. There, she investigated the assembly and optoelectronic properties of photoactive supramolecular polymers. Since February 2025, she has been a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPIP) in Mainz, where her research focuses on chiral supramolecular systems with optoelectronic functionalities.

Research Interests

Photo- and electroactive organic materials offer a powerful platform to mimic the efficiency of natural energy conversion. In these systems, performance emerges from a combination of intrinsic molecular properties and supramolecular organization. Understanding the interplay between structure, assembly and properties is therefore central to advancing organic optoelectronics. In this context, chirality represents a largely underexplored design principle capable of directing supramolecular assembly and modulating optoelectronic behavior. In our group, we seek to elucidate how asymmetry is transferred and amplified from molecular building blocks to higher-order assemblies, and how chirality influences energy, charge, and spin transport in supramolecular systems. To address these questions, we combine tools from synthetic organic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry and physical chemistry, harnessing supramolecular polymers as a versatile model platform. Through this multidisciplinary approach, we aim to uncover design principles that leverage chirality to enhance the performance of next-generation optoelectronic materials and sustainable photocatalytic systems.

Publications

G. Lavarda*, A. Sharma, M. Beslać, S. A. H. Jansen, S. C. J. Meskers, R. H. Friend, A. Rao*, E. W. Meijer*

Long-Lived Mobile Triplets from Singlet Fission in Pentacene-Decorated Helical Supramolecular Polymers

J. Am. Chem. Soc., 28985-28993 146 (2024)

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DOI

G. Lavarda*, A. M. Berghuis, K. Joseph, J. J. B. van der Tol, S. Murai, J. Gómez Rivas, E. W. Meijer*

Tunable Emission from H-type Supramolecular Polymers in Optical Nanocavities

Chem. Commun., 2812-2815 60 (2024)

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DOI

J. Labella, G. Lavarda, L. Hernández-López, F. Aguilar-Galindo, S. Díaz-Tendero, J. Lobo‑Checa*, T. Torres*

Preparation, Supramolecular Organization, and On-Surface Reactivity of Enantiopure Subphthalocyanines: From Bulk to 2D-Polymerization

J. Am. Chem. Soc., 16579-16587 144 (2022)

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DOI

J. Zirzlmeier^‡, G. Lavarda^‡, H. Gotfredsen^‡, I. Papadopoulos^‡, L. Chen, T. Clark, R. R. Tykwinski*, T. Torres*, D.M. Guldi*

Modulating the Dynamics of Förster Resonance Energy Transfer and Singlet Fission by Variable Molecular Spacers

Nanoscale, 23061-23068 12 (2020)

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DOI

G. Lavarda, N. Bhattacharjee, G. Brancato*, T. Torres*, G. Bottari*

Enabling Racemization of Axially Chiral Subphthalocyanine–Tetracyanobutadiene–Aniline Enantiomers by Triplet State Photogeneration

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 21224-21229 59 (2020)

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DOI

K. A. Winterfeld^‡, G. Lavarda^‡, K. Yoshida^‡, M. J. Bayerlein, K. Kise, T. Tanaka, A. Osuka*, D. M. Guldi*, T. Torres*, G. Bottari*

Synthesis and Optical Features of Axially and Peripherally Substituted Subporphyrins. A Paradigmatic Example of Charge Transfer versus Exciplex States

J. Am. Chem. Soc., 7920-7929 142 (2020)

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DOI

G. Lavarda^‡, J. Zirzlmeier^‡, M. Gruber, P. R. Rami, R. R. Tykwinski*, T. Torres*, D. M. Guldi*

Tuning Intramolecular Förster Resonance Energy Transfer and Activating Intramolecular Singlet Fission

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 16291-16295 57 (2018)

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DOI