Dr Hennie Valkenier-van Dijk

Hennie Valkenier (also known as Elisabeth van Dijk) studied Chemistry at the University of Groningen (NL) and obtained her PhD from this university in 2011 with a thesis on Molecular Electronics. After a year of teaching in West-Africa, she joined the group of Tony Davis at the University of Bristol as a postdoc to develop transmembrane transporters for chloride.
In 2015, she moved to Brussels where she worked for a year on the functionalisation of gold nanoparticles, before returning to transmembrane transport research as Postdoctoral Researcher (Chargée de Recherches), funded by the FRS-FNRS. In 2018, she has obtained a permanent position as FNRS Research Associate at the Université libre de Bruxelles and has been awarded an ERC starting grant to develop new classes of anion transporters. Since 2025 she is also an inverstigator of the WEL Research Institute.

Supramolecular Chemistry | Transmembrane Transport of Ions | Anion Recognition | Dynamic Covalent Chemistry | Functionalisation of Gold Surfaces and Gold Nanoparticles | Molecular Electronics

See the thematic Ion transport across lipid bilayers

Tuning CH Hydrogen Bond-Based Receptors toward Picomolar Anion Affinity via the Inductive Effect of Distant Substituents
M. Chvojka, D. Madea, H. Valkenier,* V. Sindelar,* Ang. Chem. Int. Ed. 63, e202318261 (2024).

Transmembrane Transport of Phosphate by a Strapped Calix[4]pyrrole
Cataldo A., Norvaisa K., Halgreen L., Bodman S. E., Bartik K., Butler S. J. & Valkenier H., JACS 145(30), 16310-16314 (2023).

Transmembrane transport of copper(I) by imidazole-functionalised calix[4]arenes
Renier N., Reinaud O., Jabin I. & Valkenier H., Chemical Communication 56, 8206-8209 (2020). Download pre-print.

Fluorinated Bambusurils as Highly Effective and Selective Transmembrane Cl−/HCO3− Antiporters
Valkenier H., Akrawi O., Jurček P., Sleziaková K., Lízal T., Bartik K. and Šindelář V., Chem 5(2), 429-444 (2019 - Download pdf).

Cross-conjugation and Quantum Interference: a General Correlation?
H. Valkenier, C. M. Guédon, T. Markussen, K. S. Thygesen, S. J. van der Molen, J. C. Hummelen, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 16, 653-662 (2014) (perspective).

• see all Peer-Reviewed Articles

• Organic Chemistry: reactions and mechanisms (CHIM-H406)