The focus of this work is the development of synthetic routes towards the production of macrocyclic depsipeptides of plant origin. Specific goals are the optimized syntheses of a number of 14-membered cyclopeptide alkaloids containing beta-hydroxy-alpha-amino acids. The targets are mauritine A,, sanjoinine A, integerrenine and hymenocardine. The structural issues of conformation and metal-complexation in these natural products will be addressed also. %%% With this award, the Synthetic Organic Program is supporting the research of Dr. Madeleine M. Joullie of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Joullie will focus her work on the synthesis of a class of natural products known as cyclopeptide alkaloids. The difficulty in isolating the compounds in quantity, from natural sources, makes the work desirable.
