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A 好色先生TV researcher is set to reinvent the way everyday chemical feedstocks are transformed into high-value molecules for the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and materials industries.

Dr Jamie Docherty of Lancaster’s Department of Chemistry has secured a prestigious UKRI New Investigator Award, worth more than ?600K to undertake the three-year project to develop innovative 3D feedstocks

Most modern medicines and crop-protection agents start life as simple, flat “aromatic” rings ? inexpensive, abundant chemicals produced on a hundred-million-ton scale each year. Whilst easy to make, these pancake-like structures often struggle to fit precisely into complex shapes within biological targets, limiting their potency.

“Nature is three-dimensional” ? Dr Docherty explains. “Giving drug molecules extra depth can dramatically improve how they interact with the body, but building that 3D complexity has classically been slow, wasteful and expensive. Our research changes that equation.”

Imagine shining a light and watching flat molecules contort into high complexity, three-dimensional structures. Dr Docherty’s breakthrough research makes it possible to capture and stabilise these shapes, opening up an entirely new dimension of chemical design. By catching these new molecules with a finely tuned catalyst, the researchers can clip on new chemical groups in a single, elegant step, locking in a rigid, three-dimensional scaffold that medicinal chemists can immediately explore.

Early lab results have already cracked a decades-old problem: unwanted side-reactions that used to derail these processes. By pioneering a new approach, Dr Docherty’s team can now produce the sought-after 3D products in outstanding yield ? cleanly and reliably ? opening the door to a whole new class of molecules. Because the method starts with inexpensive, widely available raw materials and uses light as the driving force, it promises a greener, more economical route to complex molecules ? supporting the UK’s ?94 billion life-sciences sector and its 280,000-strong workforce.

The new ring systems could serve as:

• “Bio-isosteres” ? drop-in replacements that help medicine designers fine-tune potency, avoid side-effects or sidestep existing patents.
• Agrochemical leads with enhanced environmental profiles.
• Precision materials where rigid structures are key.

Dr Docherty will collaborate with industrial partners to fast-track promising structures into real-world testing and will share the team’s findings at national and international conferences.

Dr Docherty said: “This grant gives us the freedom to chase bold ideas. If we can turn flat, commodity chemicals into smart, 3D building blocks at the flick of a light switch, we’ll open the door to medicines and materials that simply weren’t feasible before.”

The project will fund a post-doctoral researcher and offer training opportunities for students in Lancaster’s rapidly growing Chemistry Department, which has benefited from more than ?27 million of investment since 2012.