Supramolecular Approaches to Drug Design and Delivery

This project will develop small organic and metal-organic molecules in which we can engineer specific non-covalent interactions to control how these molecules can interface with their surroundings through non-covalent interactions. We aim to apply this knowledge to gain real-time control of the solubility of our molecules. Learning to control this fundamental property will allow us to control the cellular uptake and biodistribution of small, functional molecules in order to design new therapeutics and diagnostics that can be delivered to a particular site in order to function. We will also incorporate our new molecular designs into the controlled construction of functional amphiphiles that can self-assemble into water-compatible aggregates that disassemble in response to stimuli that triggers a medicinal function.

The student will carry out novel organic and inorganic synthesis. This will be followed by fundamental studies to identify and quantify inter- and intramolecular non-covalent interactions in solution and in the solid state, both experimentally and computationally. The effect of these interactions on the solubility and partitioning preferences of molecules in hydrophilic/ hydrophobic solvent mixtures will be established. Conditions under which the non-covalent interactions formed are dynamic and can be controlled via external stimuli will be identified, and the effect of these stimuli on the drug-like properties of the molecule will be determined.

This is a multidisciplinary project that will provide opportunities to work at the interface of chemistry with biological and materials sciences and to collaborate with other researchers in these areas at UCL and further afield. The project fits within the Synthetic Supramolecular Chemistry and Synthetic coordination chemistry research areas. The scientific goals of the project are in line with the Ambitions laid out by EPSRC within Healthy Nation Outcomes: H3: Optimise diagnosis and and H4: Develop future therapeutic technologies.