One programme. Four entry points. Molecules to kilograms
The group’s work is best understood as a single integrated programme: discover candidates, design the chemistry, engineer the reactor, scale the process. Each of the four areas below feeds the others.
We do flow chemistry not because it is novel, but because it is the safer, greener, more sustainable way to make medicines. Every project in the group should make that claim concrete.
Continuous process development
Translation of established and emerging API syntheses from batch protocols into continuous flow, with explicit attention to scale, solvent footprint, and regulatory readiness. Three demonstrators have reached TRL 6 (bupropion HCl, celecoxib, lapatinib), and the active pipeline targets nintedanib, semaglutide, ruxolitinib, and praziquantel.
Reactor engineering and design
Custom flow reactor and photoreactor development, with current work on concave-disk thin-film photoreactors and the integration of process analytical technology. The group’s 2021 review on reactor engineering concepts in flow chemistry sets the conceptual frame for this work.
Drug discovery and computational chemistry
Discovery work focused on Alzheimer’s disease, with active programmes on N-benzylpiperidine acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, kinase inhibitors, and a longer-term proposal to modulate glymphatic clearance via ROCK2 and β1-adrenergic targets. Computational scaffolds developed in collaboration support virtual screening across these series.
Open laboratory automation
Low-cost, reproducible automation hardware for academic and industrial process labs. Current builds include a continuous liquid-liquid extractor and a volume-based fraction collector, integrated with commercial Vapourtec and Syrris pumps over RS-232 and OPC UA. The work is being prepared as a numbered publication series.
