My research interests combine the field of Coordination Chemistry with four major fields: Magnetism, Materials Science, Bioinorganic Chemistry and Medicine, for the synthesis of transition metal complexes with relevant magnetic properties for future application in memory, gas sensing and battery technologies for climate change resilience, and the synthesis of anticancer therapies.
Dr. Piñero Cruz is a former student of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus. She obtained her doctoral degree in 2009 with a thesis titled: “Coordination Chemistry of Fe-Pyrazole/ate Complexes Based on the Study of their Structural, Electrochemical, Magnetic and Spectroscopic Properties”, mentored by Raphael G. Raptis. As a student, she had the opportunity of becoming an invited researcher at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, to work at the Radiation Laboratories on the “Mechanistic and Energetic Aspects of the Thermal and Photochemical Redox Chemistry of the Octanuclear Cubane Complexes, FeIII8(μ4-O4) (pyrazolate)12X4 (X = Cl or Br)” through a collaboration with Guillermo Ferraudi. She obtained a thesis dissertation award from the National Science Foundation that founded three visits to the Institute of Material Science in Demokritos, Greece, for conducting “Mössbauer Spectroscopic Studies of Redox-Active Fe4O4-Cubanes” with the training and supervision of Yiannis Sanakis.
In June 2009 Dr. Pinero joined the ‘Groupe de Sciences Moléculaires: Matériaux Photo-, Piézo-, Thermo-sensibles’ at the ‘Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux’, France, as a postdoctoral fellow from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. She worked under the supervision of Corine Mathonière on the project of “Multi-Shell Magnétiques Nanoparticules de Coordination (MS MGNP)” while collaborating with Rodolphe Clérac from the Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, Pessac, on the “Synthesis of pyridine-based ligands for magnetic studies of cyanide linked transition metal complexes capable of undergoing photo-induced electron transfer processes”. Thereafter, she joined the MaCSE Group at the University of Rennes, France, to work on the synthesis and magnetic properties of “Nickel-Dithiolene Complexes as Metallo-Ligands” under the supervision of Marc Fourmigué. Lastly, she joined the University of Bordeaux as an adjunct assistant professor and worked as a researcher at the Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, on the “Synthesis of Single Molecule Magnets from polyamines spyder-like building blocks”. In 2014 she was hired as an assistant professor of the Chemistry Department at the UPR-RP where she has started a research laboratory group on Coordination Chemistry.
Dr. Piñero Cruz is the director of two research facilities: the UPR Molecular Sciences Research Center’s Single Crystal X-ray Diffraction Facility and the newly created UPR’s Center for Resilience to Climate Change.
Recent Publications
2025
– Cruz Lozada, J. A.; Rosario, R. A.; Flores, S. Y.; Kisslinger, K.; Fonseca, L. F.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M. High-Sensitivity NO₂ Gas Sensor: Exploiting UV-Enhanced Recovery in a Hexadecafluorinated Iron Phthalocyanine-Reduced Graphene Oxide. ACS Omega 2025, 10 (3), 2809–2818.
– Hou, W.; Araujo-Correa, A. E.; Qiu, S.; Otero, C.; Acosta-Tejada, Y. D.; Feliz-Hernández, L. N.; González-Nieves, K.; Morell, G.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M.; Wu, X. Electrochemical Studies of Metal Phthalocyanines as Alternative Cathodes for Aqueous Zinc Batteries in “Water-in-Salt” Electrolytes. Batteries 2025, 11 (3), 88.
– Metzler, C. L.; Flores, S. Y.; Cruz Lozada, J. A.; González, J. C.; Suárez Schmidt, S.; Barrionuevo, D.; Feng, P.; Otaño, W.; Fonseca, L. F.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M. Gas Sensitivity Improvements of Nanowire Hexadecafluorinated Iron Phthalocyanines by Thermal Vacuum Annealing. Chemosensors 2025, 13 (3), 95.
