Dr. Hornillos has built a notable career in diverse areas of chemistry, including organometallic chemistry, the development of synthetic methodologies, ligand design, fluorescent labeling, and particularly in asymmetric catalysis and cross-coupling chemistry.
Dr. Hornillos began his scientific career at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) from 2002 to 2004, where he worked on the synthesis of metallodendrimers based on N-heterocyclic carbenes and pincer complexes, exploring their applications in catalysis. This work resulted in six publications. In 2004, after being awarded a PFI fellowship, he joined the Institute of Physical Chemistry "Rocasolano" (IQFR) at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Madrid to pursue his PhD. His doctoral research focused on the design and synthesis of complex lipid drugs incorporating reactive and fluorescent groups while preserving their therapeutic activity. This work presented numerous challenges in synthetic chemistry and provided him with a strong foundation in fluorescence spectroscopy. His PhD research led to 14 publications (one as corresponding author) and a patent. He also spent five months at Novartis in Vienna, which resulted in an additional publication. Dr. Hornillos earned his PhD in 2009, graduating with the highest distinction ("Excellent cum Laude").
Following his PhD, Dr. Hornillos was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education (MEC) and joined the group of Prof. Ben L. Feringa (Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016) at the University of Groningen. There, he specialized in asymmetric metal-catalysis, working on allylic substitution, conjugate addition, borylation, and cross-coupling reactions. Among his notable achievements during this period were the development of the first Cu-catalyzed enantioselective coupling between two allyl groups (JACS, 2013), the first asymmetric synthesis of phosphine boronates (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2015), and a Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling method (Nat. Commun., 2016).
In 2013, Dr. Hornillos was appointed senior researcher at the University of Groningen, resulting in five publications as corresponding author in high-impact journals such as ACS Catalysis, Organic Letters, Chemistry – A European Journal, Nature Communications, and Angewandte Chemie International Edition. In 2015, he secured the highly competitive Talent Hub Fellowship (€152,685) and moved to the Institute of Chemical Research (IIQ, CSIC) in Seville. In May 2018, he was awarded a Ramón y Cajal contract at the University of Seville (US), where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2024.
Dr. Hornillos has been involved in 14 research projects, including four international collaborations, and has received six fellowships, including a FPI predoctoral grant, a MEC postdoctoral grant, the Talent Hub Fellowship, and the Ramón y Cajal contract. His research output includes 65 publications in top-tier international journals, such as Nature Communications (1), Nature Protocols (1), Nature Cell Death and Disease (1), Journal of Controlled Release (1), Journal of the American Chemical Society (3), Angewandte Chemie International Edition (6), Chemical Science (3), ACS Catalysis (3), Chemistry – A European Journal (6), Organic Letters (5), and Chemical Communications (4), with 20 as first author and 19 as corresponding author. He is also the author of three reviews, two book chapters, and one patent, which has been licensed to BIOFTALMIK.
According to SCOPUS, Dr. Hornillos has an h-index of 29 and has accumulated more than 2000 citations. He has presented 37 communications (26 international), 15 of which were oral presentations (including two invited talks). Dr. Hornillos is an active reviewer, with 58 peer-review records since 2018 for journals such as Organic Letters (24), ACS Catalysis (8), Angewandte Chemie International Edition (13), Nature Communications (3), Nature Catalysis, Chem Catalysis (2), Advanced science (2), ChemCatChem (2) and Journal of Organic Chemistry (2), among others. He has also evaluated three projects for ANECA and one for the French National Research Agency (ANR).
Dr. Hornillos has built a notable career in diverse areas of chemistry, including organometallic chemistry, the development of synthetic methodologies, ligand design, fluorescent labeling, and particularly in asymmetric catalysis and cross-coupling chemistry.
Dr. Hornillos began his scientific career at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) from 2002 to 2004, where he worked on the synthesis of metallodendrimers based on N-heterocyclic carbenes and pincer complexes, exploring their applications in catalysis. This work resulted in six publications. In 2004, after being awarded a PFI fellowship, he joined the Institute of Physical Chemistry "Rocasolano" (IQFR) at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Madrid to pursue his PhD. His doctoral research focused on the design and synthesis of complex lipid drugs incorporating reactive and fluorescent groups while preserving their therapeutic activity. This work presented numerous challenges in synthetic chemistry and provided him with a strong foundation in fluorescence spectroscopy. His PhD research led to 14 publications (one as corresponding author) and a patent. He also spent five months at Novartis in Vienna, which resulted in an additional publication. Dr. Hornillos earned his PhD in 2009, graduating with the highest distinction ("Excellent cum Laude").
Following his PhD, Dr. Hornillos was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education (MEC) and joined the group of Prof. Ben L. Feringa (Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016) at the University of Groningen. There, he specialized in asymmetric metal-catalysis, working on allylic substitution, conjugate addition, borylation, and cross-coupling reactions. Among his notable achievements during this period were the development of the first Cu-catalyzed enantioselective coupling between two allyl groups (JACS, 2013), the first asymmetric synthesis of phosphine boronates (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2015), and a Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling method (Nat. Commun., 2016).
In 2013, Dr. Hornillos was appointed senior researcher at the University of Groningen, resulting in five publications as corresponding author in high-impact journals such as ACS Catalysis, Organic Letters, Chemistry – A European Journal, Nature Communications, and Angewandte Chemie International Edition. In 2015, he secured the highly competitive Talent Hub Fellowship (€152,685) and moved to the Institute of Chemical Research (IIQ, CSIC) in Seville. In May 2018, he was awarded a Ramón y Cajal contract at the University of Seville (US), where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2024.
Dr. Hornillos has been involved in 14 research projects, including four international collaborations, and has received six fellowships, including a FPI predoctoral grant, a MEC postdoctoral grant, the Talent Hub Fellowship, and the Ramón y Cajal contract. His research output includes 65 publications in top-tier international journals, such as Nature Communications (1), Nature Protocols (1), Nature Cell Death and Disease (1), Journal of Controlled Release (1), Journal of the American Chemical Society (3), Angewandte Chemie International Edition (6), Chemical Science (3), ACS Catalysis (3), Chemistry – A European Journal (6), Organic Letters (5), and Chemical Communications (4), with 20 as first author and 19 as corresponding author. He is also the author of three reviews, two book chapters, and one patent, which has been licensed to BIOFTALMIK.
According to SCOPUS, Dr. Hornillos has an h-index of 29 and has accumulated more than 2000 citations. He has presented 37 communications (26 international), 15 of which were oral presentations (including two invited talks). Dr. Hornillos is an active reviewer, with 58 peer-review records since 2018 for journals such as Organic Letters (24), ACS Catalysis (8), Angewandte Chemie International Edition (13), Nature Communications (3), Nature Catalysis, Chem Catalysis (2), Advanced science (2), ChemCatChem (2) and Journal of Organic Chemistry (2), among others. He has also evaluated three projects for ANECA and one for the French National Research Agency (ANR).
