UJI funds chiral materials and switchable bio-inspired catalysts

Two research teams at the University Institute of Advanced Materials at Universitat Jaume I de Castelló have secured nearly €1.2 million to develop chiral materials for energy and catalysis and a new generation of catalysts designed to imitate enzyme-like switching behaviour. The Generalitat Valenciana awarded each team more than €500,000 through its Prometeo programme, which provides a four-year framework for frontier research. The projects, CHIRAL-Solutions and BIOSWITCH, are led by Iván Mora Seró and Beatriu Escuder, and by Vicent Moliner and Macarena Poyatos, respectively.

The announcement describes two research-development programmes rather than completed technologies. CHIRAL-Solutions will investigate how chirality can be used to tune chemical reactivity and selectivity, optical activity, mechanical properties and charge dynamics in advanced materials. BIOSWITCH will pursue a combined theoretical and experimental approach to designing multifunctional, switchable bio-inspired catalysts. Those catalysts are intended to carry out complex chemical transformations while adjusting their activity and selectivity in response to external stimuli, including light, the presence of certain ions and redox changes. The grants provide support for planned research into materials and catalytic systems, not evidence that a commercial device or catalyst has already been achieved.

Chirality is a geometric property in which a structure cannot be superimposed on its mirror image, as illustrated by the difference between left and right hands. CHIRAL-Solutions is built around the possibility that this molecular handedness can serve as a design feature in materials used for energy conversion and chemical synthesis. The researchers will work with halide perovskites as well as molecular and supramolecular chiral systems. Their planned work includes synthesis and preparation, followed by the characterisation, understanding and modelling of systems such as solar cells, light-emitting diodes, solar-fuel generation systems and stereoselective catalytic processes.

Mora Seró and Escuder’s proposal links the preparation of chiral materials with their implementation in energy and biomimetic applications. The intended scope includes photoelectrochemical systems and optoelectronic devices, alongside asymmetric catalysis. By studying chiral structures across several material classes, the team aims to determine how handedness can contribute to the control of reaction outcomes, optical behaviour, mechanical properties and charge dynamics. The project also emphasises the use of elements with a low environmental impact. However, the announcement does not specify individual formulations, target devices, quantitative performance thresholds or the results of experiments, so the project’s practical benefits remain to be established during the four-year programme.

The CHIRAL-Solutions proposal identifies potential routes to technology transfer in the energy and chemical sectors, as well as possible relevance for pharmaceuticals. More efficient and durable optoelectronic devices are identified as a potential industrial outcome in energy, while more selective and sustainable catalysts could support chemical manufacturing. The pharmaceutical industry is highlighted because it relies heavily on the synthesis of chiral drugs and could benefit from advances in stereoselective processes. These possibilities describe expected areas of impact rather than demonstrated commercial gains. The grant supports the investigation, preparation and evaluation needed to determine whether the proposed materials can deliver improvements in specific operating conditions.

Several researchers from Universitat Jaume I will contribute to CHIRAL-Solutions, including Sofia Masi, Eva M. Barea, Rosario Vidal, Beatriz Julián and Eva Falomir. The programme is designed to connect material synthesis with characterisation, modelling and evaluation in energy and catalytic systems. That scope gives the team several ways to examine its central proposal, from preparing the materials and analysing their structures to studying their behaviour in devices and stereoselective processes. The announcement does not report completed material demonstrations or device tests, and it does not establish that any one system will outperform an achiral counterpart. Those questions are part of the research agenda that the grant is intended to support.

BIOSWITCH takes a different approach to multifunctional catalysis. Moliner and Poyatos propose designing catalysts through the use of SMART ligands, meaning switchable, multifunctional, adaptable and tuneable ligands, together with supramolecular principles. The intended goal is a versatile catalytic platform capable of performing complex chemical transformations and responding to different external conditions. By changing activity and selectivity in response to light, selected ions or redox changes, the proposed catalysts would imitate the responsive behaviour of enzymes. The project is therefore intended to investigate controllability and versatility in catalyst design, although the release provides no experimental performance data and makes no claim that enzyme-level behaviour has already been attained.

The BIOSWITCH team also plans to develop nanocarriers and catalysts designed to operate in both chemical and biological environments. Eduardo Peris, Iñaki Tuñón, Katarzyna Swiderek, Sergio Martí, Sergio Gonell and J. J. Ruiz-Pernía are among the researchers involved. The project combines computational modelling with experimental synthesis and characterisation so that structural and functional relationships can be examined through both theoretical and laboratory methods. Potential applications include sustainable synthesis, drug delivery and photodynamic therapy. These are prospective application areas in a four-year research programme, not verified clinical uses, and the announcement does not provide evidence of therapeutic performance or performance in biological settings.

By the end of BIOSWITCH, the team aims to develop a platform technology for responsive catalysis that could change how catalysts are designed, optimised and applied in chemical manufacturing and biomedicine. The phrase describes the intended endpoint of the project, not a platform already available. Its emphasis on a multidisciplinary design process is specific to BIOSWITCH: the project combines molecular ligand design, supramolecular chemistry, computational modelling, experimental synthesis and characterisation. CHIRAL-Solutions has a different structure, centred on preparing and studying chiral materials and integrating them into energy, optoelectronic and catalytic systems. The release does not establish that the two projects share a single experimental platform or a common set of performance metrics.

Prometeo is described as the Generalitat Valenciana’s most scientifically demanding funding scheme. It is intended for groups with established research records, the capacity to conduct frontier research and successful participation in major national and European programmes such as Horizon Europe and the European Research Council. The 2026 call offers a stable four-year funding framework intended to support continuity in research and scientific planning while reducing uncertainty associated with annual funding calls. It can also help groups recruit research staff, acquire scientific equipment and establish national and international collaborations with greater planning capacity. For the two Universitat Jaume I teams, the awards supply sustained support for two complementary but distinct research programmes: one on tuning material properties through chirality and the other on controlling catalytic activity through switchable, bio-inspired designs.

Subject of Research: Four-year research projects on chiral materials and switchable bio-inspired catalysts at Universitat Jaume I

Article Title: UJI's Institute of Advanced Materials secures two Prometeo projects to develop new chiral materials and a new generation of enzyme-inspired catalysts

Article References: UJI's Institute of Advanced Materials secures two Prometeo projects to develop new chiral materials and a new generation of enzyme-inspired catalysts. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)

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Keywords: chiral materials, bio-inspired catalysts, Universitat Jaume I, Prometeo programme, halide perovskites, supramolecular chemistry, responsive catalysis, optoelectronics, asymmetric catalysis, energy materials, UJI's, Institute