Former Members

Postdoctoral Fellows

Nicolas Gillaizeau-Simonian (Nov 2024 – Jan 2026)
Joined the team as a postdoctoral researcher to investigate novel aspects of photocatalysis and radical rearrangements.

Hemender Chand (2023–2025)
Joined the research group as a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow, working on the total synthesis of bioactive macromolecules as well as the development of asymmetric organocatalytic transformations.
Wei-Yang Ma (2020–2023)
Joined the group as a postdoctoral fellow and worked on the development of photocatalytic enantioselective Smiles rearrangements.
Florent Noël (2021–2022)
Joined the group as a postdoctoral fellow and worked on the development of electrochemical cyclization reactions.
Franck Le Vaillant (2020–2021)
Joined the team as a postdoctoral fellow in the SEQENS–CNRS HitCat joint lab, where he worked on photocatalysis. He is currently a Senior Scientist at Iktos, a French drug discovery startup.
Thibaut Courant (2018–2020)
Joined the group as a postdoctoral fellow and was involved in the development of methodologies based on photoredox catalysis, electrochemistry, and tritylium catalysis. He is now a web developer in Rennes.
Clément Adubert (2019)
Joined the group as a postdoctoral researcher and worked on photocatalysis as well as enantioselective organocatalysis. He is now working at PMC Isochem, a French fine chemicals company.
Jérémy Mérad (2017–2018)
Worked on photoredox catalysis and asymmetric organocatalysis during his postdoctoral studies in the group. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Claude Bernard University Lyon 1.
Loïc Pantaine (2017)
Worked as a postdoctoral researcher in collaboration with Dr. Christophe Bour (Université Paris-Saclay, ICMMO) on the combination of gold catalysis and photocatalysis. After postdoctoral positions in the US and the UK, he is currently a Senior Scientist at Pharmaron (UK).
Veronica Santacroce (2016–2017)
Worked on photoredox catalysis during her postdoctoral fellowship in the group. She is now a Global Packaging Innovation Specialist in the food industry.
Ludovic Marciasini (2015)
Joined the group as a postdoctoral fellow and worked on the total synthesis of Martinellic acid. He is currently a Senior R&D Scientist at Sicannor, a French company specialized in organometallic chemistry and synthetic intermediates (Douchy-les-Mines).
Guillaume Dagousset (2013–2014)
Joined the group as a postdoctoral fellow and worked on the development of photoredox-catalyzed reactions of enecarbamates. He is currently a CNRS Research Scientist (“Chargé de Recherche”) at BioCIS, Institut Lavoisier de Versailles (Université Paris-Saclay).
Antti Kataja (2013–2014)
Worked as a postdoctoral fellow on the synthesis and applications of novel chiral hypervalent iodine catalysts. He is now an R&D Chemist at Fermion Oy, a pharmaceutical company in Finland.
He Long (2011–2013)
Worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the group. He is currently an Assistant Professor at China West Normal University.
Aurélien Alix (2012)
Joined the group as a postdoctoral fellow and worked on enantioselective organocatalyzed α-bromination of enamides. He is currently an Associate Professor (“Maître de Conférences”) at ICMMO, Orsay (Université Paris-Saclay).
Claudia Lalli (2010–2012)
Joined the group as a postdoctoral fellow and worked on enantioselective organocatalyzed α-amination and α-bromination of enamides. Since October 2012, she has been a CNRS Research Scientist (“Chargée de Recherche”) at ISC Rennes.

PhD Students

Emma Naulin (2022–2025)
Completed his PhD in the group working on several projects, including enantioselective synthesis, electrochemistry, and metal-catalyzed reactions. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Kappe group (Austria).

