Sustainable Catalysis for Alkene C-H Activation and Functionalisation at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com

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Prof Stephen Thomas No more applications being accepted Funded PhD Project (UK Students Only)

Edinburgh United Kingdom Industrial Chemistry Inorganic Chemistry Organic Chemistry Synthetic Chemistry

About the Project

Project Summary

This exciting collaboration between the Thomas group, Garden group and Johnson Matthey will develop sustainable catalysis for alkene C-H activation reactions with direct relevance to kilotonne industrial processes. The focus of the PhD will be fundamental organometallic reactivity and catalysis with an overarching goal of translating this to sustainable industrial catalysis for alkene functionalisation. A 3-month placement at Johnson Matthey is expected to form part of the studentship.

Application and Questions

Please direct informal enquiries (accompanied by a CV) and applications (cover letter, CV and details of two referees) to: Stephen Thomas, [Email Address Removed] or Jennifer Garden, [Email Address Removed].

Closing date

The position will remain open until 09 July 2021, however the position will be filled before this for a suitable candidate. Therefore early application is encouraged.

Equality and Diversity

The School of Chemistry holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. The University is a member of the Race Equality Charter and is a Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champion, actively promoting LGBT equality. The University has a range of initiatives to support a family friendly working environment. See our University Initiatives website for further information. University Initiatives website: https://www.ed.ac.uk/equality-diversity/help-advice/family-friendly

Related work from the Thomas and Garden groups

Activation and Discovery of Earth-Abundant Metal Catalysts Using Sodium tert-Butoxide. J. H. Docherty, J. Peng, A. P. Dominey, S. P. Thomas, Nature Chem. 2017, 9, 595-600..

Manganese-Catalysed Hydrofunctionlization of Alkenes. J. R. Carney, B. R. Dillon, L. Campbell, S. P. Thomas. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 10620-10624.

Iron-Catalysed C(sp²)-H Borylation Enabled by Carboxylate Activation. L. Britton, J. H. Docherty, A. P. Dominey, S. P. Thomas Molecules 2020, 25, 905.

Combining Alkali Metals and Zinc to Harness Heterometallic Cooperativity in Cyclic Ester Ring-Opening Polymerisation. W. Gruszka, A. Lykkeberg, G. S. Nichol, M. P. Shaver, A. Buchard, J. A. Garden. Chem. Sci. 2021, 11, 11785.

Cooperative Heterometallic Catalysts for Lactide Ring-Opening Polymerization: Combining Aluminum with Divalent Metals. A. J. Gaston, Z. Greindl, C. A. Morrison, J. A. Garden. Inorg. Chem., 2021, 60, 2294.

Advances in heterometallic ring-opening (co)polymerisation catalysis. W. Gruszka, J. A. Garden. Nat. Commun. 2021, 12, 3252.

Funding Notes

A PhD studentship is available in the groups of Dr Stephen Thomas and Dr Jennifer Garden (School of Chemistry, The University of Edinburgh; http://www.thomas.chem.ed.ac.uk/ and https://www.gardengroupchemistry.com/). This fully-funded studentship is in collaboration with Johnson Matthey, Stockton-On-Tees, UK, and is funded for 42 months. The PhD will be aligned to the EaSI-CAT PhD programme (www.criticat.co.uk/) which will ensure broad chemistry and soft skills training. Funding covers tuition fees and an annual stipend (starting at £15,609 per annum) for a candidate satisfying EPSRC criteria: https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/skills/students/help/eligibility/

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Where will I study?

University of Edinburgh

One of the world''s top universities, consistently ranked in the world top 50 and placed 20th in the QS World University Rankings 2020. We provide a stimulating working, learning and teaching environment with access to excellent facilities and attract the world''s best, from Nobel Prize winning laureates to future explorers, pioneers and inventors.