Rate My Professor Sandra Kaabel

Sandra Kaabel serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Materials Science within the School of Chemical Engineering at Aalto University. She was appointed to this five-year fixed-term position in the field of Organic Synthesis Technologies on 1 April 2024, where she leads the Synthesis Technologies research group. Her academic career includes a Doctoral degree in Natural Sciences from Tallinn University of Technology, completed in 2019 under the supervision of Riina Aav and Kari Rissanen. Her doctoral research investigated the synthesis, supramolecular chemistry, and crystallography of macrocyclic organic molecules, with a focus on mechanochemical reactions during the final year. Following her PhD, Kaabel held a postdoctoral researcher position at McGill University in Canada from February 2019 to May 2021. She then returned to Aalto University as a Postdoctoral Researcher, supported by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship and an Academy of Finland Research Fellowship.

Kaabel's research specializations encompass mechanochemistry, crystallography, solid-state enzymatic reactions, and supramolecular chemistry. Her work develops sustainable solvent-free organic synthesis technologies, such as ball milling and extrusion, to process insoluble materials like cellulose and plastics, minimizing environmental impact by reducing solvent use by over 99 percent in certain processes. Key publications include 'Solid-State Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Mixed PET/Cotton Textiles' (ChemSusChem, 2023), 'A Greener Route to Blue: Solid-State Synthesis of Phthalocyanines' (Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2022), 'Mechanochemical Modification of Cellulose Nanocrystals by Tosylation and Nucleophilic Substitution' (Green Chemistry, 2024), 'Chiral hemicucurbit[8]uril as an anion receptor: selectivity to size, shape and charge distribution' (Chemical Science, 2017), and 'Size-Control by Anion Templating in Mechanochemical Synthesis of Hemicucurbiturils in the Solid State' (Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2019). Her scholarly contributions have accumulated 1,197 citations on Google Scholar. In recognition of her achievements, she received the Chem Awards 2022 at Aalto University for successfully transitioning from senior postdoc to junior principal investigator.