Nina D. Berova

Nina D. Berova

Summary

Dr. Nina Berova received her PhD from University of Sofia, Bulgaria and later on she was appointed a Professor in Organic Chemistry and Stereochemistry at the same University as well as at the Institute of Organic Chemistry (IOC) to Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. During 1980-ties she conducted extensive stereochemical analysis of optically active compounds by chiroptical methods, specifically, by Electronic Circular Dichroism (ECD) and established the first research laboratory in Bulgaria based on this technology.

During this period Dr. Berova carried out also collaborative studies as Visiting Scholar at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany in the group of Prof. G. Snatzke, a renowned expert and scientific leader on ECD in Europe.
From 1989 she continued her work at Columbia University, New York, first as a Visiting Professor, and few years later as a Research Professor at the Department of Chemistry. By joining the group of Prof. Koji Nakanishi, and in close collaboration with him, she found new great opportunities to continue and expand her interests in structural analysis of vast diversity natural products, synthetic bioactive compounds and biopolymers by modern chiroptical methods.

Her more recent research on natural and synthetic porphyrin derivatives, as well biopolymer porphyrin-conjugates led to development of new chiroptical sensors and microscale methodologies. Dr. Berova received many scholarships and visiting professorships from England, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, as well from other countries in Europe and Asia. For her studies on molecular and supramolecular chirality she received several prestigious awards, among them, a Chirality Gold Medal (2007) and honors such as induction in 2012 as Honorary Member of Italian Chemical Society. From 1998 to 2018 she served with Prof. John Caldwell as a co-editor of Journal “Chirality, while since 2019- present she is the journal Editor-in-Chief.

Dr. Berova has co-edited and a co-authored two monographs “Circular Dichroism: Principles and Applications” (1994) & 2000), and two-volumes monograph entitled “Comprehensive Chiroptical Spectroscopy” (2012) published by John Wiley & Sons. She has also published ca.250 original scientific papers and review articles.

Harada ,N. ; Petrovic, A.G.; Berova, N. “Spectroscopic Analysis: Exciton Circular Dichroism for Chiral Analysis.” in: Comprehensive Chirality, Ch. 10.24, pp 452-483, 2nd Edition, Ed. J. Cossy, 2024 Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Absolute configuration of seco-eudesmanolide inuloxin D from experimental and predicted chiroptical studies of its 4-O-acetyl derivative, Johnson, J.L.; Santoro, E.; Zatout, R.;Petrovich, A.G.; Cummino, A.;Superchi, S.; Evidente , A.; Polavarapu, P. Chirality , 2021 , 33, 233-241

The Enduring Legacy of Koji Nakanishi’s Research on Bioorganic Chemistry and Natural Products. Part 1: Isolation, Structure Determination and Mode of Action, Ellestad, A.; Zask, A.; Berova, N. Chirality, 2020, 32:632-651; 10.1002/chir.23214

Complexation of Chiral Zinc(II)Porphyrin Tweezer with Achiral Aliphatic Diamines Revisited: Molecular Dynamics, Electronic CD and 1H NMR analysis, Saha, B; Petrovic, A; Dhamija, A; Berova, N.; Rath, S.  Inorg. Chem. 2019, 58, 11420-11438

Structure and Electronic Circular Dichroism of Chiral Porphyrins and Chiral Porphyrin Dimers, Balaz, M.; Joh, Y.A.: Varga,K.: Berova,N.; Purrello, R.; D’Urso, A. Handbook of Porphyrin Science, Edit, K.M. Kadish, K.M. Smith, R. Guilard, Vol.45, Ch. 217, pp 205-284, 2019, World Sci.Publishing

Pimarane diterpenes: natural source, stereochemical configuration and biological activity, Reveglia,P.; Cimmino,A.; Masi, M.; Nocera, P.; Berova, N.; Ellestad, G.; Evidente, A. Chirality, 2018, 30, 1115-1134.

Absolute configurations of chiral molecules with multiple stereogenic centers without prior knowledge of the relative configurations: A case study of inuloxin C, Johnson, J. L.; Raghavan, V.; Cimmino, A. Moeini,, A.;Petrovic, A.G.; Santoro, E.; Superchi , S.;Berova, N.;  Evidente, A.; Polavarapu, P.L., Chirality, 2018, 30, 1206-1214

A Helicene Nanoribbon with Greatly Amplified Chirality, Schuster, N. J.; Sánchez, R.H.; Bukharina, D.; Kotov, N.A.; Berova, Ng, F.; Steigerwald, M. L.; Nuckolls, C., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018 (in press)

Structure and Electronic Circular Dichroism of Chiral Porphyrins and Chiral Porphyrin Dimers Balaz, M.; Joh Y.; , Varga, K.; Berova, N.; Purrello, R.;  A. D’Urso, Handbook of Porphyrin Science, 2018  (in press)

A novel porphyrin-based molecular probe ZnTCPPSpm4 with catalytic, stabilizing and chiroptical diagnostic power toward DNA B-Z transition, Gangemi, C.M.A; D’urso, A.; Tomaselli, G.A.; Berova, N.; Purrello, R., Inorg.Biochem., 2017, 173, 141-143.

Circular Dichroism Analysis of the Calicheamicin-DNA Interactions Revisited, Proni, G.; Tami, C.; Berova, N.; Ellestad, G., J Pharmaceutical & Biomedical. Analysis, 2017, 144, 1-5.

Complexation of Chiral Zinc-Porphyrin Tweezer with Achiral Diamines: Induction and Two-Step Inversion of Interporphyrin Helicity Monitored by ECD, Saha, B.; Ikabal, S.A.; Petrovic, A.; Berova, N.; Rath, S.P. Inorg. Chem. 2017, 56, 3849-3860

Configurationally Stable Chiral Dithia-Bridged Hetero[4]helicene Radical Cation: Electronic Structure and Absolute Configuration,  Gliemann, B.D; Petrovic, A.G.; . Zolnhofer,E.M.; Dral, P.O.; Hample, F.; Breitenbruch, G.; Schulze, P.; Raghavan V.;  Meyer, K.; Polavarapu, P.L.; Berova N.; Kivala, M., Chem. -Asian J. 2017, 31-35.

Increased duplex stabilization in porphyrin-LNA zipper arrays with structure dependent exciton coupling, Singleton, D G.; Hussain, R.; Siligardi, G.; Kumar, P.; Hrdlicka, P. J.; Berova, N.; Stulz, E. Org. Biomol. Chem., 2016, 14, 149-157.

Absolute configurations of phytotoxic inuloxins B and C based on experimental and computational analysis of chiroptical propertie, M. Evidente , E. Santoro, A.G. Petrovic, A. Cimmino, J. Koshoubu, A. Evidente, N. Berova, S. Superchi, Phytochemistry, 2016,130,328-334.

Effect of different Z-inducers on the stabilization of Z portion in BZ-DNA sequence. Correlation between experimental and simulation data, Pietropaolo , A.; D’Urso, A.; Purrello, R.; Berova, N. Chirality, 2015, 27, 773-778.

Application of Electronic Circular Dichroism in the Study of Supramolecular System, Pescitelli, G.; Di Bari, L.; Berova, N. Chem. Soc. Rev. (Tutorial Review), 2014, 5211-5233.

Absolute Stereochemistry of 4a-Hydroxyriboflavin Analogue of the Key Intermediate of FAD-Monooxygenase Cycle, Iwahana, S.; Iida, H,; Yashima, E.; Pescitelli, G.; Di Bari, L.; Petrovic, A.G.; Berova, N. Chemistry-Eur. J. 2014, 20, 4386-4395.