Congratulations to Thomas who has defended his PhD thesis, “Feeding the upstream development of potential building blocks towards (phosphono)peptide constructs through enabling multifaceted approaches” on Friday, March 04. Thanks to C. Jerome, C. Damblon, J. Far, K. Karaghiosoff, L. Quinton and R. Robiette for their participation in the jury.
Thomas will soon join the Myerson group at MIT to continue work on flow synthesis. All the best for your next adventure across the pond, Thomas!
Congratulations to Diana, who just published her first paper with the group: “Out-smarting smart drug modafinil through flow chemistry”!
Modafinil has attracted considerable interest, becoming in recent years a foremost anti-narcoleptic drug thanks to its limited side-effects. As part of our efforts towards an end-to-end API manufacturing platform (supported by a NASA EPSCoR grant), we report an improved synthesis of modafinil in 77% yield over three steps. The process was entirely conducted in flow and results in a lower environmental footprint, thanks to the use of class 3 FDA solvents, a reduced E-factor, the formation of only benign side products and the absence of intermediate purification steps.
We are looking forward to report further efforts into the development of an on-demand medication manufacturing system. Congrats as well to CiTOS PhD graduate Noémie, and thanks to our partners at the Crystallization Design Institute in Puerto Rico for their involvement.
The group is looking for outstanding postdoctoral candidates to onboard within an ongoing partnership with ORIL Industries (subsidiary of Servier), a French leader in the pharmaceutical industry. You have a PhD in organic chemistry and a background in flow technology? It’s a match!
The position covers 12 months in Liege. The successful applicant will work in close collaboration with ORIL (proprietary work). Please send (a) a cover letter, (b) a curriculum vitae, (c) a short statement on your motivation and career objectives, and (d) the names and contact details of 3 professional references to jc.monbaliu@uliege.be (ref. ORIL_phase2).
Review of applications will begin on February 1, 2022 and will continue until the position is filled.
Victor just defended his PhD thesis, “Advanced continuous flow strategies toward pharmaceutical ingredients” on Thursday, January 20. Thanks to C. Detrembleur, G. Kaisin, C. Stevens, J. Read de Alaniz and G. Gauron for taking part in the jury.
We wish Victor the best for his next adventure working as API specialist at Trasis!
Kudos to Claire for her review “Perspectives for the Upgrading of Bio-based Vicinal Diols within the Developing European Bioeconomy” published in ChemSusChem!
This perspective explores upcoming technologies for the transformation of bio-based diols into valuable molecules, while putting the emphasis on the most promising conditions for larger scale processes. These innovations take part in the broader push towards a more sustainable economy, especially for the replacement of petro-based resources with bio-sourced platform molecules. We hope this work will spur further development in the production of various value-added building blocks (olefins, epoxides, cyclic carbonates, ketals, etc.) from renewable sources.
Martin and Diana are leaving the group for new adventures!
Martin will join NovAliX in Strasbourg (France) for a secondment within the frame of his Marie Curie Individual Fellowship. Diana is heading back to the Crystallization Design Institute in Puerto Rico where she will be implementing flow chemistry for the preparation of APIs within the frame of her NASA EPSCoR fellowship. Diana will be back at CiTOS in June 2022!
Thank you Martin and Diana – you will be dearly missed!
Congratulations to Thomas for his latest work, just published in Organic Chemistry Frontiers: “A multifaceted approach towards understanding the peculiar behavior of (a)-hydroxyiminophosphonates”!
A strongly interdisciplinary approach involving complementary analytical tools (NMR, XRD, MS, IM-MS) as well as computational chemistry were required to shed light on the peculiar differences between the E and Z isomers of (a)-hydroxyiminophosphonates, a useful class of building blocks. Indeed, a distinct chemoselectivity toward protonation was observed across a library of 16 derivatives. This challenging assessment of the competition between the phosphonate and the amino moeities will hopefully provide a more robust understanding of (a)-hydroxyiminophosphonates and facilitate their use.
Shout-out to co-lead author Christopher Kune, Loïc Quinton from ULiege and Kristof Van Hecke from UGent for their contributions to this study.
We are very eager to communicate on our progress toward the implementation of an automated flow platform. This adventure started ca 12 months ago and our efforts converged into a modular flow platform. Version 1.0 features automated valves, a thermoregulated flow reactor (adaptable for photochemistry) and a fraction collector. 
The entire setup is orchestrated through LabVIEW. We are in the process of developing pumps to complement the setup. More to come soon.
The group is participating in the 8th Conference on Frontiers in Organic Synthesis Technology (FROST) in Budapest, Hungary (November 24-26). Jean-Christophe will give a talk on the topic of “Frugal Resources and Chemical Generators for the Neutralization of Chemical Warfare Simulants”, and will be accompanied by Diana Silva and Pauline Bianchi, who will present their work.
We thank the Flow Chemistry Society for the organisation of the conference. Congratulations to Pauline and Diana for their poster awards!
Congratulations to Pauline for her review “Three decades of unveiling the complex chemistry of C-nitroso species with computational chemistry” just published in Organic Chemistry Frontiers!
A good opportunity to revisit or discover the versatile reactivity of nitroso derivatives and their applications to various synthetic targets, this review provides a pragmatic illustration of the synergistic combination of computational and synthetic organic chemistry. The approach not only supports the rationalization of mechanisms and selectivities, but also bolsters the design of “smarter” reagents and more efficient syntheses. We hope the review will offer a roadmap for predicting and harnessing the multifaceted chemistry of C-nitroso compounds.
