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Compare 19 doctoral research opportunities connected with Organic Chemistry, including project summaries, funding and application deadlines.
Organic Chemistry
Newcastle University
100% fees covered (home fees only) and a minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £21,805 (2026/27 UKRI rate). Additional project costs will also be provided.
Organic Chemistry
University of York
About the Project The O’Brien group has an ongoing interest in exploring sp3-rich scaffolds for use in medicinal chemistry. In this work, a key design feature was the use of bifunctional 3-D building blocks with rigid scaffolds and two defined vectors, achieved using cyclopropane and cyclobutane cores with different cross-coupling handles. However, the cross-coupling handles required the use of the precious metals Pd and Ir.
Organic Chemistry
University of York
About the Project In this collaborative project, bio-based feedstocks will be utilized for the synthesis of a range of unsaturated and saturated nitrogen heterocyclic building blocks. These building blocks will then be decorated to give agrochemical lead-like compounds.
Organic Chemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project Boron containing molecules are of high value, as they have many applications in chemical synthesis, materials science, and catalysis. This PhD will research new ways in which to make boron-containing heterocycles - cyclic compounds which contain one or more boron atoms.
Organic Chemistry
University of Aberdeen
About the Project These projects are open to students worldwide, but have no funding attached. Therefore, the successful applicant will be expected to fund tuition fees at the relevant level (home or international) and any applicable additional research costs. Please consider this before applying.
Organic Chemistry
University of Birmingham
About the Project Applications are invited for a funded PhD studentship, supervised by Prof Andrew Dove (School of Chemistry) at the University of Birmingham (group website: http://www.dovegrouplab.com ). The project is part of a ERC-funded Advanced Grant project that is focussed developing fully closed-loop recyclable, bio-derivable polymer for use in 3D printing.
Organic Chemistry
The University of Manchester
About the Project Applications are invited from high-calibre international candidates for a self-funded PhD project in medicinal chemistry and cancer drug discovery with Dr Ali Raoof.
Organic Chemistry
University of Birmingham
About the Project Project Summary This fully funded 3.5-year PhD position aims to create new molecular tools that establish redox-sensitive binding interactions between small molecules and proteins for applications in biotechnology and programmable biomaterial synthesis. The ability to program the behaviour of biomolecular chemistry is foundational for developing new biotechnology applications.
Organic Chemistry
University of Warwick
About the Project Development of new inks for recyclable 3D-printed materials The Photochemistry for Materials team is looking for an enthusiastic PhD candidate to join our research team at the University of Warwick (UK) to carry out a 4-year PhD project under the supervision of Dr Hannes Houck . The PhD project is funded under the ‘DeCoDER’ programme by the European Research Council (ERC-StG, 101222417 – press release ).
Organic Chemistry
University of St Andrews
About the Project Research in the Johnston group broadly focuses on the development of new catalytic reactions for (i) the streamlined synthesis of known small molecules or (ii) unprecedented access to novel building blocks, with potential applications in drug discovery and agrochemistry. To achieve these goals, we utilise and combine various areas of catalysis, including organocatalysis, photoredox catalysis, and base metal catalysis.
Organic Chemistry
Queensland University of Technology
About the Project What if you could design the molecular blueprint that dictates how a material behaves—down to when it holds together and when it comes apart? We are offering a fully funded PhD project at the forefront of synthetic polymer chemistry and advanced materials design, centred on developing reversible polymer networks and remotely triggered systems.
Organic Chemistry
University of Strathclyde
About the Project Fully-funded, industry-linked, PhD studentships are available for study under the supervision of Professor Billy Kerr and Dr David Lindsay. Projects will explore new iridium catalysis methods for the preparation of isotopically-labelled compounds of pharmaceutical importance. Alongside preparative organic chemistry, computationally-driven methods will also be used to inform catalyst design and direct the emerging reaction scope.
Organic Chemistry
University of Birmingham
About the Project The introduction of new platform motifs enables the development of myriad new chemical transformations and enhanced understanding of reactivity. In this project we will explore the utility of a new platform motif that has recently been developed in our group, establishing its applicability across a breadth of new catalysis-based molecular transformations.
Organic Chemistry
The University of Manchester
About the Project Nucleophilic aromatic substitution is one of the most fundamentally important class of reactions in organic chemistry. Indeed, these reactions are used every day to synthesise new pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, materials and more. However, there are a number of long-standing limitations associated with classic mechanisms of substitution, such as the need for strong electron-withdrawing groups ortho or para to the leaving group.
Organic Chemistry
University of St Andrews
About the Project Our research is currently directed towards developing catalytic methods for the promotion of a range of synthetic transformations with varying applications in asymmetric synthesis.
Organic Chemistry
University of Reading
About the Project Our laboratory is interested in the application of enabling technologies, such as continuous flow[1] and photochemistry,[2] for the synthesis of useful functional molecules such as drugs, agrochemicals and materials. Advantageously, these continuous-flow photoreactors are easier to use and control than their batch-wise predecessors.
Organic Chemistry
University of Strathclyde
About the Project Optical microscopy has generated substantial impact for modern research. While fluorescence microscopy provides the ultimate sensitivity, it generally lacks chemical information. Complementarily, vibrational imaging provides rich chemical-bond-specific knowledge, however, frequently suffers from lower sensitivity.
Organic Chemistry
University of Birmingham
About the Project Background Emulsions are mixtures of two liquids that do not normally mix, such as oil and water. They are found everywhere in daily life, such as foods like milk and mayonnaise, cosmetics, medicines, and even fuels. Their properties, like how stable or smooth they are, determine how well these products work. Studying emulsions also helps scientists understand fundamental processes in soft matter, such as how droplets form, merge, and stay apart.
Organic Chemistry
University of Sheffield
About the Project Atropisomers represent an important class of chiral molecules whereby stereoisomerism is determined by ease of rotation about a single bond. This class of compounds is represented by natural products (eg the Streptonigrinoids) and pharmaceuticals such as the recently reported KRAS covalent inhibitor Sotorasib. Hence, efficient stereoselective access to atropisomers is a challenge that is of significant interest to the organic synthesis community.