Dr. HongFei Yin

Prof. Ruben Martin

De Novo Fatty Acid Synthesis from Alkane Feedstocks and CO2

Hongfei grew up in Huludao, China. After finishing his Bachelor degree in Pharmaceutical Engineering (2010), he continued pursuing Master study in Medicinal Chemistry (2013) from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University. In January 2014, he moved to Denmark, joining Prof. Troels Skrydstrup’s group in Aarhus University, as a PhD student. In May 2018, he joined the group of Prof Rubén Martín at ICIQ to work on C-H functionalization of ethers in a collaborative project with the fragrance company Firmenich. Outside the lab, Hongfei enjoys playing badminton, jogging along the beach and tasting the Spanish wine.

From 01/05/2019 to

30/04/2021

FAT FEEDOX - GA 844854

FAT-FEEDOX deals with the development of an innovative and unconventional catalytic de novo approach to fatty acids,
privileged motifs on the manufacture of detergents, soaps, dyes, plastics, agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals, using simple,
available and abundant carbon dioxide (CO2) and alkanes, compounds derived from the crude oil. Specifically, FATFEEDOX will promote a synergistic catalytic C(sp3)–H activation /CO2 insertion event of readily available alkane chemical
feedstocks. The project will offer all the necessary understanding behind the factors influencing both C(sp3)–H activation
and the subsequent CO2 insertion event, thus opening up new horizons in preparative organic chemistry as well as offering
solutions to a social, industrial and academic problem such as the use of multiple chemical feedstocks to produce addedvalue compounds. FAT-FEEDOX will lead to new knowledge in synthetic design, thus providing new logics in retrosynthetic
analysis that will likely attract the interest of both pharmaceutical and industrial laboratories and a significant step-forward for
our circular economy.
This project sits at the interface between the applicant and the supervisor’s background. The applicant has the experience in
C-H functionalization part, which is defined as the first step of this project. The applicant will gain more skills in the CO2
activation from the host group during this fellowship. Therefore, the applicant can contribute his own expertise in part of this
project independently, meanwhile he can learn new techniques from the host, which will benefit back. The fellowship will
develop the applicant’s capacities by providing new laboratory skills, which will broaden his research field. This invaluable
experience will make him more independent and competent for building his future research career.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement 844854

Dual Catalytic Platform for Enabling sp3 a C–H Arylation & Alkylation of Benzamides
Rand, A. W.; Yin, H.; Xu, L.; Giacoboni, J.; Martin-Montero, R.; Romano, C.; Montgomery, J.; Martin, R.
ACS Catal. 2020
DOI: 0.1021/acscatal.0c01318