PhD Scholarship: Sustainable methods for the synthesis of bioactive compounds through machine...

Three years PhD scholarship including a stipend in line with UKRI rate (starting at £15,609 on the first year) and tuition fees at home student level (Generally applied to UK long term residents and Irish nationals, as well as some other cases. You can find more information here ). International students may apply, but tuition fees are covered by the scholarship only at home level. Thus, international candidates would need to prove ability to cover the difference (ca. £12,000 p.a.).

Research. The student will apply a combined experimental and computational approach to develop new photocatalytic reactions for organic synthesis based on the selective activation of sp3 C-H bonds.

C-H functionalisation methods offer an invaluable opportunity for the design of streamlined, more efficient and environmentally benign syntheses by using ubiquitous C-H bonds as reactive handles for the coupling of organic molecules. Photocatalytic C-H functionalisation of alkanes via hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) catalysis has recently emerged as a powerful strategy for the discovery of new reactions. However, such methods are severely limited by the difficulty in obtaining selective activation of a specific C-H bond in the presence of many others, frequently with only subtle steric and electronic differences.

We will address this issue by using machine learning for the construction of predictive models for the design of new catalysts. Experimental study of such catalysts will provide further knowledge on the chemistry involved, which we will feed back into the computational model. We will apply this strategy initially to the development of an oxidative alkylation of pyridine derivatives with O2 as the terminal oxidant, which we will subsequently apply to the synthesis of valuable pyridine-containing bioactive molecules.

Training. The student will receive multidisciplinary training in synthesis, photocatalysis, computational chemistry, machine learning and 3D printing of photoreactors, developing a uniquely diverse set of skills of high value for their future career. Also, they will learn to use analytical instruments such as NMR, GCMS and UHPLC as well as electrochemistry equipment.

Environment. The student will join a vibrant and diverse team of postgraduate students and postdocs working in the “Synthetic and medicinal chemistry research group” at the School of Science. The team includes researchers working in photochemistry, electrochemistry and flow chemistry systems as well as more traditional synthetic methods, with collaboration, discussion and exchange of ideas actively encouraged. We value diversity and act appropriately to ensure every group member feels valued and respected, regardless their background. Our labs are sited at the University of Greenwich dedicated Science and Engineering campus at Medway (Kent), just over 30 min by train from central London or 45 min from historic Greenwich with the university-operated bus service (heavily subsidised for students). The project will be jointly supervised by Dr Xacobe C. Cambeiro and Dr Jiayun Pang, who combine expertise in organic synthesis, the discovery of new reactions, photocatalysis, computational chemistry and machine learning.