Featured News

Our recent work on the emergence of prebiotic chemistry in the interstellar medium (ISM) has been highlighted on Astrobiology.com, an international outreach platform dedicated to astrobiology and the origins of life. The feature discusses the chemical pathways that may operate in cold‑density regions of space and their relevance for understanding …

Dr. Carla Casadevall, Assistant Professor and Group Leader at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ), visited our group and gave an interesting talk at the University of the Basque Country entitled “Novel molecular and hybrid systems for photocatalytic CO₂ reduction toward compartmentalized …

Emilio J. Cocinero visited the University of La Rioja this Monday to give a seminar related to high‑resolution spectroscopy.

  Our research group attended the 8th Glycobasque Conference, held on October 23rd and 24th at CICbiomaGUNE (Donostia). During the event, Aran Insausti represented the group and delivered an engaging talk entitled “Probing the Role of Water in the Anomeric Axial–Equatorial Distribution of Pyranoses through Rotational Spectroscopy.”

  This Friday, Otger Crehuet presented his thesis defense, concluding years of dedicated research and officially earning his PhD title. Congratulations, Dr. Crehuet, on this remarkable achievement!  

We are pleased to warmly welcome Dr. Jiarui Ma as the newest member of our research group.    

Emilio J. Cocinero and Aran Insausti gave very interesting talks at the XVIII Iberian Joint Meeting on Atomic and Molecular Physics entitled “High-Resolution Spectroscopies for Unravelling Molecular Mechanisms Across Disciplines” and “Evolution of Solute–Water Interactions in Methyl Benzoate–(H₂O)₁₋₅ Clusters by Rotational Spectroscopy,” respectively.          

Aran Insausti has received the Delgado-Barrio Prize at the XVIII Iberian Joint Meeting on Atomic and Molecular Physics (IBER 2025) in Vigo in recognition of his outstanding contributions to atomic and molecular physics as an early-career researcher. The award celebrates scientists under 35 working at Spanish or Portuguese research centres …

The XL Biennial Meeting of the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry took place in Bilbao from June 30 to July 3, 2025, bringing together researchers from across the chemical disciplines. Emilio J. Cocinero served as a member of the organizing committee for the event. In the image below, you can …

We are delighted to welcome Filippo Baroncelli, a PhD student from the University of Bologna, who will be with us for a five-month research visit.                 

  Emilio J. Cocinero was invited to the 20th edition of the Symposium of Young Researchers of Sigma-Aldrich RSEQ, organized in Ciudad Real.

Dr. Yunjie Xu and Dr. Wolfgang Jaeger visited our group a week ago. They gave very interesting talks at the University of the Basque Country. The talk by Dr. Xu was entitled “Chirality Recognition and Solvation of Chiral Molecules: Rotational Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemistry Calculations”, and the talk by Dr. …

Maider Parra presented her phd thesis last Friday obtaining the doctor title. Congratulations for this achievement Dra. Parra!!.

We give a kind welcome to our group to Dr. Pablo Pinacho

Dr. Emilio J. Cocinero went to a visit at King’s College in London to the microwave group of Dr Maria Eugenia Sanz

Dr. Emilio J. Cocinero went to a visit to the QTEC (grupo de quimica teórica y computacional) at the university of Santiago de Compostela and gave a seminar in microwave and laser spectroscopy techniques.

Maider Parra gave a talk at the 26th International Conference on High Resolution Molecular Spectroscopy entittled “Challenging the limits of rotational spectroscopy: gas phase structural elucidation of multiconformational macrolactones”

Maider Parra gave a talk at the XIII Conference of Young Researchers in Atomic and Molecular Physics (J2IFAM 2022) entitled “Challenging the limits of rotational spectroscopy: gas phase structural elucidation of multiconformational macrolactones”. For this talk has been awarded the prize for the best talk of J2IFAM 2022..

Otger Crehuet gave a talk at the XIII Conference of Young Researchers in Atomic and Molecular Physics (J2IFAM 2022) entitled “Astrochemistry, search in the interstellar medium and laboratory detection of bioligically relevant molecules”.

Emilio J. Cocinero gave a talk in the 4th Glycobasque meeting entitled “Fluorination and deoxygenation as chemical tools to study the conformational preferences of hexopyranoses: a journey from gas phase to solution”

Maider Parra presented a poster entitled “Gas phase structural elucidation of multiconformational macrolactones by means of high-resolution rotational spectroscopy. Otger Crehuet gave a talk entitled “Laboratory observation of 4-Oxobutanitrile structure for search in the interstellar medium” In the picture below Maider Parra and Otger Crehuet with the collaborations presented

Emilio J. Cocinero went to a visit at Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay (ISMO) to the laboratoy managed by Pierre Çarçabal. In the picture below Pierre Çarçabal (left) and Emilio Cocinero (right)

The paper The Role of Non‑Covalent Interactions on Cluster Formation: Pentamer, Hexamers and Heptamer of Difluoromethane has been accepted in Angewandte Chemie Journal and considered as “hot paper”. Congratulations!

“Campusa”, the Journal of the University of the Basque Country, has published a press release about the paper “Laboratory Observation of, Astrochemical Search for, and Structure of Elusive Erythrulose in the Interstellar Medium”. Click here to read the publication.      

Our paper “Laboratory Observation of, Astrochemical Search for, and Structure of Elusive Erythrulose in the Interstellar Medium” has been  highlighted as cover in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.  

The Biofisika Fundation has hired Camilla Calabrese as a Senior Researcher and she will continue in our group this year. Congratulations!

Elena R. Alonso wins the Juan de La Cierva Postdoctoral Fellowship and will be in our Group until 2022. Congratulations!  

Rotational spectroscopy provides the most powerful means of identifying molecules of biological interest in the interstellar medium (ISM), but despite their importance, the detection of carbohydrates has remained rather elusive. Here, we present a comprehensive Fourier transform rotational spectroscopic study of elusive erythrulose, a sugar building block likely to be …

Our paper “Conformational impact of aliphatic side chains in local anaesthetics: benzcaine, butamben and isobutamben” has been highlighted by Association ASEVA in July!    

In the past decade, astrochemistry has witnessed an impressive increase in the number of detections of complex organic molecules. Some of these species are of prebiotic interest such as glycolaldehyde, the simplest sugar, or aminoacetonitrile, a possible precursor of glycine. Recently, we have reported the detection of two new nitrogen-bearing …

We studied the impact of the aliphatic side chain in the stability and conformational landscape of the local anaesthetics benzocaine, butamben and isobutamben, combining high resolution rotational spectroscopy in the microwave and millimetre regions and quantum-mechanical calculations. The study reveals the connections between the alkyl chain flexibility and molecular conformations. …

Emilio J. cocinero gave a talk entitled “Unbiased Carbohydrates with atomic resolution: High-resolution spectroscopy” at the 3rd Glycobasque Meeting.

The XII Conference of Young Researchers in Atomic and Molecular Physics took place at the University of the Basque Country from the 3th to the 6th of March, where Camilla Calabrese, Imanol Usabiaga, Elena R. Alonso, Aran Insausti, Maider Parra and Otger Crehuet were part of the Organizing Comittee.

The constitution, configuration, and flexibility of the core sugars of DNA molecules alter their function in diverse roles. Conformational itineraries of the ribofuranosides (fs) have long been known to finely determine rates of processing, yet we also know that, strikingly, semifunctional DNAs containing pyranosides (ps) or other configurations can be …

Maider Parra  wins the UPV/EHU Predoctoral Grant. Congratulations!

Dr. Imanol Usabiaga wins the UPV/EHU Posdoctoral Grant. Congratulations!

Dr. José Elguero and Dr. Ibon Alkorta visited our group a week ago. They gave two amazing talks at the University of the Basque Country entitled “El futuro de la ciencia” (by Dr. Elguero) and “Anion-anion and cation-cation complexes” (by Dr. Alkorta). In the picture bellow, Dr. Alkorta giving his …

Elena R. Alonso, Camilla Calabrese and Imanol Usabiaga attended the JIQ 2019 in Valencia. In the picture bellow, Elena, Camilla and Imanol giving a talk.  

Aitziber Kortajarena visited our group and gave a talk called “Biomolecular nanotechnology: from protein engineering to functional bio-hydrids and materials” at Biofisika Institute. Thank you Aitziber!

Otger Crehuet has been awarded with the FPI grant. Congratulations and welcome to our group!

Aran Insausti and Emilio J. Cocinero have visited Pierre Carçabal at the Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay (ISMO) in order to cooperate with the PIC project. In the picture bellow Emilio, Pierre and Aran (from left to right).

Emilio J. Cocinero will give a talk called “Unravelling bio-structures by high resolution spectroscopies and applications” at the University of Valladolid (UVA) on Friday (October 11). Emilio Cocinero will present several studies on biomolecules (carbohydrates and glycopeptides) and several applications, exploiting an experimental strategy which combines microwave and laser spectroscopies …

Emilio J. Cocinero gave an amazing talk called “Unravelling bio-structures and applications by high resolution spectroscopies: Microwave and Laser spectroscopies” at “Centro de Astrobiología”, in Madrid. In the picture bellow, Emilio J. Cocinero giving his speech:

The next 4th of October, Emilio J. Cocinero will give a talk called “Unravelling bio-structures and applications by high resolution spectroscopies: Microwave and Laser spectroscopies” at “Centro de Astrobiología”, in Madrid. You can watch the talk live clicking on the following link: Click bellow for more information: http://www.cab.inta.es/es/agenda/289/seminario-4-10-2019-unravelling-bio-structures-and-applications-by-high-resolution-spectroscopies-microwave-and-laser-spectrocopies

Bond length alternation is a chemical phenomenon in benzene rings fused to other rings, which has been mainly predicted theoretically. Its physical origin is still not clear and has generated discussion. Here, by using a strategy that combines microwave spectroscopy, custom‐made synthesis and high‐level ab initio calculations, we demonstrate that …

Pierre Çarçabal, from Université Paris Sud, visited the Spectroscopy Group for a week. It was a pleasure!

  Emilio J. Cocinero and Aran Insausti gave a talk at the XXXVII Biennial Meeting of the RSEQ that took place in Donostia.

Understanding the conformational preferences of carbohydrates is crucial to explain the interactions with their biological targets and to improve their use as therapeutic agents. We present experimental data resolving the conformational landscape of the monosaccharide d-lyxose, for which quantum mechanical (QM) calculations offer model-dependent results. This study compares the structural …

Four different hetero-clusters between difluoromethane and water have been observed thanks to the combination of high resolution and sensitivity of modern microwave spectroscopy and accurate screening protocols based on quantum mechanical calculations. The article has been accepted by Angewandte Chemie Journal

Emilio J. Cocinero gave some talks at the University of Newcastle (plenary-talk) and Bologna.