Our research activities centre on catalysis for molecular synthesis, from catalyst design to reaction discovery and application to desirable targets. We use catalysis and synthesis to address challenges in chemical sustainability, healthcare and energy.
A substantial strand of our research concerns the discovery and study of gold-catalyzed transformations but we are interested in catalysis broadly with active discovery projects with non-precious metals including copper and cobalt, spanning areas from redox neutral, redox active and photoredox catalysis.
Our research is informed by the need for more sustainable and flexible access into new and functional molecular entities, and we look to translate our fundamental reactivity studies into direct applications for end-users.
One of our main areas of interest is in developing reactions, and catalysts that allow for greater control in synthesis, for instance by using different catalyst systems to access divergent pathways from the same starting materials.
Our newly discovered transformations are aimed as tools to rapidly access useful new chemical space relevant to the pharmaceutical and agrochemical sectors.
Focus areas
Novel transformations – efficient new tools for complex molecule synthesis
Catalyst design – aqueous asymmetric catalysis / biocompatible catalysis / bifunctional and stimuli responsive ligands
Functional molecule design – for new molecular applications in drug discovery and organic materials
SynCat Research 