Manganese-catalysed C-H Functionalisation

This collaborative project between the Thomas group and AstraZeneca will develop manganese-catalysed C-H functionalisation reactions for the late-stage diversification of complex molecular architectures. A 3-month placement at AstraZeneca (Macclesfield, UK) form part of the studentship.

This PhD project will develop and demonstrate operationally simple manganese catalysts capable of chemo- and regioselective C-H functionalisation. The catalytically active manganese species will be accessed from bench-stable, commercially available pre-cursors and be used to functionalise arene C-H bonds through a metallation and trapping sequence.

The C-H functionalisation will be demonstrated through site selective C-H borylation, carboxylation and amidation of carbo- and heteroarenes. Highthroughput screening and data analytics will be used to direct catalyst structure and optimisation.