Self-Assembly under Continuous Flow Conditions

This studentship project proposes to bring the benefits of continuous flow chemistry to the self-assembly of complex functional molecules and materials. This PhD studentship is fully funded and is a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) position.

There is currently a bottleneck between the lab and industry; very many functional materials with great promise never make it to ‘real world’ use. Our group’s aim is to help solve this problem by developing and using continuous flow optimisation to enable the rapid discovery and scale up of functional materials.

Continuous flow synthesis enables shorter reaction times, fine control of parameters, and, crucially, easy scale-up. A flow reactor can be programmed to sequentially carry out reactions to generate libraries of molecules in a short time scale. Automated optimisation can be achieved by integrating online measurements (including MS, UV, or IR). However, to date, most research in flow chemistry has focused on the synthesis of single compounds (e.g. active pharmaceutical ingredients). Less well explored is the use of reversible, templated, or supramolecular chemistry under continuous flow conditions; yet the characteristics of flow chemistry make it ideally suited for such applications. By leveraging flow chemistry’s modularity, wider reaction space, mixing and heating capabilities, and scalability, this work will generate and characterise libraries of supramolecular systems. These systems will be screened and used for applications including pollution remediation, ion sensing and transport, and molecular separation.

Details on the Slater Group can be found on our website (http://www.agslatergroup.com or Twitter: @agslatergroup and @annagslater).
The holder of this studentship will therefore be given high-level training in flow chemistry, high-throughput screening technology, organic synthesis, and supramolecular chemistry. There is great scope for instrument development, and interactions with our industrial and academic collaborators. There will also be opportunities to use programming (e.g. Python), 3D printing, or the use of systems such as Arduino or Raspberry Pi during this project, should the successful applicant have interests in these areas. Applications are welcomed from students with a 2:1 or higher masters degree or equivalent in Chemistry, particularly those with some of the skills directly relevant to the project outlined above (organic synthesis, supramolecular chemistry, and/or flow chemistry).

Please quote reference "Slater GTA" on your application.