Data-Led Suzuki-Miyaura Reaction Optimization: Development of a Short Course for Postgraduate Synthetic Chemists

Abstract

A two-day workshop activity is described in which postgraduate students are introduced to (i) the theory and application of Design-of-Experiments (DOE) approaches and (ii) the implementation of affordable automation technologies and related data analysis of a system of catalytic interest. This work involved the design and delivery of a short lecture to introduce the theory of DOE followed by practical demonstrations of the application of automation technologies. Specifically, a fractional factorial design was used to interrogate the input space─base, solvent, temperature, time─of the Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling (SMCC) of para-bromoanisole and para-fluorophenylboronic acid using automated solid and liquid handling robots and online HPLC analysis. This was supplemented by a second lecture following data acquisition in which the collected HPLC data was analyzed. The workshop was delivered to a cohort of 15 students at the postgraduate level. Pleasingly, students demonstrated a high degree of engagement with this course structure and reported an increased theoretical understanding of DOE approaches to reaction optimization.