IQS-URL researcher Wei W. Chen honoured by RSWQ and Lilly

Wednesday, July 19, 2023. Wei Wen Chen, a PhD student at IQS-URL and the Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia IQAC-CSIC, received one of the three awards at the 21st edition of the Research Awards for Doctoral Students, organized by the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry (RSEQ) and the pharmaceutical company Lilly España. Held annually, these awards recognize the achievements of students who are doing their doctoral thesis in the areas of Organic, Pharmaceutical, or Analytical Chemistry and are members of the RSEQ. The award entails 2,000 euros in financial support.

As was the case of the other two winners, Wei Wen Chen's doctoral thesis is focused on the development of advanced synthetic methodology tools, seeking to make drug synthesis processes more sustainable. His thesis, jointly supervised by Dr Ana Belén Cuenca, professor with the Department of Organic Chemistry and Pharmacy at IQS-URL, and Dr Alexander Shafir, researcher at IQAC – CSIC, addresses the great synthetic versatility presented by a series of halogenated derivatives in a hypervalent state when they are put in contact with nucleophilic species of silicon and/or boron, all aimed at developing new reactions of C-H functionalization of arenes that generate especially versatile complex molecular architectures.

Wei W. Chen's thesis forms part of the BiSiBonds project, which is being jointly carried out by Dr Cuenca and Dr Shafir within the IQS – CRISOL Group and IQAC-CSIC.

We interviewed Wei W. Chen and his thesis supervisors on the occasion of Chen earning this award.