U.S.-France Cooperative Research: A Cobalt-Mediated Total Synthesis of the Antiviral Aphidicolin

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This award will support collaborative research between Prof. K.P.C. Vollhardt of the University of California, Berkeley, and Dr. Max Malacria of the Universite de Lyon, France, in the area of the synthesis of antiviral antibiotics. In particular, the project is aimed at the total synthesis of the antiviral Aphidicolin. Because of its antiviral and antineoplastic properties, the versatile, short, and efficient construction of this molecule has considerable synthetic and medicinal significance. The goal of this work is to compare alternative approaches to the synthesis of this antibiotic developed by the two collaborators. In both approaches, cobalt is used as a catalyst to unravel the organo-molecular structures of the starting material. However, the mid-points of the process, in which new molecular structures are formed, are conceptually different and follow different sequences of molecular formation and breakage. The U.S. and French researchers have worked together in the past; this award will facilitate increased interaction between their respective laboratories. Comparing the two approaches to the synthesis of Aphidicolin will provide important new insights into the scope and limitations of both methods.