Description du Poste
Organisation / Company CNRS Alsace Laboratory UMR 7042 - LIMA Is the Hosting related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No
Atropisomers are compounds whose axial chirality comes from restricted rotation around a single bond. They find various applications in the field of medicinal chemistry, natural products and organic materials, but also as catalysts.[1] Many methods have been developed to prepare enantioenriched atropisomers, often using either stoichiometric reagents or metal catalysts. More recently, the use of organocatalysts,[2] that is to say purely organic molecules of low molecular weight capable of accelerating chemical transformations, has opened up new perspectives for the synthesis of atropisomers.
In this context, our team has introduced a strategy combining the enantioselective organocatalytic synthesis of a non-aromatic precursor with central chirality with its oxidation into an atropisomeric aromatic compound, with central-to-axial chirality conversion.[3,4] We now wish to continue this work in different directions:
1) The implementation of the conversion of chirality strategy to control unusual chiral motifs, such as Csp2-Csp3 atropisomerism[5] or sixfold stereogenicity.[6]
2) The development of an enantioselective oxidation process by kinetic resolution of the racemic non-aromatic precursor. This would also open the way to the development of an enantioconvergent reaction sequence, where the two enantiomers of this precursor would be successively converted into a single enantiomer of the targeted atropisomer.
3) The study of the behavior of atropisomers in dearomatization reactions with axial-to-central chirality conversion, thus allowing the development of cascades of chirality conversions.
4) The application of the different chirality conversion strategies developed in our team to the total synthesis of natural products such as streptonigrin, which has so far only been synthesized in a racemic series.[7]
References
[1] J. M. Lassaletta, Atropoisomerism and Axial Chirality, World Scientific, Singapour, 2019.
[2] D. W. C. MacMillan, Nature 2008, 455, 304.
[3] O. Quinonero, M. Jean, N. Vanthuyne, C. Roussel, D. Bonne, T. Constantieux, C. Bressy, X. Bugaut, J. Rodriguez, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 1401.
[4] H. Yang, J. Chen, L. Zhou, Chem. Asian J. 2020, 15, 2939.
[5] G. Bertuzzi, V. Corti, J. A. Izzo, S. Ričko, N. I. Jessen, K. A. Jørgensen, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 1056.
[6] X. Wu, R. M. Witzig, R. Beaud, C. Fischer, D. Häussinger, C. Sparr, Nat. Catal. 2021, 4, 457.
[7] T. J. Donohoe, C. R. Jones, L. C. A. Barbosa, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 16418.
Who can apply?
Researchers of any nationality who:
Have completed a PhD or will complete it at the date of the call deadline (September 2026).
Have a maximum of 8 years full-time equivalent experience in research at the time of the call deadline.
Have not resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in France for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline.
Beware that applicants who have applied to the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship 2025 call and received an evaluation below 80% are not eligible for an application in 2026.
How to apply?
We encourage all motivated and eligible postdoctoral researchers to send their expressions of interest to the supervisor’s e-mail address before 24th April 2026.
Your application shall include:
a CV (5 pages max)
a cover letter outlining your research background and its synergies with the supervisor’s field and/or the proposed research topic.
Estimated timetable
Deadline for sending an expression of interest: 24th April 2026
Selection of the applicant: May 2026 at the latest
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