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Synthesis

New ACS GCI ignition grant program names winners

by Linda Wang
June 26, 2017 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 95, Issue 26

The ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable has selected the inaugural recipients of the Ignition Grant Program for Green Chemistry & Engineering Research to support novel and innovative ideas that have the potential to provide sustainable solutions to chemistry and engineering problems relevant to the pharmaceutical industry.

“We created the Ignition Grant Program to kick-start research for sustainable solutions to chemistry and engineering problems relevant to our industry,” says Stefan Koenig, cochair of the roundtable and a senior scientist at Genentech. “Considering the number of high-caliber applications we received, it’s clear this program is addressing a real funding need.”

Amara
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Credit: Courtesy of Zacharias Amara
A photo of Zacharias Amara.
Credit: Courtesy of Zacharias Amara

Four winners were selected for the 2016 program. Each will receive $25,000 for six months to fund their exploratory research projects in green chemistry.

Byers
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Credit: Courtesy of Jeffery A. Byers
A photo of Jeffery A. Byers.
Credit: Courtesy of Jeffery A. Byers

Zacharias Amara, a lecturer at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris, will be researching smart synthesis with magnetically recoverable visible light photocatalysts.

Hall
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Credit: Courtesy of Dennis Hall
A photo of Dennis Hall.
Credit: Courtesy of Dennis Hall

Jeffery A. Byers, associate professor of chemistry at Boston College, is conducting research titled “Development of an Iron-Based Catalyst for Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-Coupling Reactions.”

Luca
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Credit: Courtesy of Oana R. Luca
A photo of Oana R. Luca.
Credit: Courtesy of Oana R. Luca

Dennis Hall, professor of chemistry at the University of Alberta, is researching borate-based catalytic directing groups for alkene and C–H functionalization reactions using readily available alcohol substrates.

Oana R. Luca, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is researching catalyst- and electrolyte-free direct electrochemical cross-coupling.

“We chose to apply for this grant because it provided us with a unique opportunity to propose a high-risk, high-reward conceptual idea that, if demonstrated, could trigger a wave of new synthetic opportunities in mostly uncharted radical chemical space,” Luca says.

“The ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable Ignition Grant Program is a tremendous opportunity for my lab to interface with pharmaceutical companies,” Byers says. “In addition to contextualizing the challenges associated with developing greener chemistry for the pharmaceutical industry, the close involvement of our industrial partners provides us with invaluable insight into the types of molecules and transformations that are industrially relevant.”

The ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable is a partnership between the ACS Green Chemistry Institute and pharmaceutical-related corporations united by a shared commitment to integrate the principles of green chemistry and engineering into the business of drug discovery and production.

Proposals are now being accepted for the 2017 Ignition Grant Program. Two awards of $25,000 for six months will be given. The deadline for submissions is Aug. 18. For more information, visit www.acs.org/gcipharmaroundtable.

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