Congratulations to Jon, whose second publication from his PhD has just appeared.

The synthesis and development of 2,5-disubstituted tetrahydrofurans as potential scaffolds for diversity-oriented synthesis, A.P. Dobbs, J. Dunn, Tetrahedron Letters, 2012,  53, 2392–2395.

Full details on the publications page.

Not only did Jon successfully defend his PhD over summer 2011, (well done, Dr Dunn!)  but the first (of many) publications to result from his PhD is now out! Check it out on the publications page!

Donor cyclopropanes in synthesis: utilising silylmethylcyclopropanes to prepare 2,5-disubstituted tetrahydrofurans, J. Dunn, M. Motevalli, A.P. Dobbs, Tetrahedron Letters, 2011, 52, 6974-6977.

Three of the group – Freda, Seble and Adrian – together with ex-group member Dr Robert Parker, attended the 23^rd International Conference on Heterocyclic Chemistry (ICHC-23) at the SECC in Glasgow between 31 July – 4 August. Adrian presented a lecture on recent work performed in the group and Freda gave a poster at the main poster session.

The group particularly enjoyed the whisky tasting sessions and also the Civic Reception in the Science ‘hands-on’ Museum and the conference banquet at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum – a magnificent venue and food! Superb lectures were given by, amongst others, David MacMillan, Phil Baran, Oliver Kappe and Scott Denmark.

Recently featured on the college’s E-bulletin is an interview with Dr. Adrian Dobbs talking about the group’s current research on asbestos-induced lung cancer – mesothelioma. Read the article here.

A vacancy has arisen for a new PhD student in the group, to start in September 2011.

Full details may be found on our posts available page, or see our ad on findaphd.com database.

Some of the group recently enjoyed a trip to the 20th Lakeland Heterocyclic Conference, in the beautiful setting of Grasmere village. Freda, Jon and Isabel all presented posters, while Adrian gave one of the lectures, ably supported on the programme by such up and coming names as Erik Sorensen, Christina White, Michael Kerr, Stephen Martin, Andy Evans, Anthony Barrett, Richard Taylor, Rob Stockman and Richard Grainger, to name just a few. The group fully immersed themselves in the culture of the conference, with Freda particularly enjoying the challenging afternoon walks, and Jon many G&T’s before, during and after the banquet! Check out the photos here!

You can now follow us on Twitter!

http://twitter.com/#!/Dobbsresearch

More updates still to come.

Group meeting today involved students proposing and comparing different routes to access a drug fragment. Insight into industry’s perspective on their choice of chemistry can be found here:

John S. Carey, David Laffan, Colin Thomson and Mike T. Williams, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2006, 4, 2337 – 2347.

(http:/ / dx. doi. org/ 10. 1039/ b602413k)

Abstract: The purpose of this perspective is to indicate the range of chemistries used in the manufacture of drug candidate molecules and to highlight certain gaps in current technologies. To do this a survey was carried out of chemical syntheses within the Process Chemistry R&D departments of GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

Version 1 of the Chemistry add-in for Microsoft Office Word is now available.

Download link and demo video can be found here and the press release here.

Tried it and found it useful? Leave us a comment.

 

Seble Lemma and Dr. Adrian Dobbs interviewed by the BBC on their research on mesothelioma.

The news article can be found here. Read more about this project on SBCS intranet news.