Luís Mafra

Investigador Principal

Perfil biográfico

Luís Mafra is a Principal Researcher at CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, Portugal. He received his PhD in solid-state NMR spectroscopy in 2006 from the University of Aveiro and the Université de Caen (Laboratoire Catalyse et Spectrochimie), France, where he developed high-resolution ¹H CRAMPS NMR techniques and methods to observe quadrupolar nuclei in hybrid materials. He joined CICECO as an Assistant Researcher in 2007. In 2011, as a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (Mainz, Germany), he combined high-resolution solid-state NMR with first-principles GIPAW-DFT calculations to resolve, in silico, how hydration reshapes the crystal packing and NMR signatures of antibiotic drugs. He was appointed Principal Researcher in 2014 through the competitive national "Investigator FCT" programme.
 
His research combines solid-state NMR spectroscopy with computer modelling, from first-principles calculations to machine-learned interatomic potentials, to understand how atomic-scale structure and dynamics govern the function of materials. His research group, SPECKO, applies this approach mainly to CO₂ and other gases confined in nanoporous adsorbents, and also to acid sites in heterogeneous catalysts, molecular packing in pharmaceutical solids and the disruption of bacterial membranes by antimicrobial peptides. SPECKO has recently initiated new projects on the use of AI-driven protein design to create bio-inspired catalysts for CO₂ conversion, and on radical-loaded porous frameworks as hyperpolarisation agents for ultra-low-field MRI. In 2020 he received a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant on surface-enhanced NMR of CO₂ chemisorption, and his group was one of the partners in PANACEA, a Horizon 2020 pan-European solid-state NMR infrastructure.
 
He has published 112 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 6 book chapters, and has given about 50 invited lectures at conferences and research centres worldwide. Since 2010 he has collaborated with industry, including BP and pharmaceutical companies, and he has supervised 16 postdoctoral researchers and 10 PhD students.
 
His distinctions include the Celestino da Costa/Jean Perrin Prize (2006), the António Xavier Prize from Bruker (2009), the honorary title of Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney (2014), the SMS Carbon Capture Award (2024) and the University of Aveiro Researcher Award (2024). He regularly evaluates research proposals for funding agencies in several countries, including the ERC.

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Scopus ID: 8877889600

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1028-8354

 

Interesses científicos

Development of solid-state NMR methods, combined with atomistic modelling and complementary diffraction, spectroscopic and sorption techniques, to understand the structure and dynamics of functional materials.

Solid-state NMR methods and instrumentation. High-resolution ¹H-detected correlation (CRAMPS, fast MAS); multinuclear and multiple-quantum NMR of quadrupolar nuclei; homo- and heteronuclear recoupling; DNP-enhanced and in situ variable-pressure NMR of adsorbed gases with isotopically enriched probes; NMR-derived adsorption isotherms; low-cost 3D-printed probehead parts.

Computational modelling. Atomistic models of crystalline and amorphous materials; periodic DFT and GIPAW calculations of NMR parameters; hybrid-DFT descriptions of chemisorption; grand-canonical Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics of adsorption and guest dynamics; machine-learned interatomic potentials for larger length and time scales; transferable in silico screening workflows on national supercomputers.

Porous adsorbents for CO₂ capture. Amine-functionalised silicas, metal–organic frameworks (e.g. CALF-20), covalent organic frameworks, carbon nitrides (poly(heptazine imides)), polysaccharide aerogels and other bio-derived sorbents, and porous carbons; atomic-scale mechanisms of CO₂ physisorption and chemisorption under pure-gas, mixed-gas, humid and direct-air-capture conditions.

Bio-inspired CO₂ conversion. Robust catalytic amyloids that mimic carbonic anhydrase to convert CO₂ into other products, designed de novo with AI tools (RoseTTAFold, RFdiffusion, AlphaFold3), guided by QM/MM studies of the enzyme mechanism and validated by solid-state NMR and diffraction techniques.

Zeolite acidity and catalysis. Brønsted and Lewis acid sites in tailored zeolites and other porous catalysts; resolving ambiguities of probe-molecule methods (phosphorus probes, pyridine) by cross-validating NMR with IR spectroscopy, inelastic neutron scattering, machine-learned potentials that predict the NMR and IR spectra of adsorbed probes, and catalytic tests.