– Ullah, I.; Chang, S.; Hou, W.; Valle‐Perez, A. D.; Du, X.; Katiyar, S.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M.; Cunci, L.; Morell, G.; Wu, X. Concentrated Chloride Electrolytes Enable High‐Efficiency, Long‐Cycling, and Dendrite‐Free Aqueous Trivalent Antimony Batteries. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2025, 64 (19), e202502279.
– Flores, S. Y.; Pacheco, E.; Malca, C.; Peng, X.; Chen, Y.; Zhou, B.; Piñero, D. M.; Díaz-Vázquez, L. M.; Zhou, A. F.; Feng, P. X. Highly Selective Room-Temperature Blue LED-Enhanced NO₂ Gas Sensors Based on ZnO-MoS₂-TiO₂ Heterostructures. Sensors 2025, 25 (6), 1781.
– Mendoza-Morales, W. O.; Rodríguez, E.; González, A.; Ramos, Z.; Acosta-Mercado, J.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M.; Ospina, C. A.; Meléndez, E.; Hernández-O’Farrill, E. Synthesis, Structure, Electrochemistry, and In Vitro Anticancer and Anti-Migratory Activities of (Z)- and (E)-2-Substituted-3-Ferrocene-Acrylonitrile Hybrids and Their Derivatives. Molecules2025, 30 (13), 2835.
– Acosta-Mercado, J.; Oliveras-Alsina, A.; Marcano-Maiz, A. I.; Rivera-Torres, A. P.; Cordero-Giménez, K. T.; Malavez-Cajigas, S.; Bayro, M. J.; Ramos-Benitez, M. J.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M. Evaluating Naphthalene-Modified Metallosalen Complexes as Anticancer Agents. J. Med. Chem. 2025, 68 (14), 14300–14311.
– Ullah, I.; Qiu, S.; Chang, S.; Hou, W.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M.; Morell, G.; Wu, J.; Chen, Z.; Wu, X. Revealing the Micro‐Size Effect in Alloy Anodes for High‐Capacity and Long‐Cycling Sulfide‐Based Solid‐State Batteries. Small 2025, e2504481.
2024
– Otero-Vélez, C.; Flores, S. Y.; Fonseca, L. F.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M. Palladium Phthalocyanine Nanowire-Based Highly Sensitive Sensors for NO₂(g) Detection. Sensors 2024, 24, 1819.
– Rivera-Reyes, J. O.; Billings, K. J.; Metzler, C. L.; Lagle, R. M.; Drabo, M.; Palai, R.; Jones, J.-P.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M. Surface Modified Copper Foam with Cobalt Phthalocyanine Carbon Nanotube Hybrids for Tuning CO₂ Reduction Reaction Products. Chem. Commun. 2024, 60, 7551–7554.
– Cruz, D. M. P.; Fonseca, L. F.; González-Espiet, J. C.; Flores-Chalco, S. Y.; Díaz-Rivera, R. E.; Cintrón-Cruz, J. A. Metal Phthalocyanine-Based Nanowire Devices and Methods of Preparation and Use Thereof. U.S. Patent App. 2024, 18/431,932.
2023
– Rivera-Reyes, J. O.; Soto-Pérez, J.; Sepúlveda-Pagán, M.; Lu, L.; Borrero-Negrón, J.; Luna-Ramírez, A. V.; Trinidad-Pérez, P.; Pagán-Torres, Y.; Chen, Z.; Cabrera, C. R.; West, W. C.; Jones, J.-P.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M. New Platinum Complexes from Salen- and Hydroxy-Substituted Salpn-Naphthalene Ligands with CO₂ Reduction Activity. Catalysts2023, 13, 911.
