Team of CeNT students in the final of Merck Compound Challenge

16 05 2025

The team, whose members are two students working at CeNT, Szymon Różanski from the Laboratory of Chemical Synthesis Methodology and Jakub Krajnik from the Laboratory of Technology of Novel Functional Materials, is one of three to qualify for the final phase of the Merck Compound Challenge. The competition https://www.merckgroup.com/en/research/open-innovation/350anniversaryactivities/350compoundchallenge/compound-synthesis.html organized annually by Merck, involves designing within 48 hours the best synthetic route toward a selected complex small-molecule organic compound. The competition is open to teams from around the world consisting of members at any stage of their careers. The three highest-scoring synthetic plans that has qualified to the final phase are now being executed in practice in an independent laboratory to establish the winner. The other members of the final team are Jakub Narodowiec and Karol Postrozny – PhD students at the Institute of Organic Chemistry PAS, and Michal Tarnawski and Jan Nasieniewski – students at the University High School in Torun. Our sincere congratulations and we wish you good luck!