Pharmaceutical solids. Polymorphism and crystal packing in crystalline and amorphous pharmaceutical molecules and materials by NMR crystallography.

Peptide-membrane interactions. Mechanisms by which antimicrobial peptides disrupt bacterial membranes, combining solid-state NMR with Langmuir monolayers, atomic force microscopy and molecular dynamics.

Hyperpolarisation for MRI. Stable radicals embedded in nanoporous frameworks as Overhauser-DNP contrast agents for ultra-low-field MRI, characterised from microtesla to high field and tested in vivo.

Collaboradores Principais SPECKO

INTERNACIONAIS
- France: François-Xavier Coudert - CNRS and PSL University, Paris; Anne Lesage - CRMN, CNRS / ENS Lyon / Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
- Germany: André Martins - Werner Siemens Imaging Center, University of Tübingen; Michael Fischer - University of Bremen
- Spain: Manuel Souto - CiQUS, University of Santiago de Compostela; Igor Krivtsov - University of Oviedo and Ulm University (Germany); Marina Ilkaeva - University of Oviedo; Armando Maestro - Ikerbasque and University of the Basque Country, San Sebastián
- Italy: Juqin Zeng - Politecnico di Torino and Italian Institute of Technology
- Switzerland: Daniel Pereira - ETH Zurich
- Denmark: Inês C. B. Martins - Department of Pharmacy, University of Copenhagen
- Sweden: Jiayin Yuan - Stockholm University
- Norway: Bjørnar Arstad - SINTEF, Oslo
- Poland: Piotr Paluch and Marta K. Dudek - Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Łódź
- Czech Republic: Mariya Shamzhy - Charles University, Prague
- Iceland: Snorri Sigurdsson - University of Iceland
- USA: Frédéric Mentink-Vigier - National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab), Tallahassee
- Japan: Yusuke Nishiyama - JEOL RESONANCE and RIKEN, Tokyo/Yokohama
- Brazil: Osvaldo N. Oliveira Jr. - São Carlos Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo
 
NACIOANAIS
- Ricardo Vieira - University of Coimbra
- Manuel A. Coimbra - University of Aveiro
- Ana Barros-Timmons - CICECO, University of Aveiro
- Carlos Bornes - CICECO, University of Aveiro

 

Publicações seleccionadas

Čendak, T., Sequeira, L., Sardo, M., Valente, A., Pinto, M. P., Mafra, L., Detecting proton-transfer in CO2 species chemisorbed on amine-modifi ed mesoporous silicas using 13 C NMR chemical shift anisotropy and smart control of amine surface density. Chem. Eur. J., 2018, Accepted.

Mafra, L., Čendak, T., Schneider, S., Wiper, P. V., Pires, J., Gomes, J. R. B., Pinto, M., The structure of chemisorbed CO 2 species in amine-functionalized mesoporous silicas studied by solid-state NMR and computer modeling. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 139 (2017) 389-408.

Wiper, P. V., Amelse, J., Mafra, L., Multinuclear solid-state NMR characterization of the Brønsted/Lewis acid properties in the BP HAMS-1B (H-[B]-ZSM-5) borosilicate molecular sieve using adsorbed TMPO and TBPO probe molecules. J. Catal., 316 (2014) 240-250.

Mafra, L. and Klinowski, J., Advanced solid-state NMR techniques for the study of molecular sieves. In Encyclopedia of Magnetic Resonance, (Eds Harris, R.K. and Wasylishen, R.), Wiley, 2012, (DOI: 10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm1307).

Mafra, L., Santos, S.M., Siegel, R., Alves, I., Paz, F., Dudenko, D. and Spiess, H. W., Packing interactions in hydrated and anhydrous forms of the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin: a solid-state NMR, X-ray diffraction and computer simulation study. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 134 (2012) 71-74.

Sardo, M., Siegel, R., Santos, S. M., Rocha, J., Gomes, J. R. B., Mafra, L., Combining Multinuclear High-Resolution Solid-State MAS NMR and Computational Methods for Resonance Assignment of Glutathione Tripeptide. J. Phys. Chem. A, 116 (2012) 6711-6719.

