In the Willcox group we are interested in exploiting automation and digital chemistry technologies to explore new regions of chemical space. This leads to two distinct areas of research:

New Skeletal Editing Methodologies

Skeletal editing is an approach to synthetic chemistry where single atoms are deleted, swapped, and inserted into existing molecular frameworks. Here we aim to exploit transition metal catalysis to access complex and novel frameworks. This work is in collaboration with international chemical supplier, Enamine, where their REAL database provides a cheminformatic approach to guide experimental efforts.

New Approaches to Chemical Automation

In collaboration with Prof. Oliver Lemon, Prof. Scott Dalgarno and the National Robotarium, exploring developing GenAI-powered chemistry robotics.

Dominic graduated with an MSci in Chemistry from the University of Bristol in 2018. Here he undertook projects in both computational chemistry (with Prof. Fred Manby) and homogenous gold catalysis (with Dr Chris Russell). He then undertook a PhD with Prof. Stephen Thomas at the University of Edinburgh, where he focussed on developing new catalytic methodologies utilising group 13 exchange. During his PhD he undertook experimental work and supported the Thomas group with computational chemistry. After graduating in 2022 he undertook his first postdoctoral position with Prof. Lee Cronin at the University of Glasgow. He was quickly promoted to Leader of the Materials Discovery team and worked on various projects including chemical complexity analysis and air-sensitive automation development (The Schlenkputer). Dominic undertook a second postdoctoral position with Prof. Michael Ingleson at the University of Edinburgh, where he was involved in various projects involving methodology development and computational chemistry. In November 2024 Dominic was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Chemical Sciences at Heriot-Watt University.

• Member of the EPS Athena Swan SAT

Email: [email protected]

Group Website: willcoxlab.co.uk

• Data-Driven Discovery of Catalytic Acylsilane Synthesis Using Operando FlowNMR Spectroscopy, The Royal Soceity of Chemistry Research Fund.
• Rhodium-Catalysed Carbonyl-Deletion Under Mild Conditions Enabled by Automation and Machine Learning, The Royal Society Research Grant.
• Silicon Skeletal Editing Enabled by Digital Chemistry, Heriot-Watt University PhD Studentship.