Emeric Montinho-Inacio (2022–2025)
Completed his PhD in the group working on the development of novel photocatalysts and Truce–Smiles rearrangements. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Pucheault group at the University of Bordeaux.
Hugo Pierre (2022–2025)
Completed his PhD in the LabCom HitCat at SEQENS (Porcheville), working on the enantioselective synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
Aurélien Brion (2021–2024)
Completed his PhD on the total synthesis of natural products and asymmetric organocatalyzed cycloadditions. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Durham University in the group of Dr. Allegra Franchino.
Matteo Leone (2021–2024)
Completed his PhD on photocatalyzed reactions, supported by the PhotoReAct project. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Maurizio Fagnoni’s group (Photogreen Lab, Pavia, Italy).
Damien Bouchet (2020–2024)
Completed his PhD on asymmetric organocatalyzed cycloadditions and photocatalytic dearomatization of indoles. He started a postdoctoral position at AstraZeneca (Sweden) in 2024.
Marine Lombard (2019–2022)
Completed her PhD under the supervision of Dr. Luc Neuville, focusing on catalyzed synthesis of triarylmethanes and chiral phosphoric acid–mediated cycloadditions. She then pursued a career as a chemistry teacher.
Wei-Yang Ma (2019-2023)

Completed his PhD in the group, focusing on asymmetric organocatalysis with an emphasis on cycloaddition reactions.

Thomas Varlet (2018–2021)
Completed his PhD on click-like cyclizations, chiral phosphoric acid–catalyzed cycloadditions, and photoredox chemistry. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Fürstner group at the Max Planck Institute für Kohlenforschung (Germany).
Jiyuan Lyu (2017–2020)
Completed his PhD under the supervision of Géraldine Masson and Prof. Pierre Audoubert (PPSM, ENS Paris-Saclay). His work focused on photoredox chemistry with tetrazines and chiral phosphoric acid–derived organophotocatalysts. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Ming Shang group (Shanghai Research Institute of Chemical Industry, China).
Guillaume Lévitre (2016–2019)
Completed his PhD on photocatalyzed reactions, Brønsted acid catalysis, and hypervalent iodine chemistry. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Gary Molander’s group at the University of Pennsylvania (USA).
Coralie Gélis (2015–2018)
Completed her PhD on Brønsted acid catalysis and hypervalent iodine-mediated enantioselective cyclizations. She then carried out a postdoctoral stay in Prof. Frank Glorius’s group (University of Münster, Germany).
Lucie Jarrige (2014–2018)
Completed her PhD on the synthesis of heterocycles. She is currently a CNRS “Chargée de Recherche” at the OMC in Rennes.
Audrey Dumoulin (2013–2016)
Completed her PhD on phosphoric acid–catalyzed amination of enamides and the design of chiral organoiodanes. She is now working at Oncodesign.
Clément Lebée (2013–2016)
Completed his PhD on enantioselective photooxygenation and epoxidation of enecarbamates catalyzed by Brønsted acids. He is currently working at ANSES.
Aude Carboni (2012–2015)
Completed her PhD on photoredox-catalyzed reactions involving enecarbamates. She is now a primary school teacher near Rennes.
Grégory Laurent (2012–2015)
Completed his PhD on organocatalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions and organocatalyst synthesis. He is now working in the IT sector.
Mathieu Bekkaye (2011–2014)
Completed his PhD on asymmetric α-substitution of imines using oxidative and organocatalytic methods. After a postdoctoral stay in the US, he worked in several chemical companies.
Thibaut Courant (2010-2013)

Completed his PhD in the group on the synthesis of α,β-functionalized amines via photocatalyzed and asymmetric organocatalyzed processes.

Master’s Students / Internships

Timothé Ferasse (2024)

Master’s internship on the development of new chiral phosphoric acids (6-month project).

Camilla Callegari (2024)

Master’s internship focused on photocatalysis of arylazo sulfones.

Lucas Bento dos Santos (2021)

Master’s internship on the total synthesis of fissoldhimine (6-month project).

Didine Biatuma (2020)

Master’s internship on the enantioselective cyclodimerization of cyclic enamines (6-month project).

