Rate My Professor Tomáš Šolomek

Tomáš Šolomek is an Assistant Professor at the Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences within the Faculty of Science at the University of Amsterdam, where he leads the Šolomek Lab. His research centers on physical-organic chemistry and photochemistry, exploring how the topology and shape of organic molecules influence their optoelectronic properties and reactivity when activated by light. This work integrates state-of-the-art organic synthesis, advanced spectroscopy, and quantum-chemical calculations to develop efficient organic materials for applications in solar energy conversion, catalysis, sensors, biological probes, and drug-delivery systems. Šolomek's group investigates strained molecular structures such as nanohoops, helicenes, and covalent organic cages to understand kinetic pathways, charge separation, and chiroptical phenomena.

Šolomek earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in organic photochemistry from Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia. In 2014, he completed a joint PhD summa cum laude at Masaryk University under Prof. Petr Klán and the University of Fribourg under Prof. Thomas Bally, focusing on reactive intermediates generated by light or heat. He held postdoctoral positions at the University of Basel as an Experientia Foundation fellow and at Northwestern University as an SNSF postdoctoral researcher. In 2017, he launched his independent career as an SNSF Ambizione group leader at the University of Basel, later moving to the University of Bern upon receiving an ERC Starting Grant for the TOPOCLIP project in 2020. He joined the University of Amsterdam in January 2023 as a tenure-track assistant professor. Notable awards include a silver medal at the 36th International Chemistry Olympiad. Key publications include 'Circularly Polarized Luminescence in a Möbius Helicene Carbon Nanohoop' (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2022), 'Electron Hopping and Charge Separation within a Naphthalene-1,4:5,8-bis(dicarboximide) Chiral Covalent Organic Cage' (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2017), 'Searching for Improved Photoreleasing Abilities of Organic Molecules' (Acc. Chem. Res., 2015), and 'Strain-Induced Photochemical Opening of Ferrocene[6]cycloparaphenylene: Uncaging of Fe2+ with Green Light' (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2025). He serves on the scientific board for Chemistry at the Lorentz Center, Universiteit Leiden, and as a board member of the Prievidza Chemical Society.