Giuseppe TRUSSO SFRAZZETTO

Giuseppe Trusso Sfrazzetto achieved Bachelor Degree in Chemistry on 11/26/2005 with the vote of 109/110 and then the Master Degree in Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry on 07/27/2007 with 110/110 cum laude from the Faculty of Sciences. FF. NN. of University of Catania, discussing the thesis titled "Design and synthesis of new macrocyclic cavitand for molecular recognition." From September to December 2007 he worked at the research laboratory of Prof. Gaetano Tomaselli in the University of Catania for the design and manufacture of new metal catalysts for asymmetric epoxidation reactions. In October 2007 he won fellowship for the PhD in Chemical Sciences (XXIII° cycle) at the University of Catania. He achieved the title of "PhD in Chemistry" on 02/10/2011 discussing thesis entitled "Design and synthesis of novel macrocyclic cavitand". From February to April 2011 was the holder of a contract of collaboration within the project PRIN 2008 "NEW METHODS FOR THE SELECTIVE AND GREEN OXIDATION OF ORGANIC SUBSTRATES KEY". In November 2011 he won a Post-doc position in the Department of Chemical Science of University of Catania to develop the field research about “MOLECULAR BASIS OF DEGENERATIVE SYNDROMES OF SENESCENTIS.

He won a research position in the Department of Chemical Sciences of the University of Catania in 2018, and from December 2021 he is Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry in the same Department

• ORCID: 0000-0003-1584-5869
• CINECA IRIS Institutional Research Information System: link

2022

Santonocito, R; Intravaia, M.; Caruso, I. M.; Pappalardo, A.; Trusso Sfrazzetto, G.; Tuccitto, N. Fluorescence sensing by carbon nanoparticles Nanoscale Adv. 2022, 4, 1926-1948

Calì, F.; Fichera, L.; Trusso Sfrazzetto, G.; Nicotra, G.; Sfuncia, G.; Bruno, E.; Lanzanò, L.; Barbagallo, I.; Li-Destri, G.; Tuccitto, N. Fluorescent nanoparticles for reliable communication among implantable medical devices Carbon 2022, 190, 262-275

Pisagatti I.; Crisafulli D.; Pappalardo A.; Trusso Sfrazzetto G.; Notti A.; Nastasi F.; Parisi M. F.; Micali N.; Gattuso G.; Villari V. Photoinduced electron transfer in host-guest interactions of a viologen derivative with a didansyl-pillar[5]arene Materials Today Chemistry 2022, 24, 100841

2021

G. Catania, N. Tuccitto, A. Pappalardo, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, Agile Detection of Chemical Warfare Agents by Machine Vision: a Supramolecular Approach Chem. Eur. J. 2021, 27, 13715–13718

F. Calì, V. Cantaro, L. Fichera, R. Ruffino, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, G. Li-Destri, N. Tuccitto Carbon Quantum Dots from Lemon Waste Enable Communication among Biodevices Chemosensors 2021, 9, 202

Tuccitto, N.; Fichera, L.; Ruffino, R.; Cantaro, V.; Sfuncia, G.; Nicotra, G.; Trusso Sfrazzetto, G.; Li-Destri, G.; Valenti, A.; Licciardello, A.; Torrisi, A. Carbon Quantum Dots as Fluorescence Nanochemosensors for Selective Detection of Amino Acids ACS Applied Nano Materials 2021, 4, 6250 - 6256

A. Pappalardo, F. P. Ballistreri, R. M. Toscano, M. A. Chiacchio, L. Legnani , G. Grazioso, L. Veltri, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Alkene Epoxidations Mediated by Mn-Salen Macrocyclic Catalysts Catalysts 2021, 11, 465

R. Santonocito, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto  (2021) Green Nanocatalysts in Organic Synthesis. In: Anilkumar G., Saranya S. (eds) Green Organic Reactions. Materials Horizons: From Nature to Nanomaterials. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6897-2_13

Butera, E.; Zammataro, A.; Pappalardo, A., Trusso Sfrazzetto, G. Supramolecular sensing of chemical warfare agents ChemPlusChem 2021, 86, 681-695

C. M. A. Gangemi, U. Rimkaite, A. Pappalardo, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Light-up photoluminescence sensing of a nerve agent simulant by a bis-porphyrin–salen–UO2 complex RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 13047–13050

Pappalardo, Andrea, Gangemi, C. M. A.; Testa, Caterina; Trusso Sfrazzetto, Supramolecular assemblies for photodynamic therapy Current Organic Chemistry 2021, 25, 963 - 993

2020

L. Legnani, R. Puglisi, A. Pappalardo, M. A. Chiacchio, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Supramolecular recognition of phosphocholine by an enzyme-like cavitand receptor, Chem. Commun., 2020, 56, 539-542

