This research project further explores the chemistry of vicinal tricarbonyl compounds and their use in synthetic organic chemistry. One aspect of this work involves the application of these tricarbonyls as key electrophilic units in bond-forming reactions, leading to products of timely biological interest. In addition, the chemistry of diacyl nitriles will be studied as novel substrates providing a new body of synthetic methodology applicable to the synthesis of bioactive linear and cyclic peptides.
With this award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program continues its support of the research being conducted by Professor Harry H. Wasserman of Yale University. Professor Wasserman has devised a functional group triad of extraordinary reactivity, and has studied ways to harness its potential for the preparation of complex molecules such as those found in nature. Many of these complex natural products show potential for use in medicine, and the ability to replicate their structures in the laboratory opens up the possibility of altering them in discrete ways in order to determine how they act in living systems. Several of Professor Wasserman's target molecules fall into the class of cyclic peptides, small but intricate molecules which include such familiar examples as the vancomycin antibiotics.
