Loughborough University is a top-ten rated university in England for research intensity (REF2014) and an outstanding 66% of the work of Loughborough’s academic staff who were eligible to be submitted to the REF was judged as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’, compared to a national average figure of 43%. In choosing Loughborough for your research, you’ll work alongside academics who are leaders in their field. You will benefit from comprehensive support and guidance from our Doctoral College, including tailored careers advice, to help you succeed in your research and future career. The existing ‘benchmarked’ methodology for the synthesis of complex functional molecules is typically step-wise in nature and involving isolation of intermediates. This can compromise efficiency and overall chemical yields; while increasing expense and generating significant chemical waste. In contrast, Continous Flow Technology can potentially be adapted to undertake multiple chemical reactions, without isolation of any intermediates. This project will explore this approach using an affordable off-the-shelf Continous Flow system and will be demonstrated using medicinally important functional molecules as targets. Off-the-shelf, affordable, continuous flow technology has the potential to revolutionise chemical synthesis. The traditional, step-wise approaches to complex chemical synthesis can now potentially be undertaken sequentially using this technology, therefore reducing cost, waste and importantly time. Recently, the group reported the first sequential conversion of 1,3-dienes to valuable furans using an affordable continuous flow system. This project will exploit this approach by examining the sequential formation of medicinally important compounds such as heterocycles, conformationally restricted cyclobutanes, as well as exploring the formation of challenging chemical bonds (C-CF3) using this continuous flow approach. This will be undertaken using our recently acquired Vapourtec continuous flow apparatus, and will equip the successful applicant with the requisite skill-set required in the 21st century pharmaceutical industry. Additionally, given the nature of the target molecules, the project will expose the applicant to existing concurrent projects within the school and University, such as our EPSRC AMR initiative, the on-going work in continuous flow technology and in-line reaction monitoring, and the use of computational methods in supporting and validating chemical transformations.