BrainMap

Mr. Adrian Gainar

Dr

Researcher - INSTITUTUL DE CHIMIE FIZICA - ILIE MURGULESCU

Researcher | Scientific reviewer

I enjoy working as a researcher in various national and international environments. I have expertise in physicochemical analysis/characterization and synthesis of materials (polymers, gels, crystalline pharmaceuticals/ nutraceuticals, liquid crystals), as well as quantum chemistry simulations used for theoretical support. Describing myself as an ambitious and self-motivated individual that is willing to take new reasonable challenges, I consider myself proactive, with a positive can-do attitude, I am self-critical and continuously looking for personal/ professional improvement. From my perspective, I learnt how to work efficiently both independently or in a team of cross-disciplinary scientists. At the same time, I am an ambition-driven, career-oriented person with a strong passion and commitment for science, and permanently strive for finding the optimum solving solutions for bottleneck issues.

Web of Science ResearcherID: not public

Curriculum Vitae (05/04/2026)

Expertise & keywords

Bringing Experiment and Simulation Together in Crystal Structure Prediction Call name:
CA22107 2023 - 2027

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: INSTITUTUL DE CHIMIE FIZICA - ILIE MURGULESCU

Project partners: INSTITUTUL DE CHIMIE FIZICA - ILIE MURGULESCU ()

Affiliation: INSTITUTUL DE CHIMIE FIZICA - ILIE MURGULESCU ()

Project website: https://best-csp.eu/

Abstract:

Through this Action, a set of benchmark compounds will be established through tight collaboration between experimental and computational scientists. The Action will result in a standard against which computational methods can be tested and validated in the future. Moreover, the Action will organise a blind test similar to the computational crystal structure prediction test organised by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, but with a focus on thermodynamics and the prediction of physical properties. The close-knit collaboration will be fostered by educating researchers in both computational and experimental disciplines to secure an optimal synergy between them, will advance the general understanding of crystalline polymorphism, and will facilitate formulation processes dealing with polymorph stability in industry.

ELASTO-PLAST: From Conventional to 2nd Generation Thermoplastic Elastomers Call name:
cod 2018 - 2021

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: KU Leuven

Project partners: KU Leuven (); University of Lille (); CENTEXBEL (); Materia Nova (); ARMINES (); Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Douai (); University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne ()

Affiliation: KU Leuven ()

Project website:

Abstract:

This project aims to familiarize companies with the immense possibilities offered by thermoplastic elastomers for improving the performance and processing of conventional polymers by increasing knowledge of the relationships between the morphology, processing, and properties of thermoplastic elastomer-based materials, and to bring this unique technology (functionalized elastomers, shape memory materials, 3D printing) to companies in the INTERREG FWVL region so that they can fully benefit from it. This integrated and innovative cross-border approach is possible thanks to the complementary skills of the various partners, which cover the entire value chain, from development to the industrial use of thermoplastic elastomers. Cross-border awareness-raising, dissemination, and business support activities are implemented by the consortium and facilitate the transfer of this technology to businesses.

Two-Component Functional OrganOGELs Call name:
cod 2017 - 2019

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: University Paris 6 (Pierre and Marie Curie) - Sorbonne University

Project partners: University Paris 6 (Pierre and Marie Curie) - Sorbonne University (); University of Le Mans (); University of Angers ()

Affiliation: University Paris 6 (Pierre and Marie Curie) - Sorbonne University ()

Project website:

Abstract:

The FOGEL project is linked to the ambition to contribute to a better understanding of the phenomena guiding the structuring process of self-assembled architectures, based on a specific family of donor-acceptor two-component organogels. Organogels constitute a fascinating class of materials prepared through a bottom-up approach. These systems are indeed able to transduce a recognition process occurring at the molecular level, into a macroscopic network of well-defined one-dimensional entangled assemblies. These materials, based on the self-assembly of organic molecules (gelators) in a given solvent, have been subject to intensive studies, which are justified by reasonably simple syntheses of precursors, a good modularity and an easy implementation. While they have been successfully used in various areas, they nevertheless display several downsides that have notably hampered their use in the rapidly expanding field of organic electronics (photonics). Rationalization of the gelation capacity of a given system is extremely delicate; on the other hand, it relies on assemblies that present defects strongly affecting their performance for electronic applications. The impact of various parameters (such as the Acceptor/Donor ratio) on their stability, on the morphology of the resulting microstructures and on their mechanical properties is evaluated in order to optimize their implementation. This allows preliminary studies of their applicability for detection purposes (nitroaromatic compounds, explosives) as well as for charge transport (conductivity).

