Explorations in Organosulfur Chemistry

每个发明家都需要一个背景知识数据库，从中获取信息。这些信息与发明者的想法、想象力和技能相结合，创造出一种新的工艺或产品。如果信息数据库不能增长，发明者很快就会耗尽对发明难题至关重要的新的智力“原材料”。随着时间的推移，我们的社会将不再在经济、技术或文化上进步。在化学领域，发明通常包括新的药品、材料、食品以及家庭和农场的新产品。发明还可以包括以更经济和/或环境友好的方法生产现有产品的新工艺。例如，化学数据库包含有关基本化学反应和化学成键理论的信息。在Schwan组中，我们揭示了含硫有机化合物的基本反应性。以下的基础研究将在总体上扩展有机化学数据库，但也有应用到食品和香料工业以及制药工业。

Every inventor requires a background database of knowledge from which they draw information. That information is combined with the inventor's idea, imagination and skill to produce a new process or product. If the database of information was not able to grow, inventors would soon run out of new intellectual "raw materials" that are so essential to the inventive puzzle. In time, our society would no longer be economically, technologically or culturally progressive. In the chemical field, inventions often include new pharmaceuticals, materials, food products and new products for the home and farm. Inventions could also include new processes to produce established products by substantially more economical and/or environmentally friendly methods. The chemistry database contains, for example, information regarding fundamental chemical reactions and theories of bonding in chemistry. In the Schwan group we unveil fundamental reactivity of sulfur containing organic compounds. The following fundamental studies will expand the organic chemistry database in general, but also have application to the food and spice industries and to the pharmaceutical industry. 1. The proposed chemistry will expand our knowledge of how existing one particular family of sulfur compounds called sulfenates can be influenced as they are reacted to make carbon-sulfur bonds. The influences arise from the presence of other atoms within the same molecule, or in a co-reactant. We will probe the role of oxygen, nitrogen and boron atoms to learn how they direct the sulfenates to make new bonds, and at what rates. 2. Some of the unique flavors of the shiitake mushrooms arise from the metabolites containing sulfur atoms. We are proposing the preparation of the precursor of the flavorants and in doing so, will demonstrate a new sequence of reactions. The preparation should facilitate an increased understanding of its chemical conversions to the flavor compounds of the mushroom and the enzymes involved in those processes. 3. The pursuit of new pharmaceutical substances often requires one to synthesize previously unknown chemical structures. We plan to delve into this area by pursuing the preparation of new small molecules containing sulfur and nitrogen atoms in a novel relative arrangement. These molecules will then be explored for their reactivity, with the intention of creating larger, more drug-like molecules. A successful outcome will be a selection of new molecules with potential to show desirable biological properties.