Synthetic methodologies and natural prouduct synthesis

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The chemical synthesis of carbon based compounds has been a major field of scientific curiosity for over a century, and the subject is still far from being fully developed.  As our knowledge of chemical sciences (both fact and theory) has grown so has the power of synthesis.  The construction of organic compounds now includes the use of reactions and reagents involving more than sixty of the chemical elements, even though only a dozen or so elements are commonly contained in commercially or biologically significant molecules.  Our group is interested in the development of new and/or simpler ways to make biologically exciting and structurally challenging natural products in optically pure form.  Although nature is the usual supplier of these "new drugs", it is often times only in very small quantities, in one optical form (the particular arrangement of atoms in 3-dimensional space) and/or not in the most "potent" structure.  It is then incumbent upon the synthetic organic chemist to not only make these new compounds in an optically pure form (as cheaply as possible), but also to make them as active as possible (allowing for small doses to be taken) and as specific as possible (little or no side affects).  Consequently, we are continuing a program designed at developing methodology to synthesize 7 and 8 membered ring carbocyclic compounds in optically enriched form. Concurrent with this project we are looking at expanding our previous work on ketene chemistry.  This will provide quick access to more highly functionalized systems that can be readily used for the synthesis of biologically important compounds, including anti-cancer compounds. The methodology will provide industry and academia new and more direct methods to synthesize these types of compounds, thus providing the potential for the development of new drugs for use in the treatment of diseases.