Synthetic methodology development; total synthesis of bioacitve natural products and heterocyclic compounds
Heterocycles continue to be the focus of intense synthetic activity both in academia and industry. Over 75% of the top 200 brand name drugs are heterocycles. Heterocycles also account for more than 50% of all known organic compounds. In nature, heterocycles are active components for defense, communication, and reproduction. Their rich activity in biological systems is important for pharmaceuticals, agricultural, and natural products. As a result, there has been increasing interest in the efficient synthesis of heterocycles. Synthesis of complex heterocyclic molecules, including both unnaturally and naturally occurring targets, has had tremendous impact on the development of chemistry, biology and medicine. The goal of this project is to develop novel metal-catalyzed asymmetric carbon carbon bond formation strategies that will greatly increase the efficiency in complex heterocycle synthesis. Lengthy synthetic sequences, low efficiencies in most multi-step syntheses make it extremely challenging to provide sufficient quantities of desired targets for drug discovery. The inefficiency is often due to the limited availability of efficient carbon carbon bond formation methods. Our goal is to develop efficient asymmetric carbon carbon bond formation reactions for heterocycle synthesis. Further mechanistic studies and synthetic application of these novel reactions will allow the rapid syntheses of various complex heterocycles.
