Friday, May 17, 2024
5/17/2024
The discovery of new medicines requires the synthesis and evaluation of new molecules, and the incorporation of saturated atoms and three-dimensional (3D) shape is increasingly important in advancing bioactive leads to medicines. Recognizing this need to incorporate saturated carbons, including stereocenters, this research will focus on the development of new cross-coupling reactions to enable efficient construction of bonds to saturated carbon atoms. These methods will rely on alkyl alcohol and amine derivatives as alkyl electrophiles, because they are widely available (including in enantioenriched form), offer outstanding diversity of alkyl fragments that is complementary to other alkylating agents, are easily prepared, and can be used in both early and late-stage functionalization strategies. All-carbon quaternary stereocenters and other fully substituted stereocenters are prevalent in bioactive natural products, but these motifs remain synthetically challenging to prepare in high enantiomeric purity, especially if they are not near a carbonyl or alkene. On the other hand, tertiary alcohols are readily prepared in exceptional enantiomeric excess (ee), making them ideal substrates for stereospecific cross-coupling reactions. Building on strong preliminary results, this program will develop a suite of methods to deliver highly enantioenriched products from tertiary benzylic alcohol derivatives. These efforts will be bolstered by mechanistic studies to understand and rationally optimize challenging steps in these catalytic processes. Primary alkyl amines comprise an extremely diverse feedstock class, extending from simple building blocks to pharmaceutical intermediates to biomolecules. By activating them as Katritzky pyridinium salts, the PI’s group was the first to show that these ubiquitous starting materials can be used as alkyl electrophiles in nickel-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. This program will now develop new deaminative cross-couplings to provide efficient access to a tremendous diversity of products, meeting needs in medicinal chemistry efforts for pharmaceutical discovery. The successful development of this research will establish novel methods to deliver 3D molecules with potential bioactivity from readily available precursors. It will also change the way that chemists use alcohols and amines in synthesis. The ultimate goal is to develop cross-coupling methods for forging bonds to C(sp3) atoms that are as useful for the preparation of bioactive molecules as those long known for C(sp2) atoms. By enabling new methods for the synthesis of novel, potentially bioactive molecules, this research will advance the discovery of new molecules for the study and treatment of disease.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
