Sythetic organic chemistry - research of terpene natural product molecules.

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The research will primarily explore the ways in which terpene natural product molecules are assembled, providing knowledge that will assist the development of new reagents, in order to facilitate the production of high value molecules from inexpensive starting materials.The aims of this project will initially be centred around a systematic study of a range of 'carbocation cascade' reactions of linear terpene molecules that feature several key variables. The initial variables of interest include: the starting terpene in the reaction; the initiator species in the reaction (of interest are non-nucleophilic Bronsted and Lewis acids); solvent; and leaving group.This approach will aid the investigation of the hypothesis that the environment in which the carbocation reaction intermediate exists, has a significant impact on the product of the linear terpene cascade reaction. In nature, these reactions proceed via the involvement of bespoke enzymes that control the folding of these linear terpene molecules into complex, biologically useful, molecules. It is of significant societal interest to explore other routes to these molecules due to the difficulties associated with harvesting them directly from nature.