Associate Professor

Francesca Cardona graduated in Chemistry in 1995 and took the PhD in Chemical Science in 1998 at the University of Firenze, Italy, with an experimental Thesis on the “Synthesis and Computational Studies of Glycosidase Inhibitors” under the Supervision of Prof. Alberto Brandi. She spent a 1-year post-doc period in the group of Prof. Vogel, Lausanne, Switzerland, working on aldol reactions on carbohydrate derivatives for the synthesis of glycomimetics. In 2002 she got a position as a Permanent Researcher in Firenze, where she become Associate Professor in 2015. She has won a position as Full Professor in September 2025 at the same University. Her interest span from the stereoselective syntheses of natural
polyhydroxylated alkaloids and other non-natural glycomimetics with therapeutic applications, the development of more environmentally friendly catalytic procedures for the oxidation of organic compounds, to the conversion of key intermediates obtained from renewable source (e.g. cellulose) into high added-value compounds. She recently devoted a great effort in the synthesis and application of iminosugars (nitrogenated carbohydrate derivatives) for the treatment of lysosomal storage disease (Morquio A, Gaucher disease) and neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson). On these studies, she is the author of more than 120 manuscripts, one european patent, 14 chapters on scientific books and one Book of the Royal Society of chemistry (“Transition Metal Catalysis in Aerobic Alcohol Oxidation”, 2015). Awards: 2006: G. Ciamician silver medal awarded the Italian Chemistry Society-Organic Chemistry Division for the best young organic chemist. 2025: Scientific Research Award 2025 for the area of “Organic Chemistry for Life Sciences” awarded by the Chemistry Society-Organic Chemistry Division.