Technotrain
Maurizio Benaglia is the coordinator of a new financed 2018 MSCA project (Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions); the ITN-EID (European Industrial Doctorate) TECHNORAIN start is scheduled for November 1, 2018 and involves the recruitment of three PhD students, which will work in Milano and in the German company Taros Chemicals (Dortmund).
The main aim of "TECHNOTRAIN" proposal (Enabling TECHNOlogies-driven chemistry: a tailored TRAINing research program for batch and flow synthesis of chiral amino derivatives)
is to create a training platform for young European researchers, based on the creativity, flexibility and accuracy characteristic of an academic working environment, but with an industrial focus.
“TECHNOTRAIN” has the specific objective to develop general, reproducible and also profitable, stereoselective, catalytic synthetic methods applicable for industrial production of enantiomerically pure,
functionalized amino derivatives featuring a quaternary stereocenter. Target molecules will be chiral pharmaceutically active ingredients, or immediate precursors, including nonproteogenic alfa-disubstituted-amino
acids.
The aim is both to synthesize specific target molecules and to develop highly efficient, technology-driven methodologies. Continuous flow processes will be considered, to perform a fast screening of
the reaction conditions, and then, with the optimized conditions in hand, to scale up the reaction (by scaling-out or numbering up or scaling-up).
The combination of two modern, catalytic strategies (photocatalysis and organocatalysis) with safe and environmental friendly technologies (including the use of 3D-printed devices) is a key step towards
the development of a more efficient and sustainable chemistry, in line with the Europe strategy. A future generation of scientists will be trained to face the challenges imposed by the transfer the new, green
technologies into industrial processes.
Another primary objective of "TECHNOTRAIN" is to develop a modern training model for young European researchers, where education is realized through research and a strong interaction between public and
private sector. The project wishes to be truly a prototype of an efficient European research training structure aimed at growing young researchers capable of interacting with the private sector research.