This Research Opportunities for Women Research Planning Grant is in the general area of organic chemistry. Dr. Cynthia K. McClure of the Chemistry Department of the University of Delaware will explore two different methods for the synthesis of the nitrogen heterocyclic substructures of alkaloids. One method is the photochemical oxa-di-pi-methane rearrangement of amides and other nitrogen-containing compounds to produce pyrrolizidine and indolizidine alkaloid skeletons. The second method involves the addition of radicals to the nitrogen of imidate esters to form a new carbon-nitrogen bond under non-ionic conditions. If successful, these methods could be used in the total synthesis of biologically active alkaloids and their analogs and a proposal for sustained study in that area could be developed.