Siegel, R., Domingues, E., De Sousa, R., Jérôme, F., Morais, C. M., Bion, N., Ferreira, P., Mafra, L., Understanding the high catalytic activity of propylsulfonic acid-functionalized periodic mesoporous benzenesilicas by high-resolution 1H solid-state NMR spectroscopy. J. Mater. Chem., 22 (2012) 7412-7419.

Mafra, L., Siegel, R., Fernandez, C., Schneider, D., Aussenac, F. and Rocha, J., High-resolution 1H homonuclear dipolar recoupling NMR spectra of biological solids at MAS rates up to 67 kHz. J. Magn. Reson., 199 (2009) 111-114.

Research Highlights

Supervisões em Curso

Projectos

A natureza das ligações de carbono e azoto como fator discriminante da origem da matéria orgânica solúvel em água de aerossóis atmosféricos (PTDC/AAG-MAA/2584/2012)

ParticipanteFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Aerossóis atmosféricos; Matéria orgânica solúvel em água; Azoto Orgânico; Fontes de aerossóis orgânicos

A Pan-European Solid-State NMR Infrastructure for Chemistry-Enabling Access (PANACEA)

ParticipanteEuropean Comission
The chemicals industry is one of Europe’s largest manufacturing sectors. Its modernisation relies on the capacity for atomic-level investigation of increasingly complex solid substrates in multifaceted research areas. Advances have been made in the development and use of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, a powe...

Advanced solid-state NMR methods to study CO2 capture mechanisms at variable pressures in nanoporous hybrids (IF/01401/2013/CP1162/CT0012)

CoordenadorFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Compreender os mecanismos de sorção em silicatos de Li e Na usados como sorventes de captura de CO2 nos processos de pré/pós- combustão : estratégias para síntese e RMN do estado sólido. (DRI/INDIA/0518/2020)

CoordenadorFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Captura de CO2; Silicatos de lítio; Propriedades sorventes; RMN do estado sólido

Dadores de gasotransmissores NO e H2S terapêuticos baseados em materiais nanoporosos (PTDC/MED-QUI/28721/2017)

ParticipanteFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Desenvolvimento de Catalisadores ácidos à base de organissílicas mesoporosas periódicas para reacções na presença de àgua (PTDC/QUI-QUI/113678/2009)

ParticipanteFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
materiais mesoporosos catálise heterogénea catalisadores ácidos híbridos orgânicos-inorgânicos

Desenvolvimento de métodos de ressonância magnética nuclear de alta resolução para 1H e aplicações em materiais e moléculas de interesse biológico (PTDC/QUI-QUI/100998/2008)

CoordenadorFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Espectroscopia RMN do estado sólido RMN de alta resolução 1H CRAMPS MAS Ultra-rápido

Desenvolvimento de microdispositivos flexiveis a base de microagulhas de biocimento composito para administracao transdermica de fármacos; (FlexMicroDerm)

ParticipanteFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Desenvolvimento de novos materiais piezoele?tricos baseados em de pepti?deos auto- organizado nanoestruturados (BioPiezo)

ParticipanteFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Especies de CO2 formadas a superficie de materiais porosos para aplicacoes ambientais caracterizadas por RMN de polarizacao nuclear dinamica (GAS2MAT-DNPSENS)

ParticipanteFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Estruturas baseadas em Redes Orgânicas Covalentes para monitorização de poluentes farmacêuticos (Charm)

ParticipanteFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Estruturas metalo-organicas como nanomateriais fotoativos (FOTOMOF)

Coordenador LocalFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Polímeros de coordenação; Aceitantes Perilenodiimida ; Material Fotoactivo Nanoestruturado; Conversão luz-electrões

Estudo da captura de CO2 via pós/pré-combustão industriais sorbentes nanoporosos por RMN do estado sólido a pressão variável (PTDC/QEQ-QAN/6373/2014)

CoordenadorFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
RMN do estado sólido in situ; Captura CO2 e contaminantes a pressão variável; Materiais híbridos inorgânicos-orgânicos; Industrial flue gas streams

High-resolution solid-state NMR and powder diffraction two complementary techniques for the characterization of organic-inorganic hybrid nanomaterials based on metal phosphates (Acção Integrada Luso-Espanhola E-93/08)

CoordenadorOther National

Materiais para Eléctrodos de Baterias de Iões de Lítio Baseados em Redes Metalo-Orgânicas com Actividade Redox; (RedoxMOFs)

ParticipanteFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
A redução da dependência dos combustíveis fósseis é uma das principais preocupações da sociedade moderna. Devido ao seu baixo custo e impacto ambiental, os dispositivos de armazenamento de energia eléctrica estão entre as alternativas mai...

