• e-mail: alessandro.soncini@unipd.it
• ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6779-7304
• GOOGLE SCHOLAR: googlescholaraddress
Education:
• 2003: PhD in Theoretical Chemistry, Uni Modena & R.E. (Italy). Superv.: Prof. P. Lazzeretti. Thesis: "Theoretical study of the response properties of molecules in the presence of external electromagnetic fields and intramolecular perturbations".
• 2001: Marie Curie Research Training Scholarship (HPMT-2000-00016) – Uni of Exeter (UK), group of Prof. P. W. Fowler, FRS
• 1999: Laurea in Chimica (cum laude). Chemistry Dpt, Uni Modena & R. E. (Italy). Thesis: "Stabilisation of chiral molecules due to weak nuclear forces". Superv.: Profs. P. Lazzeretti & R. Zanasi
Current Position:
2022-present - Associate Professor, Chemistry Dpt, University of Padova
Previous Positions:
• 2019-2022 Associate Professor & Reader (tenured), School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne (Aus)
• 2019-2022 ARC Future Fellow of the Australian Research Council, University of Melbourne (Aus).
• 2015-2018 Senior Lecturer (tenured), School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne (Aus)
• 2011-2014 Lecturer (tenure-track), School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne (Aus)
• 2009-2010 Researcher at the Institute for Nanoscale Physics and Chemistry (INPAC, Flemish Centre of Excellence), K.U.Leuven, Belgium)
• 2008-2009 Forsker (Researcher), Centre for Theoretical and Computational Chemistry (CTCC, Norwegian Centre of Excellence), University of Oslo (Norway)
• 2006-2007 Franqui Foundation Postdoctoral Mandate, Quantum Chemistry Group, K.U.Leuven (Belgium)
• 2003-2005 Postdoctoral researcher (EU RTN CONTRACT HPRN-CT-2002-00136 'WONDERFULL'), School of Chemistry, University of Exeter (UK)
Major Competitive Research Grants:
($A = Australian Dollars; ARC = Australian Research Council):
• 2021-2024: ARC Discovery Grant Project DP210103208 (A$ 330.000). Extracting the 4f-wavefunction of rare earth magnets from X-ray diffraction. Team: Soncini (lead PI), Overgaard (Uni Aarhus, Denmark). https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/Web/Grant/Grant/DP210103208
• 2018-2022: ARC Future Fellowship FT180100519 (A$ 1.043.000). Computational design of high temperature single molecule magnets Team: Soncini (sole PI) https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/Web/Grant/Grant/FT180100519
• 2017-2021: ARC Discovery Grant DP170100034 (A$ 530.000). Enhancing Lanthanide Single Molecule Magnets
Team: Soncini (lead PI 2020-2021), Boskovic (lead PI 2017-2019), Murray, Mole https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/Web/Grant/Grant/DP170100034
• 2015-2018: ARC Discovery Grant DP150103254 (A$ 443.000). Spin Detection and Control in Molecular Nanomagnets at Surfaces Team: Soncini (lead PI), Affronte (Uni Modena, Italy) https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/Web/Grant/Grant/DP150103254
Representative Publications
[1] K Hymas*, A Soncini*, KR Vignesh, D Chauhan, A Swain, SL Benjamin, D Borah, M Shanmugam, W Wernsdorfer, G Rajaraman, SK Langley, KS Murray*, Discriminating ferrotoroidic from antiferrotoroidic ground states using a 3d quantum spin sensor, npj Quantum Materials 9, 106. Date: 24 Dec 2024. ISSN: 23974648.
[2] MA Dunstan, MJ Giansiracusa, S Calvello, L Sorace, AM Krause-Heuer, A Soncini*, RA Mole*, C Boskovic*, Ab initio-based determination of lanthanoid–radical exchange as visualised by inelastic neutron scattering, Chemical Science 15, 4466. Date: 13 Feb 2024. ISSN: 20416520.
[3] K Hymas, A Soncini*, Triggering single-molecule qubit spin dynamics via non-Abelian geometric phase effects, Phys Chem Chem Phys 25, 32813. Date: 27 Sep 2023. PCCP HOT ARTICLES. Cover Page. ISSN: 14639076.
