Doctoral Research Project Title

尽管光催化技术发展迅速，是化学中最有前景的关键合成转化方法之一，但由于依赖昂贵的贵金属催化剂，催化剂寿命较短，催化剂负载量较高，光催化反应受到阻碍。对Ru(II)和Ir(III)催化剂的严重依赖造成了经济和环境挑战，因为这两种催化剂都是昂贵的贵金属。(1)对催化剂分解的了解和预防能力有限意味着催化剂寿命较短，导致催化剂负载量较高。(1)为了克服这些挑战，最初的方法将探索经济上更可持续的铜基光催化体系，并潜在地整合配体，如新型N-杂环卡宾(NHC)。通过实施简单、廉价和灵活的工艺，如电化学技术，很容易合成铜(NHC)配合物，从而允许随时优化其稳定性和性能。(2)这些将被充分描述并部署在与药物相关的光化学反应测试中(例如，微型反应、杂原子芳基化反应)。开发可扩展的过程是光化学转化的一个重要考虑因素，因此在连续流动过程中运行反应对于成功转移到工业环境中至关重要。一旦建立了合成方法，该项目将调查基于实验室的流动系统的部署情况。

Despite rapid expansion and being one of the most promising methods for key synthetic transformations in chemistry, photocatalysis is hindered by the reliance on expensive precious metal-based catalysts, poor catalytic lifetimes and high catalyst loadings. A significant dependence on Ru(II) and Ir(III) catalysts, causes economic and environmental challenges, as both are expensive, precious metals. (1) A limited understanding of, and inability to prevent, catalyst decomposition means poor catalytic lifetimes leading to high catalyst loadings. (1) To overcome these challenges the initial approach will investigate economically more sustainable Cu based photocatalytic systems with the potential integration of ligands such as novel N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC). Cu(NHC) complexes are easily synthesised implementing simple, cheap and flexible processes such as electrochemical techniques, allowing for ready optimisation of their stability and performance. (2) These will be fully characterised and deployed in test photochemical reactions of pharmaceutical relevance (e.g. Minisci reactions, heteroatom arylation). Developing a scalable process is an important consideration for photochemical transformations, so running the reactions in a continuous flow process will be vital for successful transfer to an industry setting. Once synthetic methodology is established the project will investigate deployment in lab-based flow systems.