Poliformismo em fármacos: novas evidências por cristalografia de RMN (EXPL/QEQ-QFI/2078/2013)

ParticipanteFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
RMN de estado sólido Polimorfismo de APIs Cristalografia de RMN Polarização dinâmica nuclear

Rationale design of sustainable porous organosilicas for optimal CO2 uptake from biogas (GRACE)

ParticipanteEuropean Comission
Biomethane shows good promise as a fuel for the circular economy, but it is often contaminated with CO2 that must be removed. While this is traditionally done using liquid amine adsorbents, they suffer from chemical instability and high energy costs. The EU-funded GRACE project will help design a new generation of solid sorbents which can lower ...

Redes Metalo-Orgânicas Nanométricas Baseadas em Polifosfonatos de Lantanídeos (PTDC/QUI-QUI/098098/2008)

ParticipanteFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Redes Metalo-Orgânicas Engenharia de Cristais Filmes Fotoluminescentes Catalisadores Heterogéneos

Unveiling CO2 chemisorption mechanisms in solid adsorbents via surface-enhanced ex(in)-situ NMR (NMR4CO2)

CoordenadorEuropean Comission
Reaching a record high of 32.5 gigatonnes in 2017, global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion continue to increase. Adsorption is considered a viable technology to reduce CO2 emissions. Because of its lower regeneration cost, amine-modified porous silica (AMPS) is the most promising CO2-adsorbent material for replacing the decades-old liqu...

Publicações

Silica-Based Porous Adsorbents for Efficient 17α-Ethinylestradiol Removal: Role of Organic Functionalization and Water Matrices

Tiago Morais, Diogo Pereira, Geraldine Sequera, Ana C. Moreira, Marina Ilkaeva, Luís Mafra, Mariana Sardo, Vânia Calisto, Mirtha A. O. Lourenço
2026, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 18, 5.

Step-by-Step Real-Time Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Monitored Protocol for Synthesizing a Nitroxide-Functionalized Periodic Mesoporous Organosilica

Tiago Morais, Satyaki Chatterjee, Mirtha A. O. Lourenço, Mariana Sardo, Ildefonso Marín-Montesinos, Snorri Th. Sigurdsson, Luís Mafra
2026, Chemistry of Materials, 38, 12.

Mesoporous Copper-Based Metal-Organic Framework Flakes as a Promising Platform for Electrosynthesis of Ethylene from Carbon Dioxide

Mitra Bagheri, Mirtha A. O. Lourenço, Micaela Castellino, Silvia Nappini, Felicia Di Costola, Julien K. Dangbegnon, Elena Magnano, Luís Mafra, Fabrizio Pirri, Adriano Sacco, Juqin Zeng
2026, Small Science, 6, 8.

Concentration-Dependent Modes of Melittin-Induced Membrane Destabilization: An Integration of Experimental and Computational Tools

Andrea Chacón Calderón; Pavel Zelenovskii; Márcio Soares; Ellen C. Wrobel; Osvaldo N. Oliveira Jr; Daniel Pereira; Mariana Sardo; Luís Mafra; Ana Barros-Timmons ; Ildefonso Marín-Montesinos
2026, Langmuir.

Crystallinity-Enhanced CO2 Adsorption by Sodium Poly(Heptazine Imide) Frameworks

Ouro, P; Cuevas, A; Liessem, J; Mitoraj, D; Beranek, R; Díaz, E; Ordóñez, S; Marin-Montesinos, I; Pereira, D; Sardo, M; Krivtsov, I; Mafra, L; Ilkaeva, M
2025, CHEMSUSCHEM, 18, 16.

Green Synthesis of MOF-Based Materials for Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide

Bagheri, M; Lourenco, MAO; Dangbegnon, JK; Monti, NBD; Mafra, L; Pirri, F; Zeng, JQ
2025, CHEMSUSCHEM, 18, 2.