Aurélie DiJan (2019)

Master’s internship on the synthesis of azaheterocycles via electrochemical methods and introduction of trifluoromethyl groups (6-month project).

Milena Rives (2019)

Master’s internship on photocatalyzed cyclopropylation reactions (5-month project).

Goual Nawel (2018)

Master’s internship on the development of new reactions combining asymmetric organocatalysis and photoredox catalysis.

Dina Boyarskaya (2018)

Master’s internship on C–C and C–N bond formation involving photocatalytic desulfurization processes.

Thomas Varlet (2018)

Master’s internship on access to sulfur-containing heterocycles via organocatalyzed intramolecular hydrothiolation of unactivated alkenes.

Siwar Zaied (2017)

Master’s internship on the synthesis of heterocycles with biological activity.

Tuan Le (2017)

Master’s internship on the development of new organic photocatalysts.

Guillaume Lévitre (2016)

Master’s internship on photocatalyzed reactions using innovative catalysts.

Coralie Gélis (2016)

Master’s internship on enantioselective oxylactonization catalyzed by chiral hypervalent iodine precursors.

Morgan Languet (2015)

Master’s internship on photoredox-catalyzed functionalization of carbamates.

Ghislaine Boudali (2013)

Master’s internship on the enantioselective synthesis of indolo-pyrrolidines via Friedel–Crafts/cycloaddition sequences.

Mathieu Bekkaye (2012)

Master’s internship on rapid access to α-amido sulfides and their use as precursors of N-acylimines in Friedel–Crafts reactions.

Undergraduate, Engineering, and Master 1 Students

Antoine Poussard-Schulz (2017)
Master 1 student (UPMC), 5-month internship.
Adèle Camus (2013)
BTS Chemistry student, 3-month internship.
Morgan Languet (2013)
Master 1 student (UPMC), 6-month internship.
Anne-Clothilde Porot (2013)
Second-year engineering student (ENSC Rennes), 6-month internship.
Adrien Foucquier (2012)
Master 1 student (UPMC), 6-month internship.
Eddy Duboille (2012)
First-year engineering student (ENSC Rennes), 6-month internship.
Fabien Legros (2012)
First-year engineering student (ENSC Rennes), 6-month internship.

Visiting Master’s Students

Daniel Kolb (2021)
Visiting Master’s student from Prof. Burkhard König’s group, working on asymmetric cycloadditions.
Simone Scaringi (2019)
Visiting Master 2 student from the University of Pavia, working on photochemical arylation of styrenes.

Visiting PhD Students

Gabriele Scarica (2024)
Visiting PhD student from Prof. Giovanni Maestri’s group (University of Parma), working on organocatalysis with chiral phosphoric acids.
Marianna Bernardini (2023)
Visiting PhD student from Prof. Lanzalunga’s group (Rome), working on organocatalysis.
Joseph Milton (2023)
Visiting PhD student from Prof. D. Gryko’s group (Poland), working on photocatalysis.
Lorenzo Di Terlizzi (2023–2024)
Visiting PhD student from Prof. Maurizio Fagnoni’s group (Italy), working on photocatalysis.
Vittoria Martini (2023–2024)
Visiting PhD student, working on organocatalysis.
Ihssene Chabour (2019)
Visiting PhD student from the University of Alicante, working on asymmetric synthesis.
Mateja Matišić (2019)
Visiting PhD student from the Ruđer Bošković Institute (Croatia), working on enantioselective synthesis of heterocycles.
Danijel Glavač (2018)
Visiting PhD student through a France–Croatia exchange program, working on catalytic enantioselective cycloadditions.
Matteo Lanzzi (2016)
Visiting PhD student through a France–Italy exchange program, working on photocatalytic activation of C–S bonds.

Visiting Postdoctoral Fellows

Claire Young (2022)
Visiting postdoctoral fellow from the Smith group, working on catalysis.