Sythetic organic chemistry - research of terpene natural product molecules.

该研究将主要探索萜烯天然产物分子的组装方式，提供有助于开发新试剂的知识，以促进从廉价的起始材料生产高价值分子。该项目的目标最初将集中在一系列具有几个关键变量的线性萜烯分子的“碳正离子级联”反应的系统研究上。感兴趣的初始变量包括：反应中的起始萜烯；反应的引发物（主要是非亲核的Bronsted酸和Lewis酸）；溶剂;还有离去基。这种方法将有助于研究碳正离子反应中间体存在的环境对线性萜烯级联反应的产物有重大影响的假设。在自然界中，这些反应通过定制酶的参与进行，这些酶控制这些线性萜烯分子折叠成复杂的、生物学上有用的分子。由于直接从自然界中获取这些分子的困难，探索其他途径具有重要的社会利益。

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.