Identifying lyotropic phases in hydrated lipid-protein mixtures Call name:
cod 2016 - 2017

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: Imperial College London

Project partners: Imperial College London ()

Affiliation: Imperial College London ()

Project website:

Abstract:

Lipid self-assembly is an area of huge current interest, due to the recent awareness that lipid phase structure, dynamics and topology play vital functional roles in many biological processes involving membranes such as drug delivery, spontaneous lipid flip-flop, and non-assisted ion permeation. Examples of complex morphology lipid phase structures are the inverse bicontinuous cubic phases of crystallographic spacegroups Ia3d (G cubic), Im3m (P cubic), and Pn3m (D cubic). It was previously demonstrated that cholesterol is able to stabilise highly curved structures based upon ordered packings of inverse micelles in certain lipid mixtures containing phospholipids and diacylglycerols . It is currently unknown whether cholesterol can be incorporated into inverse bicontinuous cubic phases. If so, this would be a very important novel finding, because it would mean that the elastic properties of the lipid bilayer within such cubic phases can be modulated, potentially opening up the possibility of swelling these structures up to large dimensions without thermal fluctuations destroying the long-range order. Furthermore, for certain lipid compositions it might be possible to obtain lateral segregation into lamellar disordered (Ld) and lamellar ordered (Lo) domains within the cubic phases, leading to an internally patterned structure. The objectives are: (i) Establish suitable commercially available lipid systems, such as phosphatidylethanolamines and their methylated derivatives, which form inverse bicontinuous cubic phases over convenient temperature range (ii) Characterise these phase structures using a combination of lab-based X-ray diffraction and polarising optical microscopy; (iii) Investigate the solubility of cholesterol within these lipid cubic phases; (iv) Determine the effect of hydrostatic pressure on the structure and swelling of these cubic phases using synchrotron high-pressure X-ray diffraction; (v) Carry out pressure-jumps on a 5 millisecond timescale, to study phase transition kinetics using time-resolved synchrotron X-ray diffraction

Molecules, Clusters and Crystals: A Multi-Scale Approach to Understanding Kinetic Pathways in Crystal Nucleation from Solution Call name:
EP/I013563/1 2011 - 2015

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: University of Leeds

Project partners: University of Leeds (); The University of Manchester ()

Affiliation: The University of Manchester ()

Project website: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FI014446%2F1

Abstract:

The process of crystal nucleation from solution requires, as its initial stage, separation of solute and solvent molecules and simultaneous formation of molecular clusters in order to create a new, nano scale, phase which can subsequently grow to become a crystal. Elucidating the fundamental physics and chemistry that govern the structure of this nucleation transition state remains one of the truly unresolved 'grand challenges' of the physical sciences. Individual nucleation events are localised in space but rather infrequent on the time-scale of a molecular vibration making both experimental detection and molecular modelling of the process difficult. In addition to this, available experimental techniques provide data averaged over both time and space so that extracting insights into the nucleation process may only be achieved through a combination of experiment and modelling. A novel approach to this problem is proposed, in which the crystallisation of two related molecular systems in hitherto unprecedented depth is studied, building on established state-of-the-art experimental and computational techniques, but combining these, for the first time, with in situ synchrotron radiation (SR) X-ray scattering and spectroscopy methodologies capable of probing long range and local electronic and geometric structure at molecular resolution. The hypothesis is that, by utilising appropriate experimental conditions, applying these state-of-art time resolved scattering and spectroscopic techniques and building cluster models that are consistent with macroscopic features of the systems studied (crystal morphology, polymorphic form, solution chemistry, crystal growth rates), one can deduce a structural model of a nucleation event from the change in averaged solution structure as a function of increasing solution supersaturation and time. Incisive structural information is expected for every step of the nucleation process: measured molecular scale properties can be used to confront computational predictions at molecular, supra-molecular and solid-state levels, so that the structural and size parameters for the nucleation pathway are revealed.

FILE DESCRIPTION	DOCUMENT
List of research grants as project coordinator or partner team leader
Significant R&D projects for enterprises, as project manager
R&D activities in enterprises
Peer-review activity for international programs/projects