[4] E Rousset*, M Piccardo, RW Gable, M Massi, L Sorace, A Soncini*, C Boskovic*, Elucidation of LMCT Excited States for Lanthanoid Complexes: A Theoretical and Solid-State Experimental Framework, Inorganic Chemistry 61, 35,14004. Date: 23 Aug 2022. ISSN: 00201669.
[5] A Soncini*, M Piccardo, Ab initio non-covalent crystal field theory for lanthanide complexes: a multiconfigurational non-orthogonal group function approach, Phys Chem Chem Phys, 24, 18915. Date: 08 Jul 2022. ISSN: 14639076.
[6] JM Ashtree, I Borilovic, KR Vignesh, A Swain, SH Hamilton, YL Whyatt, SL Benjamin, W Phonsri, CM Forsyth, W Wernsdorfer, A Soncini*, G Rajaraman*, SK Langley*, KS Murray*, Tuning the ferrotoroidic coupling and magnetic hysteresis in double-triangle complexes Dy3MDy3 via the M linker, Eur J Inorg Chem, 5, 435. Date: 01 Feb 2021. ISSN: 14341948.
[7] C Gao, A Genoni, S Gao, S Jiang*, A Soncini*, J Overgaard*, Observation of the asphericity of 4f-electron density and its relation to the magnetic anisotropy axis in Single-Molecule Magnets, Nature Chemistry 12, 213. Date: 16 Dec 2019. ISSN: 17554330.
[8] S Calvello, M Piccardo, SV Rao, A Soncini*, CERES: An ab initio code dedicated to the calculation of the electronic structure and magnetic properties of Ln complexes. J Comp Chem 39, 328. Date: 5 Mar 2018. ISSN: 01928651.
[9] KR Vignesh, A Soncini*, SK Langley, W Wernsdorfer, KS Murray*, G Rajaraman*, Ferrotoroidic ground state in a heterometallic CrDy6 complex displaying slow magnetic relaxation. Nature Communications 8,1023. Date: 18 Oct 2017. ISSN: 20411723.
[10] S Marocchi*, A Candini, D Klar, W Van den Heuvel, H Huang, F Troiani, V Corradini, R Biagi, V De Renzi, S Klyatskaya, K Kummer, NB Brookes, M Ruben, H Wende, U del Pennino, A Soncini*, M Affronte, V Bellini*, Relay-Like Exchange Mechanism through a Spin Radical between TbPc2 Molecules and Graphene/Ni(111) Substrates, ACS Nano 10, 9353. Date: 25 Oct 2016. ISSN: 19360851.
[11] Alessandro Soncini*, Simone Calvello, Room temperature chiral discrimination in paramagnetic NMR spectroscopy, Physical Review Letters, 2016, vol. 116, p. 163001.
[12] Willem Van den Heuvel, Alessandro Soncini*, NMR chemical shift as analytical derivative of the Helmholtz free energy, The Journal of Chemical Physics, 2013, vol. 138, p. 054113.
[13] Nicholas F. Chilton*, Collison, D., McInnes, E. J. L., Winpenny, R. E. P., Alessandro Soncini*, An electrostatic model for the determination of magnetic anisotropy in dysprosium complexes, Nature Communications, 2013, 4, Article number: 2551.
[14] Willem Van den Heuvel, Alessandro Soncini*, NMR chemical shift in an electronic state with arbitrary degeneracy, Physical Review Letters, 2012, vol. 109, no. 7, 073001.
[15 ] Erik I. Tellgren, Alessandro Soncini*, Trygve Helgaker, Nonperturbative ab initio calculations in strong magnetic fields using London orbitals, The Journal of Chemical Physics, 2008, vol. 129, p. 154114.
[16] Liviu F. Chibotaru, Liviu Ungur, Alessandro Soncini, The origin of nonmagnetic Kramers doublets in the ground state of dysprosium triangles: Evidence for a toroidal magnetic moment, Angewandte Chemie-International Edition, 2008, vol. 47, pp. 4126-4129.