The group, the partners, the alumni.
A small core group of postgraduate researchers, anchored by long-running collaborations with the CSIR’s FuturePHARMA facility and partner academic groups across South Africa and abroad.
Darren Lyall Riley
Darren leads the group’s work on continuous flow chemistry, reactor design, and process development for active pharmaceutical ingredients. His research connects synthetic methodology, reactor engineering, and computational drug discovery, with a sustained focus on demonstrating that flow chemistry can be safer, greener, and more scalable than the batch processes it replaces.
Partners and co-investigators
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Jenny-Lee Panayides
FuturePHARMA, CSIR Pretoria. Primary co-investigator on the group’s continuous manufacturing programme, with a formal MOU underpinning shared use of the kiloscale flow facility.
Current students and postdocs
Ansche MIchelle Reinhardt
Silica-supported reagents. AChE inhibitors for Alzheimer’s disease. Process development – Flow preparation of Nintedanib
Zen Johnston
Process development – Flow preparation of Nintedanib. Flow based synthesis of isocyanides. Solution phase peptide synthesis.
Benice Mercia Currie
Flowphotochemistry and reaction engineering. Green solvents and their utility.
Kornelis van Pletzen
Solid handling in flow
Kyle Grobler
Liquid phase peptide synthesis in flow
Alumni and former graduates
2026
Lorinda Tarien van Wyk
“Advancing small organic molecule synthesis: integrating additive manufacturing and
flow chemistry techniques”
2025
Ian Strydom
“Immobilised catalysts of palladium for the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients in continuous flow”
Lerato Shirley Dibokwane
“Immobilised catalysts of palladium for the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients in continuous flow”
2024
Benice Mercia Currie
“Synthesis of an 8-membered oxygen containing benzo-fused heterocycle using flow technologies.”
2023
Zen Johnston
“A batch-flow hybrid approach for the synthesis of the Schistosomiasis treatment Praziquantel“
2022
Ansche MIchelle Reinhardt
“The synthesis of analogues and bioisosteres of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor Donepezil in an attempt to identify novel anti-Alzheimer’s agentsl“
Wessel Bonnet
“Progress towards the flow synthesis of antibiotics vital for the treatment of Tubercolosis in South Africa“
Betty Kwati
“Investigating a semi-continuous synthetic pathway for the preparation of the antiretroviral drugs tenofovir disoproxil and tenofovir alafenamide”
2021
Lorinda Tarien van Wyk
“Utilization Of Flow Chemistry For The Syntheses Of Bupropion, Fluoxetine And Amitraz“
Lerato Shirley Dibokwane
“Development of a flow-based process route for donepezil.“
Sussan-Mari Botha
“The design and synthesis of potential acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and NMDA antagonists as neuroprotective agents.“
2020
George Dhimba
“A theoretical study of the mechanism of (S) proline-catalysed aldol reactions“
Nicole Candice Neyt
“Engineering reaction chemistry with flow technology: a discussion on method development and multistep organic synthesis.“
Sergio Lovisa
“The in-silico evaluation and synthesis of silicon-based analogues of the cholinesterase inhibitor Donepezil”
Kgotso Moagi
“Reaction Mechanism of 2-monosubstituted Quinoxalines with
Organolithium Compounds: A Theoretical Studyl”
2019
Divan van Greunen
“The design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel compounds against biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease“
Chantal Scholtz
“The automated flow synthesis of fluorine contai“
2018
Bryan Bulling
“Reaction mechanism of solvated n-BuLi with thiophene in THF: A theoretical and spectroscopic study“
2017
Nicole Candice Neyt
“Continuous flow synthesis of the antipsychotic Clozapine”
Carl johan van der Westhuizen
“Nucleophilic reactions of α-haloketones: A computational study“
2016
Divan van Greunen
“Targeting Alzheimer’s disease by investigating previously unexplored chemical space surrounding the cholinesterase inhibitor Donepezil“
