C-H Fun - Catalytic Functionalisation of Carbon-Hydrogen Bonds using Earth Abundant Main Group Elements

The sustainable synthesis of important molecules, such as those essential to health, food production and materials, is one of modern societies challenges. One efficient strategy for synthesis involves the direct functionalisation of carbon-hydrogen bonds, where new bonds are formed at the expense of only a hydrogen atom. This PhD project will develop new methods for carbon-hydrogen bond functionalisation and address drawbacks with current strategies by avoiding the use of wasteful directing groups, stoichiometric reagents, and, importantly, replacing the use of precious metals with more sustainable, inexpensive main-group elements. These elements, such as boron, are 100,000's times more abundant than precious metals often used in carbon-hydrogen functionalisation reactions. The development of such methodology will have impact in academic and industrial settings. For example, it will allow medicinal chemists, who quest to discover new medicines, to efficiently access new molecules to investigate and treat disease.