PhD Studentship under Supervision of Prof. Robert Phipps

This is an AZ funded Non-clinical PhD Studentship in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, based in the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge and the new AstraZeneca Discovery Centre at Cambridge. The student will work on a collaborative project jointly supervised by Prof Robert J. Phipps and Dr. Anthony Metrano at AstraZeneca, with the opportunity to work across both sites. The project focuses on developing new methods for enantioselective synthesis of heterocyclic atropiosmeric compounds of medicinal relevance. The research addresses the increasing need for atropisomeric biaryl compounds in medicinal chemistry campaigns, particularly focusing on developing enantioselective variants of the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling. The project builds on recent developments of new chiral phosphine ligands based on Buchwald ligands, exploring their effectiveness on heterocyclic partners to target heterocyclic biaryl motifs relevant to AstraZeneca and medicinal chemistry applications. Full funding is provided covering maintenance fees at £21,500 per annum and the University Composition Fee for a 4-year period, starting October 1, 2026.