Welcome to the Mastalerz Group

The Health + Life Science Alliance Heidelberg Mannheim is offering interinstitutional two-year postdoctoral positions!

Our group contributes with an interdisciplinary project about the use of porous organic cage compounds as MRI contrast agents in collaboration/co-supervision with Prof. Dr. Leif Schröder from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ).

You can find more information about the details here and if you are interested in this amazing opportunity, please contact Prof. Dr. Mastalerz in advance.

21.11.2025 - Open PhD Position (Deadline December 15th 2025 ):

We offer a position for doctoral researchers with a temporary employment contract for up to 42 months (75% TVL-E13) starting in April 2026. Enrolment to pursue a doctoral degree at the corresponding faculties based on their requirements is mandatory in addition to joining the Research Training Group.

This Research Training Group (RTG) offers you a combination of fundamental and applied research topics, close collaboration across disciplines in a collaborative and diverse environment, exchanges with international partners and a tailored qualification program that will enable you to pursue a successful career within the fast-expanding field of mixed ionic-electronic conductors. 

For more information click here.

14.11.2025 - Paper accepted

Congrats to our former PhD Ke!

His paper on Highly Selective Adsorption of Fluorinated Gases by Porous Organic Cages - Effects of Fluorinated Side-Chains was accepted for publication in Advanded Materials!

After Ke showed the applicability of actractive fluorine-fluorine interaction for the adsorptions of highly potent greenhouse gases in his first paper, he now fine-tuned the properties of this class of cages. By the systematic modification of the fluorinated side-chain in length, new benchmark values for the adsorption of PFC-218 and PFC-318 have been obtained. Furthermore, Ke showed that also nitrogen trifluoride (GWP₁₀₀ = 17400) and sulfur hexafluoride (GWP₁₀₀ = 24300) can be selectively adsorbed by this method. These findings were supported by breakthrough experiments for more real-life conditions as well as quantum chemical calculations, performed by Moritz.

If you are interested in the story, click here or directly on the picture on the left.

Great job Ke!

14.11.2025 - Paper accepted

Congrats to Chris!

His paper on the Synthesis of Aza-indeno-aza-fluoranthene and Constitutional Isomers by Ringsize selective C–H Activation was accepted for publication in Chem. Eur. J!

In the paper, Chris elaborated conditions for the selective pent- or hexaannulation of a chloropyridine precursor to an aza-indeno-aza-fluoranthene or benzo[h]quinoline. This was achieved by controlling the Pd-catalyzed C–H activation reaction through various parameters, such as base, solvent, additive, and temperature. The high charge-transfer integrals for electron transport of the novel compounds suggests their potential application as an n-type semiconductor material in organic electronics. Futhermore, Chris carried out quantum chemical calculations to get further insights into the underlaying mechanisms.

If you are interested in the story, click here or directly on the picture on the left.

Great job Chris!

11.11.2025 - Paper accepted

Congrats to Moritz!

His paper on the Synthesis of Enantiopure [3]Cyclorubicenes was accepted for publication in Angewandte Chemie International Edition!

In the paper, Moritz developed a new synthetic route toward the pentagon containing [3]cyclorubicene with retaining chirality from an early stage on. With this strategy, Moritz did not only obtain the enantiopure isomers of [3]cyclorubicene in good yields, but he was also able to investigate their chiroptial properties for the first time. This resulted in gabs-values among the highest ever reported for CPPs. [3]Cyclorubicene is also a substructure of Haeckelite type nanotubes and we are looking forward to the things to come in this direction.

If you are interested in the story, click here or directly on the picture on the left.

Great job Moritz!

30.10.2025 - New Group Members

We would like to welcome four new group member.

Dr. Aleksandra Sarwa joined us as a post-doc. She studied chemistry at the University Wroclaw in Poland. In her PhD in the group of Prof. Dr. Bartosz Szyszko at the same university she investigated mechanically interlocked molecules as well as cage compounds.
Alexa joined our TACY-team and is going to investigate new methodologies toward (hetero)-cyclacenes.

Huowang He started is PhD studies in our group. He obtained his BSc from the Shaoguan University in China followed by MSc-studies at the South China Normal University in Guangzhou, China. During his master thesis Huowang studied porphyrins as well as cycloparaphenylenes.
Huowang ist going to study novel fused aromatic compounds.

Also Lingyuan Meng joined our team for a PhD. He got his BSc as well as MSc from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. There he investigated molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) during his master thesis.
In our group, Lingyuan will also investigate fused aromatic compounds.

Alida Made rejoined our group. Alida obtained a dual MSc and dipoma from the École Nationale Supéieure de Chimie de Mulhouse in Mulhouse, France and visited our group for an internship during her studies last year. She finished her studies with an stay at Cabb Chemicals in Schwitzerland.
Now she focusses on one of our newest sub-topics which is medicinal chemistry.

We want to welcome Alexa, Huowang, Lingyuan and Alida and are looking forward to work with you.