A Skeletal Editing Approach to Silicon-Switch Molecules

Heriot-Watt University

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Summary

A fully funded 3.5-year combined synthetic/digital chemistry PhD studentship. The project will be ideally suited to anybody wanting to further develop their synthetic chemistry skills alongside valuable modern techniques including machine learning/AI, automation, and cheminformatics.

Background

Replacing a carbon atom with a silicon atom to develop a new drug molecule is known as a “silicon-switch”, and this approach has been used to increase potency and lifetime in bioactive molecules.1,2 While conceptually simple, to access these molecules is synthetically challenging, with no general way to directly transform a carbon atom to a silicon atom in a molecule. Skeletal editing is an approach that has simplified such transformations, with many examples of single-atom transformations,3-5 yet there is no equivalent reactivity reported for silicon.

This studentship will combine transition metal catalysis and digital chemistry to afford the first carbon-to-silicon skeletal editing reaction. The successful candidate will develop their synthetic chemistry skills, gaining valuable experience in handling air/moisture-sensitive chemicals, and analytical techniques such as NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Alongside this, the successful candidate will be trained in modern digital chemistry techniques (quantum mechanics/DFT, AI/machine learning, and cheminformatics) to accelerate reaction discovery and optimisation. With access to the Continuum Flow Laboratory at Heriot-Watt University, the successful PhD student will be able to gain hands-on experience with flow and automation technologies.

For informal inquiries, please contact Dr Dominic Willcox (). 

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