Grant: Canada Excellence Research Chairs

Advances in pharmaceuticals, agrochemistry, and energy are made possible by the development of new chemistry, specifically new and enabling synthetic methods. The pioneering work from nominee Dr. Corey Stephenson’s laboratory in visible light photoredox catalysis has been implemented broadly by the pharmaceutical industry, with applications in both medicinal and process chemistry research. Stephenson is a Canadian currently at the University of Michigan, a world leader in using light to promote novel reactivity in organic synthesis. The overarching theme of this proposal is the development and application of new and enabling photo- and electrocatalytic methods for chemical synthesis and biomass upgrading. These approaches provide strategic advantages in applications due to broad functional group compatibility, mild reaction conditions, scalability, and operational simplicity, and bring entirely new synthetic approaches to UBC and Canada enabling fundamental and translational research that impact human health and contribute to new manufacturing approaches that focus on sustainability. New methods using electrons as a non-toxic 'reagent' that does not generate waste are attractive for chemical synthesis, circumventing reliance on expensive starting materials and further enabling environmentally conscious synthesis. This proposal describes a multidisciplinary approach to rationally design and enable synthetic pathways using photo- and electrocatalysis (redox catalysis). The proposed Canada Excellence Research Chair will combine expertise in redox catalysis with emerging modern technologies in high throughput experimentation, data science, and process engineering to develop robust new chemistries that can be broadly deployed across disciplines. Specifically, the Chair will design new photo- and electro-catalysts for use in pharmaceutical and agrochemical synthesis and biomass upgrading employing modern data science tools as a mechanism for optimization and refinement; develop new high throughput tools for the implementation of photo- and electrocatalysis in discovery and process chemistry; and design modular syntheses of important building blocks for medicinal chemistry to provide new avenues in drug development. These approaches align with established and growing interdisciplinary UBC research clusters, the Academy of Translational Medicine (ATM) and the BioProducts Institute (BPI) at UBC, as well as the regional BC Cancer Research Centre. The proposed work will continue to transform chemical reaction science, medicinal chemistry and molecular biology and further enable the interdisciplinary training of the next generation of Canadian scientists to pose multidisciplinary solutions to some of the world’s largest medical, industrial, and environmental challenges.