– Nogué-Guzmán, V. C.; Burgos-Suazo, A.; Rivera-Reyes, J. O.; Montes-Quiñones, V. P.; Ramis-Aybar, P. C.; Burgos-Jiménez, A. C.; González-Nieves, K.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M. New Copper Carboxylate Pyrene Dimers: Synthesis, Crystal Structure, Hirshfeld Surface Analysis and Electrochemical Characterization. Acta Cryst. E 2023, 80, 9.
– Camino, F. E.; Rúa, A.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M.; Nieto-Fernández, F. E.; Pérez, A.; Kisslinger, K.; Yang, J. C. Remote Operation of Instruments for Education and Research. Microsc. Microanal. 2023, 29 (S1), 2902–2903.
2022
-Fonseca, L. F.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M.; González-Espiet, J. C.; Flores-Chalco, S. Y.; Díaz-Rivera, R. E.; Cintrón-Cruz, J. A. Fluorinated Iron and Cobalt Phthalocyanine Nanowire Chemiresistors for Environmental Gas Monitoring at Parts-per-Billion Levels. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2022, 5 (2), 1765–1775.
2020
– Méndez, B.; Reyes, J.; Conde, I.; Ramos, Z.; Lozada, E.; Cruz, A. M.; Asencio, G.; Carvajal, A.; Dharmawardhane, S.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M. Simalikalactone D, a Potential Anticancer Compound from Simarouba tulae, an Endemic Plant of Puerto Rico. Plants 2020, 9 (1), 93.
– González-Espiet, J. C.; Cintrón-Cruz, J. A.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M. Structural Characterization and Hirshfeld Surface Analysis of 2-Iodo-4-(Pentafluoro-λ⁶-Sulfanyl)benzonitrile. Acta Cryst. E 2020, 76, 231–234.
– González-Nieves, K.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M. Crystal Structure of a Nickel Compound Comprising Two Nickel(II) Complexes with Different Ligand Environments: [Ni(tren)(H₂O)₂]Ni(H₂O)₆₂. Acta Cryst. E 2020, 76, 314–317.
– Suárez, D. M.; Colón, J. A. M.; García-Mercado, W.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M.; Bailón-Ruiz, S. J. Potential Bactericidal Activity of Silver Nanoparticles. MRS Adv. 2020, 5 (44), 2283–2292.
– Riascos-Rodríguez, K.; Marks, S.; Evans, P. G.; Hernández-Rivera, S. P.; Ruiz-Caballero, J. L.; Piñero, D.; Hernández-Maldonado, A. J. Lithium Functionalization Promoted by Amide-Containing Ligands of a Cu(pzdc)(pia) Porous Coordination Polymer for CO₂ Adsorption Enhancement. Cryst. Growth Des. 2020, 20 (12), 7596–7606.
– Delgado Rivera, S. M.; González-Espiet, J. C.; Dones, J. M.; Henríquez López, S. A.; Guadalupe, A. R.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M.; Montes González, I. Crystal Structure of 1-Ferrocenyl-2-(4-Nitrophenyl)ethyne. Acta Cryst. E 2020, 76, 1403–1406.
– Cordero-Giménez, K. T.; Soto-Díaz, V.; González-Espiet, J. C.; Lavín-Flores, A.; Bas-Concepción, J.; Rivera-Cruz, K.; Rodríguez-Ayala, D.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M. Crystal Structure, Hirshfeld Surface Analysis and Spectroscopic Characterization of the Di-Enol Tautomeric Form of the Compound 3,3′-[(2-Sulfanylidene-1,3-Dithiole-4,5-Diyl)Bis(Sulfanediyl)]Bis(Pentane-2,4-Dione). Acta Cryst. E 2020, 76, 1427–1432.
– Calimano, J.; Li, F.; Florián, J.; Piñero-Cruz, D. M.; Fielitz, T. R.; Holmes, R. J.; Ciszek, J. W. Solid-State Properties and Spectroscopic Analysis of Thin-Film TPBi. J. Phys. Chem. C 2020, 124 (43), 23716–23723.
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