The view that the ability of molecules to react rests ultimately on their own structural properties has long been dear to chemists. Although the encounter of two molecules triggers unique features which neither molecule possesses alone, the notion that molecules contain all the information necessary to understand their reactivity has proved extremely useful. Our research interests in chemical reactivity focus on rate constants and on their quantitative relation to reaction energies, molecular structure and molecular spectroscopy. We contribute to this field with the Intersecting/Interacting State Model (ISM) and its applications to absolute rate constant calculations in atom, proton and electron transfers.

Chemists have always been intimately associated with the development of new products (active principles) designed to fight against diseases. Our societies invest strongly in medical care and expect that chemists regularly synthesize new and better drugs. Two of the major concerns of our societies are cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Our major contribution to this field was the development of a new family of drugs for the treatment of solid cancers using photodynamic therapy. This family of drugs is patented. Many neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Creutzfeld-Jakob’s and Parkinson’s diseases are triggered by the misfolding of proteins. We are presently carrying out a project aiming at the study of protein folding.