The focus of this research is the development of variants of the Heck reaction, N-sulfinyl dienophile Diels-Alder methodology and catalytic antibody technology for the synthesis of complex natural products. Target molecules include the Lycopodium alkaloids magellanine and magellaninone, the marine alkaloids cylindrospermopsin and agelastatin and asparganine-linked carbohydrates. With this award, the Synthetic Organic Program is supporting the research of Dr. Steven M. Weinreb of the Department Chemistry at Pennsylvania State University. Professor Weinreb will focus his work on the development of methodology for the total synthesis of complex naturally occurring molecules of biological significance.
