Research at the Institute of Radical Chemistry focuses on compounds carrying unpaired electrons. We master their structure through synthesis, characterization and simulations to access a broad range of applications, from advanced materials to therapeutic uses.
Congratulations to Julie Broggi, researcher in the PCR team, who has been named one of the 2025 Junior Chair laureates of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)! 👏🎉
A well-deserved recognition of the excellence and rigor of her scientific career !!
The #holi of #science_XXelles! Between @giuliamollica and powders, it’s a story of magnets 🧲. To find out more about the career and research of our research director at @cnrs at @IcrUmr7273, @SACS team
Would you like to welcome one of our researchers in class to talk about innovation in chemistry? Contact us or register for the workshops Researcher in class
#chemistry #womeninscience
The second edition of the Explore Festival—co-organized by Aix-Marseille University and CNRS Provence et Corse, in partnership with Inserm—features dozens of fun and interactive scientific activities open to everyone through Sunday. Hervé Clavier and Eric Besson will present their ANR-funded research to the general public at various locations throughout the city.
A big round of applause for the amazing team of volunteers who brought the ICR booth to life at the 2025 Souk des Sciences in Le Muy!
Young and old alike had a blast exploring the vibrant and hands-on chemistry experiments thoughtfully prepared by our budding scientists. A wonderful day filled with curiosity, discovery, and the joy of sharing science!
A divergent synthetic platform for the efficient installation of valuable fluorinated sulfoximine moieties onto olefins and bicycloalkanes has been developed . Mechanistic investigations, and notably spin trapping/EPR experiments performed at the ICR, revealed the key activity of a fluorinated radical that undergoes ATRA or hydrofunctionalization pathways.
After completing a PhD at Durham University in the United Kingdom and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Paris-Saclay, Lea Maria Ibele joined the ICR for her research in theoretical photochemistry. She tells us more about her background, her motivations for applying to the CNRS, and her outlook for the coming years. Read the interview conducted by the CNRS by clicking here :
Allosteric stiffening of a portion of a protein surface is a strategy used in nature to regulate protein oligomerization and provide crucial functions for cells. However, a similar strategy to selectively control part of a compound dynamics remains elusive. Here we showed that macrocyclic hosts can remotely rigidify part of a molecule, implying that this part need not be included inside a macrocycle to be stiffened. In particular, multiple binding by synthetic hosts CB[7] and CB[8] can selectively rigidify fragments of a tetratopic molecule in water causing a gradual stiffening from the periphery to the core. This suggests that protein dynamics (and so function) could be tuned by targeted multiple external binding.
Despite the development of various controlled release systems for antitumor therapies, off-target side effects remain a persistent challenge. In situ therapeutic synthesis from biocompatible substances offers a safer and more precise alternative. This study presents a hypoxia-initiated supramolecular free radical system capable of inducing intracellular polymerization, thereby disrupting the cytoskeleton and organelles within 4T1 cells. The system utilizes a 2:1 supramolecular host–guest complex of cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) and perylene diimide derivative (PDI), termed PDI+2CB[7], which is selectively reduced by the tumor’s hypoxic and reducing environment to generate delocalized free radical anions initiating free radical polymerization with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) inside the 4T1 cells. The resulting in situ polymerization significantly disrupts tumor metabolism, leading to a strong antitumor response without systemic toxicity and without conventional chemotherapeutic agents.
The discovery of a stable organic radical formed under mild, clean, and efficient light-mediated conditions is reported. The structure of the stable acridinium-based radical photoproduct was unambiguously established by several techniques. This unique aromatic radical is featured by amphoteric redox behavior and π-dimerization properties in water and in the less studied perfluorohexane, two solvents of opposite polarity enabling to propose a solvophobic behavior in perfluorocarbon.
The CROPS team of the ICR would like to thank the Roger PELLENC Foundation for supporting its research activities in the field of lithium metal batteries in 2024. The donation of a glove box (MBraun) allows us to assemble “all-solid” lithium batteries, protected from humidity and in an argon atmosphere.
