Postgraduate research opportunities Computationally-Guided Catalytic Methods for C-C Bond Formation

A fully-funded, industry-linked, PhD Studentship is available in the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry under the collaborative supervision of Dr David M. Lindsay and Professor William J. Kerr. The position is available for a start date from now until October 2024, and is funded in collaboration with world-leading pharmaceutical company, GSK, for a duration of 4 years.

The general interests of the Kerr and Lindsay laboratories cover a broad range of metal-mediated synthetic organic chemistry and, in particular, in the development of new preparative techniques, the creation of asymmetric processes, and the use of these emerging methods in total synthesis programmes.

The available project will explore new methods for directed C-H activation and C-C bond formation, based on a class of iridium(I) complexes developed at Strathclyde, which are state-of-the-art in ortho-C-H activation. Recent work has employed this catalyst class in a limited range of substrates within the proposed transformation. This project will develop a theoretical understanding of the process, including substrate and ligand parameterisation, to design new catalyst systems that will considerably broaden the scope of this process, and allow access to new heterocyclic scaffolds of pharmaceutical interest.

The successful applicant will join an extremely motivated and industrious research team and will receive elevated levels of training in the areas of preparative chemistry, organometallic-based synthesis, reaction mechanism, computational methods, and the associated analytical/spectroscopic requirements.