Pore structure engineering via hard-template synthesis: unlocking the high oxygen reduction reaction activity and stability of Fe-N@C electrocatalysts

Gianola, G; Lourenco, MAO; Basile, L; Morais, T; Mafra, L; Pirri, C; Specchia, S; Zeng, JQ
2025, NANOSCALE HORIZONS, 10, 9, 1975-1987.

Structural molecular details of the endocytic adaptor protein CALM upon binding with phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate-containing model membranes

Santamaria, A; Pereira, D; Pawar, N; Kelly, BT; Carrascosa-Tejedor, J; Sardo, M; Mafra, L; Fragneto, G; Owen, DJ; Marin-Montesinos, I; Guzmán, E; Zaccai, NR; Maestro, A
2025, COMMUNICATIONS CHEMISTRY, 8, 1.

Deciphering CO2 Adsorption Mechanisms at the Atomic Scale in Cellulose and Chitosan Aerogels

Pereira, D; Lourenco, MAO; Sardo, M; Silvestre, AJD; Marin-Montesinos, I; Mafra, L
2025, ACS APPLIED POLYMER MATERIALS, 7, 19, 12964-12977.

Transforming solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance towards a chemistry-ready technique

Coulon, R; Gajan, D; Papawassiliou, W; Pell, AJ; Schlagnitweit, J; Fayon, F; Florian, P; Massiot, D; Afrough, A; Juhl, DW; Vosegaard, T; Cerofolini, L; Lelli, M; Lucci, M; Luchinat, C; Aspers, RLEG; Gomez, JS; Kentgens, APM; Lambregts, SFH; Wong, YTA; Mafra, L; Marin-Montesinos, I; Rocha, J; Sardo, M; Brath, U; Karlsson, G; Pinon, AC; Schantz, S; Soltésová, M; Bachmann, S; Brown, SP; Iuga, D; Franks, WT; Menakath, A; Frydman, L; Mentink-Vigier, F; Schurko, RW; Grohe, K; Engelke, F; Kempf, J; Purea, A; Reiter, C; Wegner, S; Castro, V; Cobas, C; Jeannerat, D; Seoane, F; Vaz, E; Alvarez, DJ; Leskes, M; De Biasi, F; Pintacuda, G; Lesage, A
2025, SOLID STATE NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE, 140.

Characterisation of pharmaceutical solids combining NMR, X-ray diffraction and computer modelling

In María Angeles Canales (Eds.), Biophysical Techniques in Drug Discovery
Mariana Sardo, Inês Martins, Chiara Vladiskovic, M.Teresa Duarte, João Rocha, Norberto Masciocchi and Luís Mafra
2018, 120-169, Royal Society of Chemistry.
ISBN: 978-1-78262-733-3

Calculation of NMR Tensors

In Yuriy A. Abramov (Eds.), Computational Pharmaceutical Solid State Chemistry
L. Mafra, S. M. Santos, M. Sardo, F. Heather
2016, 287-329, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-118-70074-7

Solid-state NMR applications in the structural elucidation of small molecules

In Cid, M-M and Bravo, J. (Eds.), Structure Elucidation in Organic Chemistry: The Search for the Right Tools
Sardo, M., Rocha, J. and Mafra, L.
2015, Wiley-VCH.
ISBN: 978-3-527-33336-3

Crystalline molecular sieves

In R. K. Harris and R. Wasylishen (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Magnetic Resonance
Mafra, L. and Klinowski, J.
2013, Chichester, John Wiley & Sons.
ISBN: 9780470034590

Advanced solid-state NMR techniques for the study of molecular sieves

In R. K. Harris and R. Wasylishen (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Magnetic Resonance
Mafra, L. and Klinowski, J.
2013, Chichester, John Wiley & Sons.
ISBN: 9780470034590

Structural Characterization of Zeolites by Advanced Solid State NMR Spectroscopic Methods

In Graham A. Webb (Eds.), Annual Reports on NMR Spectroscopy
Luís Mafra, José Alejandro Vidal-Moya, Teresa Blasco
2012, 77, New York, Elsevier.
ISBN: 978-0-12-408097-3

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