EPSRC and SFI Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Chemistry: Atoms-2-Products an Integrated Approach to Sustainable Chemistry

发达经济体现在面临着严峻的挑战，需要我们以一种完全不同的方式来解决问题。随着全球人口的持续增长，我们都必须考虑几个相当棘手的哲学问题，最紧迫的是，我们必须解决我们对经济增长的依赖，我们对更长寿、更健康的生活的期望，以及我们对收集更多东西的永不满足的需求！从药品到香水，从粘合剂到润滑剂，社会对高性能分子的需求正逐年增长，全球化市场竞争的出现通常迫使市场价格下降，削减了利润率，并削弱了一些行业的创新能力。从原子到产品（A2P）是一个令人兴奋的机会，可以打造一种新的理念，为英国和更远的地区的化学制造业的可持续增长奠定下一阶段的基础。A2P发展的首要动力是希望将绿色和可持续化学的知识和学习应用于发现和开发性能分子的创新阶段，这些分子可以在制药，农用化学品和食品等各种应用中发挥作用。我们提出了可持续化学中的多学科CDT，旨在实现从设计到交付的可持续性能分子管道。A2P将创建一个可持续化学的综合方法，促进减少废物的文化，强调在材料和物质方面发展循环经济，取代目前的消费和资源利用模式。A2P代表了一个由40名学术顾问组成的多学科团队，横跨7个学科，与越来越多的工业合作伙伴合作，包括知名跨国公司，包括联合利华，葛兰素史克，阿斯利康和克罗达，以及小众中小企业，包括普罗米修斯粒子，syature和欧洲热力学。有趣的是，所有合作伙伴都表达了共同的愿望，即使用更好的化学物质开发更智能的产品，以实现更快的加工和更短的制造路线。A2P将通过以下方式推动创新：1、培养多学科、基于队列的问题解决方法；2 .专注于我们A2P合作伙伴确定的挑战领域，以便我们队列的子小组可以沉浸在“煤工作面”的研究中；将数据驱动的决策嵌入到高质量研究的日常设计和执行中，无论是在纸上还是在实验室中；培养一个充满活力和支持的社区，让博士候选人以相对无风险的方式“跳出框框”思考；5 .推动“下一代”合成方法的发展，以提高效率、选择性和生产力，支持我的分子建模和使用机器学习从实验数据中提取额外价值；6 .开发可持续的流程，提高效率，并向从g到Kg的规模化过渡，将研究包括电化学在内的未充分利用的方法，提高原子效率，减少对贵金属的依赖；7 .利用流动化学和3d打印技术实现新工艺的有效扩展，以“打印”最高效的反应器系统，从而最大限度地提高吞吐量，同时有效地管理质量传输和热因素；应用稳健的反应/工艺评价指标，使比较优势可以量化，为实际工艺决策提供证据。整合所有A2P博士项目的成果，结合所有A2P合作伙伴的专业知识，将为英国化学制造业的健康做出重大贡献。A2P将为下一代领导者提供指导和培训，以确保这一关键制造业的创新和未来增长。

Advanced economies are now confronted with a serious challenge that requires us to approach problem solving in a completely different way. As our global population continues to rise we must all consider several quite taxing philosophical questions, most pressingly we must address our addiction to economic growth, our expectation for longer, healthier lives and our insatiable need to collect more stuff! Societies demand for performance molecules, ranging from pharmaceuticals to fragrances or adhesives to lubricants, is growing year-on-year and the advent of competition in a globalised market place is generally forcing the market price downward, cutting margins and reducing the ability for some industry sectors to innovate. Atoms to Products (A2P) is an exciting opportunity to forge a new philosophy that could underpin the next phase of sustainable growth for the chemicals manufacturing industry in the UK and further afield. An overarching driving force in the development of A2P was the desire to apply the knowledge and learning of Green and Sustainable Chemistry to the creative phases embedded in the discovery and development of performance molecules that deliver function in applications as diverse as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and food. We propose a multi-disciplinary CDT in sustainable chemistry which aims to achieve a sustainable pipeline of performance molecules from design-to-delivery. A2P will create an Integrated Approach to Sustainable Chemistry, promoting a culture of waste minimisation, emphasising the development of a circular economy in terms of materials and matter replacing current modes of consumption and resource use. A2P represents a multidisciplinary group of 40 academic advisors spanning 7 academic disciplines, working together with a growing family of industrial partners spanning well-known multinationals including Unilever, GSK, AstraZeneca and Croda, and niche SMEs, including Promethean Particles, Sygnature and European Thermodynamics. Interestingly all partners have expressed a common desire to develop Smarter products using Better chemistry to enable Faster processing and Shorter manufacturing routes. A2P will drive innovation by: 1 fostering a multidisciplinary, cohort based approach to problem solving; 2 focussing on challenge areas identified by our A2P partners such that sub-groups of our cohort can become immersed in research at the "coal-face"; 3 embedding aspects of data-driven decision making in the day-to-day design and execution of high quality research either on paper or indeed in the lab; 4 nurturing a vibrant and supportive community that allows PhD candidates to think 'outside of the box' in a relatively risk- free way; 5 empowering the development of 'next generation' synthetic methods to drive efficiency, selectivity and productivity, underpinned my molecular modelling and the use of machine learning to extract additional value from experimental data; 6 developing sustainable processes that deliver efficiency and transition to scale-up from g to Kg, under-utilised approaches, including electrochemistry, will be investigated increase atom efficiency and reduce reliance on precious metals; 7 enabling efficient scale-up of new processes using flow-chemistry and 3-D printing technology to "print" the most efficient reactor system, thereby maximising throughput whilst efficiently managing mass transport and thermal factors; 8 applying robust reaction/process evaluation metrics such that comparative advantages can be quantified, providing evidence for real process decision making. Integration of outcomes from all A2P PhD projects, in combination with the expertise of all A2P partners, will deliver a major contribution to the health of the UK chemicals manufacturing industry. A2P will provide mentorship and training to the next generation of leaders securing innovation and future growth for this critical manufacturing sector.