Zoltán Szabó, PhD (Associate Professor, Docent)

I was born in Debrecen, Hungary. I received my master degree in 1985 from Lajos Kossuth University (KLTE), Debrecen, Hungary (now University of Debrecen).

After graduation I was employed by the Hungarian pharmaceutical company, Alkaloida. I started my career as a preparative organic chemist at the Department of Research. My strong interest in NMR spectroscopy developed during my preparative period. I became familiar with a very large scale of one- and two-dimensional NMR methods which are essential in the modern structural investigations.

In 1993, I summarized the most important results of my research in the field of NMR spectroscopy and successfully defended my Ph. D. thesis at the Department of Organic Chemistry, KLTE, Debrecen, Hungary. The title of my Ph.D. dissertation: Structural Investigation of Quinoline and Morphine derivatives by modern NMR methods (supervisor: Professor Gyula Batta).

After my dissertation, I received a postdoctoral fellowship and spent more than one year at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry, The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden in 1993-94. After a short period at Alkaloida, I returned back to KTH and joined Professor Ingmar Grenthe’s research group in 1996. I started to study the complex formation and the dynamics of ligand exchange reactions in various binary and ternary metal (especially uranium(VI)) complexes in aqueous systems using different analytical techniques, first of all by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. I was appointed to Docent at Inorganic Chemistry in 2001 and became associate professor (universitetslektor) at the Division of Organic Chemistry (Department of Chemistry, KTH) in 2008.

My research interest is focused among others on the followings: (i) multinuclear dynamic NMR investigations of different ligand exchange processes in coordination and organometallic chemistry, (ii) structure elucidation and conformational investigation of inorganic, organometallic and organic compounds by NMR spectroscopy, (iii) development and application of new NMR pulse sequences.

Up to now I am author, co-author of more than 80 peer reviewed scientific papers in international journals, contributed to several technical reports and patents. I have given, contributed to more than 50 lectures, presentations in international conferences.