Dr Xacobe Cambeiro PhD, MRSC, FHEA

Dr Xacobe Cambeiro joined the School of Science at Greenwich in February 2021, when he accepted a position of Senior Lecturer in Chemistry. After graduating with a BSc(Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Santiago de Compostela, in his native Galicia, he moved to Barcelona to work towards his PhD under the supervision of Prof Miquel A. Pericàs. After defending his thesis, he worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ, in Tarragona), Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the University of Manchester. He returned to QMUL to take over his first academic position as a Lecturer in Organic Chemistry, where he stayed until moving to the University of Greenwich.

Dr Cambeiro’s research expertise covers a wide range of areas within the general field of homogeneous catalysis for the development of new methods for organic synthesis. Thus, he has worked on the design of new ligands for asymmetric metal catalysis, catalyst heterogenization using polystyrene resins, continuous flow systems for enantioselective synthesis and new organometallic catalytic systems for C-H activation of arenes using Pd, Au or Ru catalysts. Since recently, Dr Cambeiro leads research programmes on photocatalysis and artificial photosynthesis applied to synthesis, aiming to use visible light as the source of energy to promote chemical reactions. In this area, he has worked on photocatalytic transformations of electron-poor alkenes, including transfer hydrogenation and hydroalkylation. Also, he is developing new catalytic systems capable of using water as an environmentally friendly reagent for reductive transformations of alkenes. He has recently secured a New Horizons grant from EPSRC to fund the latter research programme.

Besides his research activity, Dr Cambeiro was accredited in 2020 as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has extensive experience in teaching organic chemistry in an engaging manner, putting the focus on understanding concepts rather than memorising reactions. Also, Dr Cambeiro has a long-standing interest in improving communication of science to the general public and scientific literacy in general and has participated in a variety of outreach activities.