Synthesis and Characterization of Boron Containing Amino Acids

新墨西哥州立大学化学系William Quintana博士获得化学系无机、生物无机和有机金属化学项目的支持，该项目获得了学院早期职业发展奖，目的是合成含有硼多面体的氨基酸，并开展直接让学生参与的教育活动，从而使他们对自己的发展更负责任。通过扩展已知的氨基酸制剂，将合成烷基被含硼基团取代的α-氨基酸的衍生物。同样，氨基酸中的α-碳原子将被一个硼原子取代，从而产生含硼氨基酸。然后，这些化合物将通过各种物理和光谱方法进行表征。教育部分强调本科生低年级和高年级的课程发展，并将包括纳入示范、建立学习小组和启动成果评估。氨基酸经过修饰后与自然产生的氨基酸略有不同，具有许多潜在的应用。由于修饰后的氨基酸与天然氨基酸相似，它们可能会进入生物系统，但由于差异，它们的功能不会与天然类似物完全相同。因此，修饰的氨基酸可以用来探测或改变生化过程。这个项目的研究部分的目的是开发出新的方法来生产含有硼的新氨基酸，而不是通常的碳原子。这些化合物具有作为酶抑制剂的潜在应用，以及正在开发的针对某些癌症的治疗方法--硼捕获中子疗法。该项目的研究和教育部分都是为了服务于新墨西哥州立大学录取的大量少数族裔学生。

Dr. William Quintana, Chemistry Department, New Mexico State University, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division under a Faculty Early Career Advancement Award to synthesize amino acids that contain boron polyhedra and to develop educational activities that directly involve students, thus making them more responsible for their own development. By expanding known amino acid preparations, derivatives of alpha-amino acids in which the alkyl group is substituted by a boron containing group will be synthesized. Likewise, the alpha-carbon atom of the amino acid will be replaced by a boron atom to produce boronated amino acids. These compounds then will be characterized by a variety of physical and spectroscopic methods. The educational component emphasizes course development at both the lower and upper undergraduate levels and will include the incorporation of demonstrations, the establishment of study groups, and the initiation of outcomes assessments. Amino acids which are modified to be slightly different from the naturally occurring amino acids have numerous potential applications. Because the modified amino acids resemble the natural ones, they may enter into biological systems but, because of the differences, they will not function exactly as their natural analogs. Consequently, modified amino acids can be used to probe or change biochemical processes. The purpose of the research portion of this project is to develop methods to produce new amino acids that contain boron instead of the usual carbon atoms. These have potential applications as enzyme inhibitors and in Boron Capture Neutron Therapy, a treatment being developed for some cancers. Both the research and the educational portions of this project are designed to serve the significant population of minority students enrolled at New Mexico State University.