Wrocław University of Science and Technology Faculty of Chemistry
HUCKEL.PLTheoretical Photochemistry Lab

THEORETICAL PHOTOCHEMISTRY LAB

Rafał Szabla, Ph.D.

Rafał Szabla, Ph.D.

Rafał Szabla completed his M.Sc. at Wrocław University of Science and Technology in 2012 and his Ph.D. in biomolecular chemistry at Masaryk University in 2017. His doctoral research was co-supervised by Robert W. Góra. His collaboration with the group concerned molecular mechanisms of prebiotic reactions and the photochemistry of nucleic-acid building blocks.

Doctoral thesis

Origin of Life Theory: Study of Prebiotically Plausible Photochemical Reactions.

Masaryk University, 2017. Supervisor: Jiří Šponer. Co-supervisor: Robert W. Góra.

Title page and English abstract (PDF, 2 pages)

The full thesis is available on request through private correspondence. Please contact Robert W. Góra by email to request a copy.

Shared publications

  1. Mikołaj Janicki, Rafał Szabla, Robert Góra. Fotoreaktywność związków heterocyklicznych w warunkach zmieniającego się otoczenia chemicznego w świetle chemii obliczeniowej. Wiadomości Chemiczne, 2023, 77, 995-1014.
  2. Mikołaj J. Janicki, Rafał Szabla, Jiří Šponer, Robert W. Góra. Photoinduced water–chromophore electron transfer causes formation of guanosine photodamage. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2022, 24, 8217-8224.
  3. Mikołaj J. Janicki, Corinna L. Kufner, Zoe R. Todd, Seohyun C. Kim, Derek K. O’Flaherty, Jack W. Szostak, Jiří Šponer, Robert W. Góra, Dimitar D. Sasselov, Rafał Szabla. Ribose Alters the Photochemical Properties of the Nucleobase in Thionated Nucleosides. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2021, 12, 6707-6713.
  4. Jianfeng Xu, Václav Chmela, Nicholas J. Green, David A. Russell, Mikołaj J. Janicki, Robert W. Góra, Rafał Szabla, Andrew D. Bond, John D. Sutherland. Selective prebiotic formation of RNA pyrimidine and DNA purine nucleosides. Nature, 2020, 582, 60-66.
  5. Kinga E. Szkaradek, Petr Stadlbauer, Jiří Šponer, Robert W. Góra, Rafał Szabla. UV-induced hydrogen transfer in DNA base pairs promoted by dark nπ* states. Chemical Communications, 2020.
  6. Mikołaj J. Janicki, Rafał Szabla, Jiří Šponer, Robert W. Góra. Electron-driven proton transfer enables nonradiative photodeactivation in microhydrated 2-aminoimidazole. Faraday Discussions, 2018, 212, 345-358.
  7. Mikołaj J. Janicki, Samuel J. Roberts, Jiří Šponer, Matthew W. Powner, Robert W. Góra, Rafał Szabla. Photostability of oxazoline RNA-precursors in UV-rich prebiotic environments. Chemical Communications, 2018, 54, 13407-13410.
  8. Mikołaj J. Janicki, Rafał Szabla, Jiří Šponer, Robert W. Góra. Solvation effects alter the photochemistry of 2-thiocytosine. 2018.
  9. Rafał Szabla, Holger Kruse, Jiří Šponer, Robert W. Góra. Water–chromophore electron transfer determines the photochemistry of cytosine and cytidine. 2017.
  10. Jianfeng Xu, Maria Tsanakopoulou, Christopher J. Magnani, Rafał Szabla, Judit E. Šponer, Jiří Šponer, Robert W. Góra, John D. Sutherland. A prebiotically plausible synthesis of pyrimidine β-ribonucleosides and their phosphate derivatives involving photoanomerization. Nature Chemistry, 2016, 9, 303-309.
  11. Rafal Szabla, Robert Władysław Góra, Mikołaj Janicki, Jiri Sponer. Photorelaxation of Imidazole and Adenine via Electron-Driven Proton Transfer Along H2O Wires. 2016.
  12. Judit E. Šponer, Rafał Szabla, Robert W. Góra, A. Marco Saitta, Fabio Pietrucci, Franz Saija, Ernesto Di Mauro, Raffaele Saladino, Martin Ferus, Svatopluk Civiš, Jiří Šponer. Prebiotic synthesis of nucleic acids and their building blocks at the atomic level – merging models and mechanisms from advanced computations and experiments. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2016, 18, 20047-20066.
  13. Rafał Szabla, Robert W. Góra, Jiří Šponer. Ultrafast excited-state dynamics of isocytosine. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2016, 18, 20208-20218.
  14. Rafał Szabla, Jiří Šponer, Robert W. Góra. Electron-Driven Proton Transfer Along H 2 O Wires Enables Photorelaxation of πσ* States in Chromophore–Water Clusters. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2015, 6, 1467-1471.
  15. Rafał Szabla, Jesús Campos, Judit E. Šponer, Jiří Šponer, Robert W. Góra, John D. Sutherland. Excited-state hydrogen atom abstraction initiates the photochemistry of β-2′-deoxycytidine. Chemical Science, 2015, 6, 2035-2043.
  16. Rafał Szabla, Robert W. Góra, Jiří Šponer, Judit E. Šponer. Molecular Mechanism of Diaminomaleonitrile to Diaminofumaronitrile Photoisomerization: An Intermediate Step in the Prebiotic Formation of Purine Nucleobases. Chemistry – A European Journal, 2014, 20, 2515-2521.
  17. Rafał Szabla, Judit E. Šponer, Jiří Šponer, Andrzej L. Sobolewski, Robert W. Góra. Solvent effects on the photochemistry of 4-aminoimidazole-5-carbonitrile, a prebiotically plausible precursor of purines. 2014.
  18. Rafał Szabla, Deniz Tuna, Robert W. Góra, Jiří Šponer, Andrzej L. Sobolewski, Wolfgang Domcke. Photochemistry of 2-Aminooxazole, a Hypothetical Prebiotic Precursor of RNA Nucleotides. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2013, 4, 2785-2788.
  19. Rafał Szabla, Judit E. Šponer, Jiří Šponer, Robert W. Góra. Theoretical studies of the mechanism of 2-aminooxazole formation under prebiotically plausible conditions. 2013.