51福利

Dr Maria Paz Mu?oz, a Senior Lecturer and Synthetic Chemistry Researcher within Lancaster’s Chemistry Department was awarded the prestigious back in November of last year, with the ?236,152 to be used for her project entitled "i-Motif DNA-based asymmetric catalysis with beta-N-stabilised-Au(III) carbenes" over the next 36 months.

funds a variety of research projects which promise to be innovative and original within their fields. Dr Mu?oz’s research explores new ways of introducing chirality in molecules using DNA and gold. Chirality is the notion that some three-dimensional molecules have mirror-image variants (also known as “left” and “right” handed forms or enantiomers) that behave in different ways. The production of chiral molecules through asymmetric synthesis is crucial within the pharmaceutical industry, as most drugs in the market are chiral – and using the wrong form of the drug can have devastating consequences. Thalidomide – an anti-vomiting drug manufactured for combating morning sickness in pregnancy – serves as a classic example of the dangers of chirality, with one enantiomer providing relief from symptoms, and the other producing foetal abnormalities, such as missing limbs. The ability to control the three-dimensional orientation of atoms within otherwise chemically identical molecules is therefore incredibly important, and chemists’ ability to find new and more efficient ways of making molecules of the desired three-dimensional form is paramount for the advance of science and the discovery of new medicines.

Dr Mu?oz and Dr Abigail Frith (the Senior Research Associate hired through the grant) will be working on asymmetric synthesis using gold as the catalyst and DNA for chiral induction. One of the most common ways of producing pure compounds in one three-dimensional form is using metals to facilitate orientation of the atoms in one specific three-dimensional arrangement. Historically considered inert, gold has experienced one of the biggest developments in chemistry and is currently amongst the most used metals in catalysis. Although expensive, when used in well-designed catalysts it is highly efficient, reusable and very cost-effective. The team will be combining gold(III) with a special type of DNA, i-motif DNA, in order to induce formation of compounds in a specific three-dimensional arrangement, using a unique strategy that has not been attempted before. The hope is that this process will be exploitable to create molecules in the desired three-dimensional form and therefore be usable in the production of new medicines. The project officially kicked off in May and has been making great headway already.

On the receipt of the award, Dr Mu?oz said: “I am very grateful to the Leverhulme Trust for awarding us this project. As I recently moved to Lancaster, the project will help me rebuild the research group. We have appointed a fantastic Senior Research Associate, Abi, who will be working on the project in parallel to a PhD student also working on gold carbenes with biomedical applications. The project is in collaboration with , an expert in DNA-small molecule interactions. We have some promising on the selective interaction of gold(III) carbenes and DNA, and in the project, we will try to further understand it and fully exploit it to make molecules in high enantiomeric form.”