I. Pisagatti, N. Manganaro, C. F. M. Mirabella, A. Pappalardo, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, F. Nastasi, A. Notti, M. F. Parisi, G. Gattuso How do fluoride ions bind to tetrathiacalix[2]arene[2]triazines? Tetrahedron. Lett. 2020, 61, 151911

N. Tuccitto, L. Riela, A. Zammataro, L. Spitaleri, G. Li Destri, G. Sfuncia, G. Nicotra, A. Pappalardo, G. Capizzi, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Functionalized Carbon Nanoparticle-Based Sensors for Chemical Warfare Agents ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2020, 3, 8182−8191

A. Zammataro, R. Santonocito, A. Pappalardo, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, Catalytic Degradation of Nerve Agents. Catalysts 2020, 10, 881.

L. Spitaleri, C M. A. Gangemi, R. Purrello, G. Nicotra, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, G. Casella, M. Casarin, A Gulino Covalently Conjugated Gold–Porphyrin Nanostructures Nanomaterials 2020, 10, 1644

A. Pappalardo, C. M. A. Gangemi, R. M. Toscano, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto A New Fluorescent Salen-Uranyl Sensor for the Sub-ppm Detection of Chemical Warfare Agents Curr. Org. Chem. 2020, 24, 2378–2382

N. Tuccitto, L. Spitaleri, G. Li Destri, A. Pappalardo, A. Gulino, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Supramolecular Sensing of a Chemical Warfare Agents Simulant by Functionalized Carbon Nanoparticles Molecules 2020, 25, 5731

Chiara M. A. Gangemi, Ugne Rimkaite, Federica Cipria, Giuseppe Trusso Sfrazzetto and Andrea Pappalardo, Enantiomeric Recognition of a-Aminoacids by a Uranyl Salen-Bis-Porphyrin Complex, Frontiers in Chemistry, doi: 10.3389/fchem.2019.00836

Agatino Zammataro and Giuseppe Trusso Sfrazzetto, Carbon Dots as Catalysts: A New Class of Nanozymes Current Organocatalysis 2020, 7, 3-6

2019

Caterina Testa, Agatino Zammataro, Andrea Pappalardo and Giuseppe Trusso Sfrazzetto, Catalysis with carbon nanoparticles RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 27659–27664

A. Pappalardo, R. Puglisi, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Catalysis inside Supramolecular Capsules: Recent Developments Catalysts 2019, 9, 630

Giovanni Li-Destri, Luca Fichera, Agatino Zammataro, Giuseppe Trusso Sfrazzetto, and Nunzio Tuccitto Self-Assembled Carbon Nanoparticles as Messengers for Artificial Chemical Communication. Nanoscale, 2019, DOI: 10.1039/C9NR04461B

Puglisi, R.; Mineo, P.G.; Pappalardo, A.; Gulino, A.; Trusso Sfrazzetto, G. Supramolecular Detection of a Nerve Agent Simulant by Fluorescent Zn–Salen Oligomer Receptors. Molecules 2019, 24, 2160

A. Zammataro, C. M. A. Gangemi, A. Pappalardo, R. M. Toscano, R. Puglisi, G. Nicotra, M. E. Fragalà, N. Tuccitto, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Covalently functionalized carbon nanoparticles with a chiral Mn-Salen: a new nanocatalyst for enantioselective epoxidation of alkenes Chem. Commun., 2019, 55, 5255-5258

R. Puglisi, A. Pappalardo, A. Gulino, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Multitopic Supramolecular Detection of Chemical Warfare Agents by Fluorescent Sensors ACS Omega 2019, 4, 7550−7555

2018

C. M. A. Gangemi, R. Puglisi, A. Pappalardo, G.  Trusso Sfrazzetto Supramolecular complexes for nanomedicine, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2018, 28, 3290-3301

N. Tuccitto, T. Amato, C. M. A. Gangemi, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, R. Puglisi, A. Pappalardo, F. P. Ballistreri, G. M. L. Messina, G. Li Destri, G. Marletta Driving coordination polymer monolayer formation by competitive reactions at the air/water interface, Langmuir 2018, 34, 1706-11713

R. Puglisi, A. Pappalardo, A. Gulino, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, Supramolecular recognition of CWAs simulant by metal-salen complexes: the first multi-topic approach Chem. Commun. 2018, , 54, 11156 - 11159

M. L.Giuffrida, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, C. Satriano, S. Zimbone, G. A. Tomaselli, A. Copani, E. Rizzarelli A New Ratiometric Lysosomal Copper(II) Fluorescent Probe To Map a Dynamic Metallome in Live Cells Inorg. Chem. 2018, 57, 2365−2368

