Molecular Design, Synthesis and Catalysis
General programme structure
The two-year master's programme consists of compulsory courses, optional courses, literature thesis and a research project.
Compulsory courses
This specializations offers 8 courses of which 4 courses (6 ECTS each) can be selected:
The Molecular Design, Synthesis and Catalysis track includes the following courses:
- Coordination and organometallic chemistry
- Synthetic organic chemistry
- Nuclear magnetic resonance
- Molecular computational chemistry
- Physical-organic chemistry
- Bio-Organic chemistry
- Homogenous catalysis
- Supramolecular chemistry and nanomaterials
Courses
| Period | Compulsory courses | |
| Sep - Oct | Physical-organic chemistry (6 ECTS) | Coordination and organometallic chemistry (6 ECTS) |
| Nov - Dec | Nuclear magentic Resonance (6 ECTS) | Synthetic organic chemistry (6 ECTS) |
| Jan | Molecular computational chemistry (6 ECTS) | |
| Feb - Mar | Bio-organic chemistry (6 ECTS) | Homogenous catalysis (6 ECTS) |
| Apr - May | ||
| June | Supramolecular chemistry and nanomaterials (6 ECTS) |
More optional courses
Are you interested in a course offered at another university? Contact the master coordinator for all possibilities.
Course descriptions
Course descriptions for Molecular Design, Synthesis and CatalysisContact
If you would like to know more about Molecular Design, Synthesis and Catalysis, please contact the Master coordinator:
Dr. Chris Slootweg
Phone: +31 20 59 87482
E-mail: JC.Slootweg@few.vu.nl
PhD student Anass Znabet is working on Fast & Clean, The Chemistry of Tomorrow:
"The chemical industry provides us with a myriad of useful products without which our standard of living would not be what it is now. On the other hand, the waste/product ratio ranges between 5 and 50. For pharmaceuticals this ratio may even be as high as 100. The problems posed that arise, including the inefficient use of resources, energy and capital, together with the risk to welfare and the environment, are widely recognized throughout society. Global warming and environmental issues are now high on the political and socio-economic agendas. Anass Znabet’s project includes novel, clean, and step-efficient procedures to develop sustainable production techniques for valuable, fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals. This so-called “ideal synthesis” should lead to the desired product from readily available raw materials in one or two reaction steps, providing good overall yield while using environmentally benign reagents. This minimizes energy consumption and waste production. This is achieved by combination of (i) multicomponent reactions (MCRs) and (ii) white biotechnology (biotransformations).
MCRs combine essentially all the atoms of at least three (simple) components for process efficiency with reduced waste to form complex compounds. MCRs are significantly more efficient than classical multistep synthesis in terms of time and resources (Fig.1). White biotechnology employs enzymes and microorganisms (biocatalysts) in the chemical or food industry, making manufacturing processes more environmentally friendly. They can produce high yields of specific products with low energy use and minimal waste generation.
Enzymes and receptor sites in biological systems have the ability to distinguish between enantiomers eliciting different biological response. Thus, the two enantiomers of a compound may have very different properties. That is why stereochemical control is essential in the development of pharmaceuticals. Thus, combining MCRs and biocatalysis will lead to the development of sustainable methodology for the generation of diverse sets of complex molecules with full stereochemical control."
Read more about ongoing research at the department of Organic Chemistry.
