Abraham Mendoza

Abraham was born and raised in Gijón, a city in the beautiful coast of Asturias (north of Spain). There, he completed his undergraduate studies in Organic and Inorganic Chemistry in the University of Oviedo (2000-2004). Then, Abraham joined the research group of Prof. José Barluenga at the same university, under the co-supervision of Prof. Javier Fañanás and Dr. Felix Rodríguez (2003-2010). Following an early education (MSc) on the organometallic chemistry of metal-carbene complexes, his PhD was earned studying new modes of catalytic activation of alkynes, culminating in the total synthesis of (–)-Berkelic Acid.

After completing his PhD, he was honored to join Prof. Baran’s laboratories at The Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, CA, USA) on a Fulbright Fellowship (2010-2012). Under Phil’s mentorship, he was introduced to the total synthesis of natural products using C-H functionalization logic (taxanes) and the development of methods for that purpose.

Then, he moved back to Europe as a Marie Curie Fellow (2012-2014) at the University of Cambridge, working under the supervision of Prof. Matthew Gaunt on bioorthogonal chemistry and C-H insertion catalysis.

In late 2013, he started his independent career at Stockholm University (Dept. of Organic Chemistry) as a Junior Researcher of the Swedish Research Council. In 2017, he was tenured with the generous sponsorship of the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the European Research Council (ERC). In 2021, he became associate professor at Stockholm University as Docent in Organic Chemistry.

In mid 2022, he accepted a position at the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol) at the University of Valencia as a Senior Distinguished Researcher of the Valencian Government (Generalitat Valenciana). His group is currently pursuing the development of new synthetic methods towards a more sustainable and efficient organic synthesis.