Dr. Valentina Gombac

Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of Trieste
via L. Giorgieri 1
34127 Trieste (ITALY)

tel. +39 040 558 3980
fax. +39 040 558 3903
e-mail: vgombac@units.it

Curriculum Vitae
Valentina Gombac was born in 1966, she obtained the degree in Chemistry at the University of Trieste in 1992. From 1993 to 2001 she worked as researcher in Area Science Park of Trieste initially at Polybios in the field of physico-chemical characterization of polysaccharides from renewable sources an then at Polytech S.c.r.l., a research and development company and CRO (Contract Research Organisation) active in innovative research in the chemical, pharmaceutical and agroindustrial sectors and in the valorisation of natural products, chiefly polysaccharides. From 2002 to 2004 she had two fellowships in the 2001 and 2002 PRIN at Chemistry Department of University of Trieste (Organic Chemistry first in "Synthesis, reactivity and kinetic resolution of chiral racemic polysubstituted g-lactones and g-lactams", second in "Design, synthesis and reactivity of acyclic and cyclic systems derived from enamines and enolates with electrofilic olefins"). From 2005 she has Assegno di ricerca (post-doc) position in Inorganic Chemistry.
Her more recent scientific interests are in the technological application of material science and heterogeneous catalysis to the solution of environmental problems, such as the design and development of innovative materials for photocatalytical applications and the design of new catalysts for the production and purification of hydrogen to be used in fuel cells. She is co-author of 10 publications on international journals, 1 book chapter, 3 patents and 17 communications to national and internationals meetings.

Selected Publications
1. V. Gombac, L. Sordelli, T. Montini, J. J. Delgado, A. Adamski, G. Adami, M. Cargnello, S. Bernal and P. Fornasiero, “CuOx-TiO2 Photocatalysts for H2 Production from Ethanol and Glycerol Solutions.”, The Journal of Physical Chemistry A 114 (2010), 3916-3925, doi:10.1021/jp907242q.
2. V. Gombac, T. Montini, S. Polizzi, J. J. Delgado, A. Hameed and P. Fornasiero, “Photocatalytic Production of Hydrogen over Tailored Cu-Embedded TiO2.”, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Letters 1 (2009), 128-133, doi:10.1166/nnl.2009.1017.
3. A. Hameed, T. Montini, V. Gombac and P. Fornasiero, “Surface Phases and Photocatalytic Activity Correlation of Bi2O3/Bi2O4-x Nanocomposite.”, Journal of the American Chemical Society 130 (2008), 9658-9659, doi:10.1021/ja803603y.
4. M. Fittipaldi, V. Gombac, T. Montini, P. Fornasiero and M. Graziani, “A high-frequency (95 GHz) Electron Paramagnetic Resonance study of B-doped TiO2 photocatalysts.”, Inorganica Chimica Acta 361 (2008), 3980-3987, doi:10.1016/j.ica.2008.03.052.
5. M. Bettinelli, V. Dallacasa, D. Falcomer, P. Fornasiero, V. Gombac, T. Montini, L. Romanò and A. Speghini, "Photocatalytic activity of TiO2 doped with boron and vanadium.", Journal of Hazardous Materials 146 (2007) 529-534.
6. V. Gombac, L. De Rogatis, A. Gasparotto, G. Vicario, T. Montini, D. Barreca, G. Balducci, P. Fornasiero, E. Tondello and M. Graziani, "TiO2 nanopowders doped with boron and nitrogen for photocatalytic applications.", Chemical Physics 339 (2007) 111-123.
7. F. Felluga, V. Gombac, G. Pitacco, E. Valentin, E. Zangrando, S. Morganti, E. Rizzato, D. Spinelli and G. Petrillo, "Condensed 2-pyrrolidinone-1,2-oxazines from lithium enolate of 1-benzyl-5-oxo-3-pyrrolidinecarboxylic acid and b-aryl, b-nitroenamines.", Tetrahedron 62 (2006) 8787-8791.
8. F. Felluga, V. Gombac, G. Pitacco and E. Valentin, "Biotransformation in the synthesis of 2-pyrrolidinones and 2-pyrrolinones.", (2005). (Book chapter)
9. F. Felluga, V. Gombac, M. Pavan, G. Pitacco and E. Valentin, "A chemoenzymatic synthesis of optically active aza analogues of Quercus lactones.", Tetrahedron: Asymmetry 15 (2004) 69-76.
10. L. Navarini, R. Gilli, V. Gombac, A. Abatangelo, M. Bosco and R. Toffanin, "Polysaccharides from hot water extracts of roasted Coffea Arabica beans: isolation and characterization.", Carbohydrate Polymers 40 (1999) 71-81.