F. P. Ballistreri, R. M. Toscano, M. E. Amato, A. Pappalardo, C. M. A. Gangemi, S. Spidalieri, R. Puglisi, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto A New Mn–Salen Micellar Nanoreactor for Enantioselective Epoxidation of Alkenes in Water Catalysts 2018, 8, 129

2017

G. R. Walke, D. S. Ranade, S. N. Ramteke, S. Rapole, C. Satriano, E. Rizzarelli, G. A. Tomaselli, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, P. P. Kulkarni Fluorescent Copper Probe Inhibiting Aβ1−16-Copper(II)-Catalyzed Intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species Production Inorg. Chem. 2017, 56, 3729−3732

R. Puglisi, F. P. Ballistreri, C. M. A. Gangemi, R. M. Toscano, G. A. Tomaselli, A. Pappalardo, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Chiral Zn–salen complexes: a new class of fluorescent receptors for enantiodiscrimination of chiral amines New J. Chem., 2017, 41, 911-915

A. Gulino, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, S. Millesi, A. Pappalardo, G. A. Tomaselli, F. P. Ballistreri, R. M. Toscano, L. Fragalà Nerve Gas Simulant Sensing by an Uranyl-Salen Monolayer Covalently Anchored on Quartz Substrates Chem. Eur. J. , 2017, 23, 1576-1583

2016

N. Tuccitto, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, C. M. A. Gangemi, F. P. Ballistreri, R. M. Toscano, G. A. Tomaselli, A. Pappalardo, G. Marletta Memory-Driven Order-Disorder Transition of 3D-Supramolecular Architecture Based on Calix[5]arene and Porphyrin Derivatives Chem. Commun., 2016, 52, 11681-11684

N. Tuccitto, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, C. M. A. Gangemi, F. P. Ballistreri, R. M. Toscano, G. A. Tomaselli, A. Pappalardo, G. Marletta Memory-Driven Order-Disorder Transition of 3D-Supramolecular Architecture Based on Calix[5]arene and Porphyrin Derivatives Chem. Commun., 2016, 52, 11681-11684

F. P. Ballistreri, G. Brancatelli, N. Demitri, S. Geremia, D. M. Guldi, M. Melchionna, A. Pappalardo, M. Prato, G. A. Tomaselli, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Recognition of C60 by Tetra- and Tri-Quinoxaline Cavitands Supramol. Chem. 2016, 28, 601-607

G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, C. Satriano, G. A. Tomaselli, E. Rizzarelli Synthetic fluorescent probes to map dynamic metallostasis and intracellular fate of zinc and copper Coord. Chem. Rev. 2016, 311.125-167

A. Fraix, V. Torrisi, G. Marletta, S. Sortino, P. G. Mineo, G. A. Tomaselli, F. P. Ballistreri, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, A. Pappalardo Supramolecular Polymer Networks Based on Calix[5]arene Chained Poly(pphenyleneethynylene) and C60 Fulleropyrrolidine Supramol. Chem. 2016, 2016, 28, 485-492

G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Editorial (Thematic Issue: Supramolecular Catalysis: Non-Covalent Interactions in the Organic Catalysis) Curr. Organocatal. 2016, 3, 3-5

2015

C. M. A. Gangemi, R. Randazzo, M. E. Fragalà, G. A. Tomaselli, F. P. ballistreri, A. Pappalardo, R. M. Toscano, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, R. Purrello and A. D'Urso, Hierarchically controlled protonation/aggregation of a porphyrin–spermine derivative.  New J. Chem., 2015, 39, 6722-6725

G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Editorial (Thematic Issue: Macrocyclic Hosts: from Molecular Recognition to Applications) Curr. Org. Chem. 2015, 19, 2228

G. Forte, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, A. Pappalardo A DFT study on the recognition of α-amino acid derivatives by chiral uranyl-salen Comput. Teor. Chem. 2015, 1068, 8-12

C. M. A. Gangemi, A. Pappalardo and G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Assembling of Supramolecular Capsules with Resorcin[4]arene and Calix[n]arene Building Blocks Curr. Org. Chem. 2015, 19, 2281-2308

A. Pappalardo, C. M. A. Gangemi, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Applications of supramolecular capsules derived from resorcin[4]arenes, calix[n]arenes and metallo-ligands: from biology to catalysis RSC Advances, 2015, 5, 51919-51933

G. Forte, A. D’Urso, F. P. Ballistreri, R. M. Toscano, G. A. Tomaselli, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, A. Pappalardo Enantiomeric Recognition of a-Amino Acid Derivatives by Chiral Uranyl-Salen Receptors Tetrahedron Lett. 2015, 56, 2922-2926

