Research Associate in Automated Amide Synthesis

Location: White City Campus

Job Summary

The Department of Chemistry is seeking a Research Associate to develop automated synthesis workflows to evaluate reaction conditions for formation of amide bonds from a variety of amine and carboxylic acid precursors. These results will be used to develop predictive models to determine optimum reaction conditions for amide synthesis on large scale.

The position is part of a wider research programme on improving the sustainability of pharmaceutical manufacturing processes funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in collaboration with pharmaceutical industry partners (PharmaSel). At Imperial, you will work with Prof Alan Armstrong in the Department of Chemistry, using the automated synthesis and analysis facilities (ROAR) in the Molecular Sciences Research Hub at White City Campus. You will join a multidisciplinary team and will collaborate with researchers in data-driven reaction modelling and optimisation working in the Departments of Chemical Engineering at Imperial (Claire Adjiman and Amparo Galindo) and at UCL (Lauren Lee). 

Duties and responsibilities

You will develop automated synthesis workflows to evaluate reaction conditions for formation of amide bonds from a variety of amine and carboxylic acid precursors. These results will be used to develop predictive models to determine optimum reaction conditions for amide synthesis on large scale. 

Essential requirements 

These include: 

• You should hold, or be near completion of, a PhD (or equivalent) in Chemistry or related topic including synthetic organic chemistry.
• Experience in synthetic organic chemistry, including compound purification and spectroscopic analysis.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Further Information

This is a full time, fixed term position for up to 13 months. The expected start date is 01 September 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter. You will be based at White City Campus.

Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant.

Due to funding constraints for this role, we can offer salary range only at £46,593 - £50,305 per annum. However, you will be eligible for incremental raises as per our standard pay scale for this grade.

Informal enquiries about the post can be made to Prof Alan Armstrong (a.armstrong@imperial.ac.uk)

The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring and promotion decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the journal impact factor where it is published. For more information, see https://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-evaluation/

The College believes that the use of animals in research is vital to improve human and animal health and welfare. Animals may only be used in research programmes where their use is shown to be necessary for developing new treatments and making medical advances. Imperial is committed to ensuring that, in cases where this research is deemed essential, all animals in the College’s care are treated with full respect, and that all staff involved with this work show due consideration at every level. http://www.imperial.ac.uk/research-and-innovation/about-imperial-research/research-integrity/animal-research/ 

Closing Date: 1 August 2024

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