Simone Pilon was born in Genova (Italy), where he obtained his BSc degree in Chemistry. He then moved to The Netherlands, where he completed his MSc in molecular design, synthesis and catalysis at the University of Amsterdam. In his final project he worked on the enantioselective total synthesis of Solanoeclepin A, a complex multicyclic natural product, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. H. Hiemstra. Soon after he began his doctoral studies at the Synthetic Organic Chemistry group at the University of Amsterdam under the supervision of Prof. Dr. J. H. van Maarseveen. There he developed and expanded on synthetic methods to obtain mechanically interlocked molecules via covalent templates, an approach which is complementary to the more common strategies based on supramolecular interactions. Currently, he has joined the Noël Research Group as technician.
E-mail: s.pilon@uva.nl