In the O’Duill group, we are interested in the development of reagents and catalytic methods to sustainably convert cheap, simple feedstock chemicals into structurally complex products, through the selective construction of C–X bonds (X = C, D, F). Current projects focus on hypervalent iodine chemistry, catalytic deuteration of pharmaceutically relevant small molecules and the design and synthesis of fluorinated medical imaging probes (PET tracers).

Our group’s goal is to address these challenges using mechanistic insights to develop catalytic transformations. The interdisciplinary nature of our research projects allows students to gain experience in synthetic organic, physical organic, organometallic, and fluorine chemistry, as well as related disciplines in and outside of chemistry.

We gratefully acknowledge financial support from AstraZeneca, UKRI (EPSRC, MRC, BRC), Leverhulme Trust, University of Nottingham, Royal Society of Chemistry, Royal Society, Science Foundation Ireland, and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

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Lay summary:

When Elias Zerhouni, the former head of the US national Institutes of Health (NIH), was developing his policy Roadmap, he found that the number one stumbling block slowing innovation in biomedical research was synthetic organic chemistry, i.e. making new molecules.
The research in our laboratory focuses on the development of new, fundamental reactions to address this challenge. We aim to design sustainable, efficient methods that use cheap building blocks (e.g. waste products) and, from these, construct the complexity required for pharmaceutical targets. Many of the current processes rely on precious metals such as palladium, platinum and iridium. These metals are rare and expensive, difficult to source ethically, and harmful if traces of them remain in pharmaceutical compounds. We are addressing these challenges by developing similar reactions using iodine, which is less harmful, abundantly available and therefore cheaper. By designing conditions in which iodine shows metal-like reactivity, we can improve the sustainability of the processes used to make molecules for biomedical research.