U.S.-France Cooperative Research: A Cobalt-Mediated Total Synthesis of the Antiviral Aphidicolin

该奖项将支持加州大学伯克利分校的K.P.C. Vollhardt教授和法国里昂大学的Max Malacria博士在抗病毒抗生素合成领域的合作研究。特别是，该项目旨在全合成抗病毒的阿蚜霉素。由于其抗病毒和抗肿瘤的特性，该分子的多功能、短链和高效构建具有重要的合成和药用意义。这项工作的目的是比较由两位合作者开发的这种抗生素的合成方法。在这两种方法中，钴都被用作催化剂来解开起始材料的有机分子结构。然而，在形成新分子结构的过程中点，在概念上是不同的，并且遵循不同的分子形成和断裂顺序。美国和法国的研究人员过去曾合作过；该奖项将促进双方各自实验室之间的互动。比较这两种合成方法将对这两种方法的范围和局限性提供重要的新见解。

This award will support collaborative research between Prof. K.P.C. Vollhardt of the University of California, Berkeley, and Dr. Max Malacria of the Universite de Lyon, France, in the area of the synthesis of antiviral antibiotics. In particular, the project is aimed at the total synthesis of the antiviral Aphidicolin. Because of its antiviral and antineoplastic properties, the versatile, short, and efficient construction of this molecule has considerable synthetic and medicinal significance. The goal of this work is to compare alternative approaches to the synthesis of this antibiotic developed by the two collaborators. In both approaches, cobalt is used as a catalyst to unravel the organo-molecular structures of the starting material. However, the mid-points of the process, in which new molecular structures are formed, are conceptually different and follow different sequences of molecular formation and breakage. The U.S. and French researchers have worked together in the past; this award will facilitate increased interaction between their respective laboratories. Comparing the two approaches to the synthesis of Aphidicolin will provide important new insights into the scope and limitations of both methods.