back to list

Towards the synthesis of functionalized homocubanes

We are a team of synthetic organic chemists specializing in the functionalization of strained building blocks such as cyclobutenes, 2H-azetines, and 2H-thietes. In recent years, strained molecular scaffolds have attracted significant attention in medicinal chemistry due to their ability to modulate the pharmacokinetic profiles of bioactive compounds. Our goal is to develop reliable and selective methodologies for the elaboration of such building blocks, and to explore their potential applications in drug discovery—particularly in the synthesis of four-membered rings with defined three-dimensional architectures. The current projects are divided into two tasks: – The first one is to synthesize a small library of functionalized cyclobutadiene-iron complexes. – The second one aims at developing an access to homocubanes and related derivatives. Prospective students will receive training in contemporary synthetic chemistry techniques, with an emphasis on organometallic methodologies.

Knowledge of classical organic chemistry transformations. Basic knowledge in organometallic chemistry (e.g the Grignard reaction). Knowledge of classical analytic methods for compound characterization (NMR, MS, IR…). Knowledge of classical purification techniques (extraction, chromatography).

  • general literature on CBD-complexes: – Organometallics 2003, 22, 2-20 (review) – J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1965, 87, 131-133 – J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1966, 88, 1328-1329 – J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1967, 89, 3080-3081
  • strained 3D-scaffolds accessed by our group: - Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 15884-15887 – Org. Lett. 2020, 22, 8533-8537 – Chem. Commun. 2022, 58, 2564-2567 – Commun. Chem. 2024, 7, 139 cyclobutenes, 2H-azetines and 2H-thietes: – Org. Lett. 2017, 19, 5681-5684 – Org. Lett. 2018, 20, 4654-4658 – Tetrahedron Lett. 2018, 59, 3975-3987 (review) – Chem. Rec. 2021, 21, 1144-1160 (review)
  • organometallic methods developed in our group: - Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 1188-1192 – J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 4341-4348 – Commun. Chem. 2024, 7, 306 – Org. Lett. 2025, 27, 6761-6766 – Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2025, DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.202500623

Additional Information

Supervisor Prof. Dr. Dorian Didier
Availability Spring, Summer and Fall 2026
Capacity 2 Students
Credits 12-18 ECTS
Remote Option no