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WELCOME TO THE FRANCHINO LAB

Merging transition-metal and organocatalysis for selective synthesis

We are a young, passionate research group based at the University of Durham.

Our work focuses on the development of homogeneous catalytic methods

for the selective synthesis of added-value compounds from feedstock substrates.

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The ability of chemists to invent new transformations is at the heart of our modern society, as novel chemical methods to forge bonds with increased precision and selectivity enable more efficient preparation of materials, medicines, agrochemicals and fine chemicals for the developed world. Catalysis is a powerful tool to devise new reactions and render the existing ones more selective, thus contributing to a more sustainable use of natural resources.

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In this context, our research program merges in original ways elements taken from both

organocatalysis and transition-metal catalysis, to create new strategies for site-, diastereo- and enantioselective reactions, targeting medicinally relevant scaffolds. We leverage non-covalent interactions in the design of our catalytic systems, and investigate their mode of action using

kinetic studies, spectroscopic analysis and physical organic chemistry tools.

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Read more about our research and our team.

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