Welcome to the Voskuhl group.....

The Voskuhl group

The Voskuhl group, established in autumn 2015 at the University of Duisburg-Essen, is interested in luminescence phenomena. The research focus, in this regards, lays on the investigation of novel emitters for materials science as well as biomedical imaging. Here the influence of aggregation phenomena on the photophysical properties plays a crucial role and is investigated in detail. To this end, the research of the Voskuhl group can be regarded as interdisciplinary, working between different disciplines such as organic chemistry, physics, medicine, biology as well as materials science.

Topics for PhD theses

Currently there are no open PhD positions available. If you qualify for external funding via a scholarship, please contact Prof. Dr.  Jens Voskuhl.

Potential topics for bachelor (BA) and master (MA) theses

If you are interested in one of the following topics, please contact Jens Voskuhl.

1.  Novel luminophores based on rigidified rotors (BA)

2.  Phosphorescent materials obtained by photocyclisations (BA)

Postdoctoral positions

Currently there are no open PostDoc positions available. If you qualify for external funding via a scholarship (e.g. Humboldt, Marie Curie…), please contact Jens Voskuhl.

News

18th December 2025 Christmas Party 2025

As the last official part of the year, we, the groups Voskuhl, Giese and Hirschhäuser, celebrated our annual Christmas party. It was a successful year and a great party. Thanks to everyone for your never ending support and your hard work!

16th December 2025 New Publication

© 2025 The Authors. ChemPhotoChem

Alex publication about substituted phenoxazines was accepted in ChemPhotoChem. Here he was able to show that variations of functional groups attached to a phenyl-rotor are able to influence the favored state of emission - Congrats to everyone involved!

Link to Publication

16th December 2025 New Publication

© 2025 The Authors. Organic Chemistry Frontiers

Another publication of Alex was just published in Org. Chem. Front.. Here he investigated the influence of sequential methylation of phenoxazines to modulate their photophysical performance - Well done.

Link to Publication

31th October 2025 New Bachelor's Student

We are happy, that Johanna is joining our group to write her bachelor thesis. Her topic will be about new emissive carbazole-dibenzochalcogenophene conjugates - Good luck

27th October 2025 New Publication

© 2025 The Authors. Chemical Communications

Marco, Sid and Rick published their shared work on novel dibenzochalcogenophenes in Chemical Communications. In this study they were able to show not only, that these compounds have impressive photophysical properties, but also their ability to produce singlet oxygen. Congrat everyone.

Link to Publication

6th October 2025 New PhDs

We are happy and super excited to welcome three new PhD students. Murat will work on novel luminescent photoswitches, Ben is interested in triptycenes and Jana will focus on small molecular emitters. Good luck for the upcoming years!

29th September 2025 New Publication

© 2025 The Authors. ChemPlusChem

Kevin, Lea and Sid published a new paper in ChemPlusChem about luminescenct amphiphiles based on our developed Cyanostyryl-guanidiniocarbonyl-pyrrole binding motif. Here they investigated the self-assembly properties, the 2+2 cycloaddition and the cellular uptake. Congrats everyone!

Link to Publication

2nd September 2025 New Review Published

© 2025 The Authors. Chem. Eur. J.

Marco, Lea and Jan published a comprehensive review about small luminescent dibenzochalcogenophenes in Chem. Eur. J.  - Congrats everyone!

Link to Publication

10th July 2025 PhD finished

Matthias finished successfully his PhD about novel GCP ligands with aggregation-induced emission properties for protein recognition. Congrats and all the best for the future!

10th July 2025 New Publication

© 2025 The Authors. Chemical Science

Alex and Tobi published their work on the influence of steric pressure in emissive systems in the renowned journal Chemical Science. Congrats!

Link to Publication