Boron Chemistry for Catalysis and Drug Discovery

这项研究计划融合了基础科学和应用科学，目标是在绿色化学和药物发现中具有广泛意义的两个相关目标：亲核官能团(如醇、胺、羧酸)的催化活化，以及药物发现中缺乏化合物类别。为了实现这些目标，霍尔博士将研究半硼杂环化合物，这是一类稳定的含硼有机化合物，具有与醇和其他亲核(富电子)官能团交换其硼-氧键的潜在能力，并将这些独特的化合物用作有用的化学反应中的催化剂和药物发现的支架。为了实现这些应用，首先必须确定或设计能够在所需条件下与亲核基团相互作用的新的含硼杂环。亲核剂是富含电子的官能团(如醇类、胺类)，可通过“缩合”反应释放出水分子，取代亲电(贫电子)原子上的其他基团，如硼。因此，利用先进的质谱学和核磁共振技术，将设计出快速、准确和通用的方法来探索常见官能团和氨基酸侧链与半硼酸相互作用的能力。利用这一知识，将设计新的催化剂，使具有挑战性的合成转化成为药物化学中感兴趣的，例如醇的直接官能化。酒精，如糖，是一类重要的无毒和容易获得的原料化学品。由于它减少了废物，并取代了目前的替代品，如使用有毒的有机卤化物，使用光化学和其他方法对醇进行直接官能化将遵循许多绿色化学的原则。同样，能够与蛋白质和酶靶标进行新型分子相互作用的新型化学类型将在从感染性疾病开始的药物发现工作中进行评估。该计划的基础发现将转化为市场机会：高效催化剂将商业化用于全球供应，生物活性先导化合物将被开发为候选药物。总体而言，环半硼酸作为开发新催化剂和药物化学类型的平台的应用是独一无二的，是催化和药物发现的有机硼中CRC的理想选择。

This research program merges fundamental and applied science by targeting two related objectives of broad significance in green chemistry and drug discovery: the catalytic activation of nucleophilic functional groups (e.g., alcohols, amines, carboxylic acids), and the dearth of compound classes in drug discovery. To meet these objectives, Dr. Hall will study hemiboronic heterocycles, a class of stable boron-containing organic compounds for their potential ability to exchange their boron-oxygen bonds with alcohols and other nucleophilic (electron-rich) functional groups, and exploit these unique compounds as catalysts in useful chemical reactions and as scaffolds for drug discovery. To realize these applications, it is essential to first identify or design new boron-containing heterocycles that possess the ability to interact with nucleophilic groups in the desired conditions. Nucleophiles are electron-rich functional groups (e.g. alcohols, amines) that may displace other groups on electrophilic (electron-poor) atoms such as boron, through a "condensation" reaction that releases a water molecule. Thus, by using advanced mass spectrometry (MS) and NMR techniques, rapid, accurate, and general methods will be devised to probe the ability of common functional groups and aminoacid side chains to interact with hemiboronic acids. Using this knowledge, new catalysts will be designed to enable challenging synthetic transformations of interest in pharmaceutical chemistry, such as the direct functionalization of alcohols. Alcohols, such as sugars, are an important class of non-toxic and readily available feedstock chemicals. Because it decreases wastes and replaces current alternatives like the use of toxic organohalides, the direct functionalization of alcohols using photochemical and other methods will embrace many of the principles of green chemistry. Likewise, novel chemotypes capable of new types of molecular interactions with protein and enzyme targets will be evaluated in drug discovery efforts starting with infectious diseases.Fundamental discoveries from this program will be translated into market opportunities: efficient catalysts will be commercialized for global availability, and bioactive lead compounds will be developed into drug candidates. Overall the application of cyclic hemiboronic acids as a platform to develop new catalysts and drug chemotypes is unique, and is an ideal fit for this CRC in Organoboron for Catalysis and Drug Discovery.