Postdoctoral Research Associate in Organic Chemistry and Nickel Catalysis

The Role

You will be working as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) in the. This collaborative project, funded by the EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account, will be conducted at Durham Chemistry and Chiesi Farmaceutici in Parma. You will prepare and test new phosphine ligands that could enable nickel, a cheap and abundant metal, to replace toxic, expensive and scarce palladium catalysts in cross-coupling reactions (Chemistry Nobel prize 2010) and in related C-C and C-heteroatom bond-forming transformations. Such reactions are among the top 5 transformations performed in pharma, as they stitch together key fragments towards the synthesis of drug candidates and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).

During the initial five months in the Franchino Lab (Durham, UK), you will make and characterise new phosphines and their nickel complexes, using Schlenk techniques, the glovebox, NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, single-crystal X-ray diffraction and other techniques that might be deemed suitable. You will then test the new ligands in Ni-catalysed C-C and C-X bond-forming reactions, employing a variety of coupling partners and taking advantage of our high-throughput experimentation facility as appropriate (96-well reaction plates, tumble stirrer/heat block, multichannel pipettes and centrifuge hosted in a glovebox).

During the next 3 months in Chiesi (Parma, Italy), you will test our new ligands, as well as ligand libraries available at Chiesi and/or commercial ones, in Ni-catalysed reactions of interest to the company to prepare for instance medicinal chemistry libraries and drug candidates.

Key responsibilities

• To conduct a research project under the direction of the Principal Investigator (PI, Dr Allegra Franchino) and her collaborator (Dr Paolo Ronchi, Chiesi), working productively both on your own and in collaboration with others, as appropriate.
• To plan and manage your research activity effectively and safely, with minimal input from the PI, share research resources in collaboration with others and contribute to the ideation and planning of research projects.
• To deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines by discussing with the PI and offering creative or innovative solutions.
• To work with the PI and other colleagues in the research group, as appropriate, to identify areas for research, develop new research methods and ideas, and extend the research portfolio.
• To understand and convey material of a specialist or highly technical nature through written presentations and oral discussions.
• To prepare and deliver presentations on research activities to both academic and non-academic audiences.
• To prepare high-quality outputs, including weekly and termly research reports for the PI, and drafts of papers for submission to peer-reviewed journals as appropriate.
• To actively participate to problem sessions, group meetings, training, induction events, workshops and other meetings as required, both at Durham and at Chiesi.
• To liaise with departmental and university support units as appropriate for the progression of the project, follow all rules and guidelines in place in the group, the Department, the University and the company, including the NDA and collaboration agreement related to this project, making all necessary internal and external contacts to develop this project successfully.
• To engage in continuing professional development attending relevant training and development courses.
• To contribute to fostering a collegial, supportive and respectful working environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect.