Nicola Della Ca’ graduated in Industrial Chemistry (cum laude) at the University of Parma (Italy) in 2000. In 2002 he started his Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences (University of Parma), mainly working on catalytic carbonylation reactions under the supervision of Prof. Mirco Costa. During the Ph.D. he was visiting scholar in the group of Prof. Richard C. Larock at the Department of Chemistry – Iowa State University. In 2005 he joined the group of Prof. Marta Catellani, contributing to the development of the internationally recognized “Catellani reactions” in the field of palladium-catalyzed reactions. His main research interests concern the synthesis of high value-added compounds via transition metal-catalyzed C-H activation methodologies, carbonylation reactions (CO and substitutes) and CO₂ valorization (Carbon Capture and Utilization, CCU).

Selected publications:

• Closing the Cycle as It Begins: Synthesis of ortho-Iodobiaryls via Catellani Reaction, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202218928.
• Unexpected Stereoselective Access to 2-Aminooxazolines from Propargyl Ureas by Silver Salts under Mild Conditions, Adv. Synth. Catal. 2022, 365, 1 
• Pd-Catalysed oxidative carbonylation of α-amino amides to hydantoins under mild conditions, Chem. Commun. 2022, 58, 294.
• Site-Selective Double and Tetra Cyclization Routes to Fused Polyheterocyclic Structures by Pd-Catalyzed Carbonylation Reactions, Org. Lett. 2020, 22, 1569.
• Synthesis of fluorenyl alcohols via cooperative palladium/norbornene catalysis, Org. Biomol. Chem. 2019, 17, 6165
•  An unprecedented Pd-catalyzed carbonylative route to fused furo[3,4-b]indol-1-ones, Chem. Eur. J 2018, 24, 4835

Selected reviews:

• Advances in visible-light-mediated carbonylative reactions via carbon monoxide (CO) incorporation, Catalysts 2021, 11, 918. 
• Pd/Norbornene: A Winning Combination for Selective Aromatic Functionalization via C−H Bond Activation, Acc. Chem. Res. 2016, 49, 1389.
• Catalytic Sequential Reactions Involving Palladacycle-Directed Aryl Coupling Steps, Acc. Chem. Res. 2008, 41, 1512.