Félix Freire received his B.S. (2000), M.S. (2002), and Ph.D. degrees (2005) from the University of Santiago de Compostela in the group of Prof. Ricardo Riguera and Prof. Emilio Quiñoá with a FPU fellowship (Spanish Government). His Ph.D. was focused on the study of the absolute configuration of diols and triols by using 1H NMR. During his Ph.D. he spent 4 months at Prof. Jesús Jiménez Barbero (CIB-CSIC, Madrid)  and Dr. Juan Luis Asensio group to study the peptide folding by NMR. Once completed his phD, he performed a postdoctoral stage in the same group to continuously working on peptide folding and protein/protein interactions by using NMR. In 2006, he moved to USA with a postdoctoral FULBRIGHT fellowship to work under the supervision of Prof. Samuel H. Gellman in Foldamers. His research was focused on the design, synthesis and structural studies of parallel β-sheets that fold in water. In 2010, he obtained the prestigious Ramón y Cajal fellowship from the Spanish Government, to start his own research at the Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials (CIQUS) in the University of Santiago de Compostela, where he worked as Full Professor until August 2024. Since September 2024 he works as Full Professor at the Chemistry Department at the University of Vigo and as Principal Investigator at CINBIO (Centro de Investigación en Nanomateriais e Biomedicina) leading the ChiralLab group.

 His research interests include polymer and supramolecular chemistry, chirality and nanostructures. Due to his contributions in those fields, he got in 2012 the SUSCHEM award, and in 2023  obtained the José Barluenga Medal from the GEQOR group at the RSEQ. His research was highlighted in the cover of journals such as JACS, Angewandte or Chemical Science.

RESEARCH INTEREST

During my career as scientist I was always interested in Chirality and molecular structures.

My Ph.D. and postdoctoral activities were focused on the structural study of small or medium size molecules such as chiral diols, triols and peptide derivatives. These structural studies allowed me to develop different models to determine the absolute configuration of polyfunctional compounds by NMR,  and also study the folding of parallel beta sheets in water.

Nowadays, my research is focused on the helical polymers field (Supramolecular and Covalent)  . I am interested in dynamic helical polymers because their helical sense and scaffold can be tuned once they have been prepared. Thus, a rational design of the monomer will allow us to create polymers that can act as sensors of different external stimuli changing their helical sense or structure in the presence/absence of these stimuli. Moreover, we can also play with different mechanisms of helix induction, which can be governed by tele induction, steric effects or conformational mechanism. I am also interested in “exploring communication” mechanisms between building blocks along polymers (covalent and supramolecular). I am also interested in the introduction of this dynamic macroscopic chirality in nanostructures.

 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

1) Núñez-Martínez M.; Fernández-Míguez, M.; E. Quiñoá; Freire F.* Optical and Chiroptical Stimuli-Responsive Chiral AgNPs@H-Leu-Poly(phenylacetylene) Nanocomposites in Water. ACS Nano, 2024, 18, 42, 28822–28833

2) Lago-Silva, M., Cid M. M.; Quiñoa, E.; Freire, F.* P/M Macromolecular Switch Based on Conformational Control Exerted by an Achiral Side Chain within an Axially Chiral Locked Pendant. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2024, 146, 752-759.

3) Rey-Tarrío J. J., Rodríguez, R.; Fernández, B.; Quiñoa, E.; Freire, F.* Metallo-Supramolecular Helical Fibres from Chiral Phenylacetylene Monomers: Cation Induced Self-Assembly. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2024, 63, e202318454.

4) Francisco Rey-Tarrío, Rafael Rodríguez, Emilio Quiñoá, and Félix Freire.* Photostability and Dynamic HelicalBehavior in Chiral Poly(phenylacetylene)s with a Preferred Screw-Sense. Nature Communications, 2023, 14, 1742.

5) Rafael Rodríguez, Elena Rivadulla, Manuel Fernández-Míguez, Berta Fernández, Emilio Quiñoá, Félix Freire.* Full Control of the Chiral Overpass Effect in Helical Polymers: P/M Screw Sense Induction by Remote Chiral CentersAfter Bypassing the First Chiral Residue. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2022, 61, e202209953

6) Juan José Tarrío, Rafael rodríguez, Berta Fernández, Emilio Quiñoa, Félix Freire.* Dissymmetric Chiral Poly(diphenylacetylene)s: Secondary Structure Elucidation and Dynamic Luminescence. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2022, 61, e202115070. DOI: 10.1002/anie.202115070. 

7) Zulema Fernández, Berta Fernández, Emilio Quiñoá and Félix Freire.* Merging Supramolecular and Covalent Helical Polymers: Four Helices Within a Single Scaffold. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2021, 143, 20962-20969.

8) Nuñez-Martínez, M.; Arias, S.; Quiñoá, E.; Riguera, R.; Freire, F.* Dynamic Chiral PPA–AgNP Nanocomposites: Aligned Silver Nanoparticles Decorating Helical Polymers. Chemistry of Materials, 2021, 33, 4805-4812.

9) Zulema Fernández, Berta Fernández, Emilio Quiñoá and Félix Freire.* The Competitive Aggregation Pathway of an Asymmetric Chiral Oligo(p‐phenyleneethynylene) Towards the Formation of Individual P and M Supramolecular Helical Polymers. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2021, 133, 10007-10012.

10) Katherine Cobos, Rafael Rodríguez, Emilio Quiñoá, Ricardo Riguera, Félix Freire.* From Sergeants and Soldiers to Chiral Conflict Effects in Helical Polymers by Acting on the Conformational Composition of the Comonomers. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2020, 59, 23724-23730.

11) Mohammad Alzubi, Sandra Arias, Rafael Rodríguez, Emilio Quiñoá, Ricardo Riguera, Félix Freire.* Chiral Conflict as a Method to Create Stimuli‐Responsive Materials Based on Dynamic Helical Polymers. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2019, 58, 13365-13369. 

12) Arias, S.; Rodríguez, R.; Quiñoá, E.; Riguera, R.; Freire, F.* “Chiral Coalition in Helical Sense Enhancement of Copolymers: The Role of the Absolute Configuration of Comonomers”  J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, 140, 667-674.

13) Berta Fernández, Rafael Rodríguez, Emilio Quiñoá, Ricardo Riguera and Félix Freire. “Predicting the Helical Sense of Poly(phenylacetylene)s from their Electron Circular Dichroism Spectra.” Angewandte Chemie, 2018, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201713

14) Arias, S.; Freire, F.*; Calderón, M.; Bergueiro, J. “Unexpected Chiro-Thermoresponsive Behavior of Helical Poly(phenylacetylene)s Bearing Elastin-Based Side Chains.” Angewandte Chemie, 2017, 56, 11420-11425.

15) Rafael Rodríguez, Emilio Quiñoá, Ricardo Riguera and Félix Freire. “Architecture of Chiral Poly(phenyl acetylene)s: From Compressed/Highly Dynamic to Stretched/Quasi-Static Helices”.  J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2016, 138, 9260-9268.