G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, S. Millesi, A. Pappalardo,  R. M. Toscano,  F. P. Ballistreri, G. A. Tomaselli, A. Gulino Olefin Epoxidation by a (salen)Mn(III) Catalyst Covalently Grafted on Glass Beads Cat. Sci. Techn. 2015, 5, 673-679

2014

M. L. Giuffrida, E. Rizzarelli, G. A. Tomaselli, C. Satriano, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto A novel fully water-soluble Cu(I) probe for fluorescence live cell imaging Chem. Commun. 2014, 50, 9835-9838

A. D’Urso, C. Tudisco, F. P. Ballistreri, G. G. Condorelli, R. Randazzo, G. A. Tomaselli, R. M. Toscano, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, A. Pappalardo Enantioselective extraction mediated by a chiral cavitand–salen covalently assembled on a porous silicon surface Chem. Commun. 2014, 50, 4493-4496

2013

M. E. Amato, F. P. Ballistreri, A. Pappalardo, G. A. Tomaselli, R. M. Toscano, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto Selective Oxidation Reactions of Natural Compounds with Hydrogen Peroxide Mediated by Methyltrioxorhenium Molecules, 2013, 18, 13754-13768.

A. Pappalardo, M. E. Amato, F. P. Ballistreri, V. La Paglia Fragola, G. A. Tomaselli, R. M. Toscano, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto  Binding of Reactive Organophosphate by Oximes via Hydrogen Bond J. Chem. Sci. 2013, 125, 896-873

C. Satriano, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, M. E. Amato, F. P. Ballistreri, A. Copani, M. L. Giuffrida, G. Grasso, A. Pappalardo, E. Rizzarelli,G. A. Tomaselli, R. M. Toscano A Ratiometric Naphthalimide Sensor for Live Cell Imaging of Copper(I) Chem. Commun. 2013, 49, 5565-5567

G. Brancatelli, A. Pappalardo, G. Trusso Sfrazzetto, A. Notti, S. Geremia Mono- and Dinuclear Uranyl(VI) Complexes with Chiral Schiff Base Ligand Inorganica Chimica Acta 2013, 396, 25-29

 

The research activity is oriented to the molecular recognition of important biological analytes and catalysis, both in solution than on solid state, leading to a biomimetic systems. In particular, during the PhD thesis, the design, synthesis and characterization of chiral supramolecular hosts able to recognize chiral guests were performed. The host were quinoxaline cavitands, functionalized with chiral salen moieties,¹ able to enantiodiscriminate α-aminoacids derivatives with high efficiency. Furthermore, this cavitands were complexed with uranyl acetate, obtaining chiral ditopic receptors for the recognition of chiral ion pair.^2-4 In fact, the quinoxaline cavity is able to include the cation moiety of the guest, while uranyl center (acting as Lewis acid) is able to coordinate equatorially anion moiety of the guest (Lewis base).^5-6 This systems showed high enantioselectivity in solution, and in particular the ability to extract in a biphasic system (water/chloroform) only one enantiomer from an aqueous racemic mixture of the guest was demonstrated. This experiments pave the way for a realization of a solid device, able to recognize and extract selectively one enantiomer from a racemate in water. ^7-8 The quinoxaline cavitand scaffolds were also demostrated suitable for the realization of photosensitizer for the photo-generation of singlet oxygen.⁹ These features suggest the potential use of fullerenes as DNA photocleaving agents that can trigger DNA exploiting the reactive singlet oxygen. By covalent linking of a fullerene, the obtaining of a quinoxaline-fullerene adduct able to clivage the DNA upon irradiation was demonstrated.

During the post-doc period, the expertise in the design of chemosensor was redirected to the recognition of copper, an important biological cation, implied in several neurodegenerative diseases. Copper is a redox-active metal and alterations of its intra- and extra-cellular levels are at the origin of several conditions, including cancer, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as diabetes. The imaging of sub-cellular Cu⁺ localization using sensors with specific intracellular distribution patterns is of great interest, since many sub cellular organelles are involved in copper homeostasis with variable roles. In this context, two new fluorescent copper sensors for the localization of intracellular copper pools were synthesized.^10-11 This new sensors present an easy synthetic pathway, high sensibility and selectivity, an excellent water solubility and compatibility for the intracellular environment.

The other research activity was oriented to the enantioselective catalysis. In the last decades, efforts have been devoted to heterogenize the Jacobsen catalyst by anchoring chiral (salen)Mn(III) complexes on solid surfaces in order to enhance their stability, activity, selectivity, recovery and recycling. Although several methods are known for this heterogenization, surface anchoring that assures no catalyst leaching and high efficiency remains a challenging goal.  Taking into account this considerations, design and synthesis of eterogeneous catalysts for the enantioselective epoxidation of important alkenes were performed, using quartz as solid support.^12-13