I2. Dial-a-Molecule Grand Challenge Institute.
Aim: To establish physical and virtual centres directed at the aims of Dial-a-Molecule.
Many of the technologies and practices we believe are important to the advancement of synthesis are both expensive and require a high degree of knowledge to use effectively. It is beyond the resources of individual groups to acquire all of these capabilities so central resources are needed.
In order to progress this initiative, Prof. Mimi Hii has been successful in obtaining EPSRC strategic equipment funding to establish the centre for Rapid On-line Analysis of Reactions (ROAR) at Imperial College’s new White City campus – aka The Dial-a-Molecule Institute@Imperial. This facility will be open to external users from academia and industry for 50% of the time.
ROAR will:
- Offer a one-stop shop for automated, data-driven synthesis
- Automated reactions
- On-line analysis
- Software tools for experimental design, data analysis and data management
- Training resources
- Will work with vendors to develop new technologies
- Align with the 3 main themes of Dial-a-Molecule
- Data Driven Synthesis
- Enabling Technologies for Synthesis
- Synthesis College
The capabilities available at ROAR and the proposed organisation of the facility can be found at the ROAR website. Information will be updated regularly so please keep checking for the latest news.
In addition to providing training and access to facilities, we envisage that the Grand Challenge Institute will provide a platform for greater interaction between academic and industrial users to identify new tools and reaction platforms. The ROAR facility is just one piece of the jigsaw and we are working with a number of partners at different centres to enable access to the full spectrum of tools that support the Dial-a-Molecule Grand Challenge.