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组装的方式，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围绕系统研究线性萜烯分子的一系列“碳阳离子级联”反应，这些反应具有几个关键变量。初始变量包括：反应中的起始萜烯;反应中的引发剂种类（感兴趣的是非亲核的Bronsted酸和刘易斯酸）;溶剂;和离去基团。这种方法将有助于研究碳阳离子反应中间体存在的环境对线性萜烯级联反应的产物具有显著影响的假设。在自然界中，这些反应通过定制的酶的参与进行，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。由于直接从自然界收获这些分子的困难，探索获得这些分子的其他途径具有重大的社会意义。

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.