Sound knowledge of synthetic or microwave enhanced chemistry would be preferable. The projects are varied, but they have in common the use of experimental kinetic tools and kinetic modelling to aid in developing a fundamental understanding of asymmetric catalytic reaction mechanisms in systems of interest in the pharmaceutical industry. The timeline for the process research and development in the pharmaceutical industry is becoming tightly compressed in an increasingly more competitive manufacturing environment. At the same time, it is increasingly being recognized that more efficient processes may result if a quantitative and fundamental approach to process research and development is used. Brief Project Description Asymmetric Autocatalytic Reactions .
Optical activity is a prominent feature of the chemical substances of living matter.
An optically active directing source is required in order to obtain an optically active reaction product. It has been suggested that the organic building blocks of life on earth obtained the template for the propagation of optical activity from an extraterrestrial origin, or that the initial imbalance of enantiomers derived from an environmental asymmetry such as irradiation with circularly polarized light. Spontaneous asymmetric synthesis via autocatalysis is one process which has been suggested to have played an important role in the prebiotic chemistry, which helped to propagate an initial small imbalance to the point of the high chiral efficiencies routinely achieved by biological systems. Recent remarkable experimental work by the group of Soai in Japan reports the first successful experimental demonstration of asymmetric autocatalysis. Contact Donna G. Blackmond Department of Chemistry University of Hull HU6 7RX United Kingdom Tel.