The Chemical Synthesis Program of the NSF Chemistry Division supports the project by Professor Paul Wender in the Department of Chemistry at Stanford University. Professor Wender studies the design and development of new reactions, reagents, catalysts and strategies for the synthesis of organic molecules. Specifically, the reactions connect smaller molecules into more complex structures that contain many rings of carbon atoms. These activities create new knowledge that informs how we strategize about making molecules and understand the chemical steps through which the molecules are formed. The research lays the foundation for longer-term impacts in diagnostics, therapeutics, and materials science. Graduate student research training performs an indispensable role in the growth of students into scientists. Professor Wender trains future scientists, workers and educators, who will go on to address environmental, economic and health problems that are addressable through chemical science.
Professor Wender pursues several projects to develop new ways of thinking about bond formation through the creation of new reactions, reagents and catalysts and through their use in the step-economical synthesis of molecules of interest. In the first, a new class of reagents (cumulene equivalents) is studied and their use in the synthesis of kinase inhibitors is proposed. This project introduces a new way to construct polycycles and illustrates the value of this route in accessing molecules that inhibit the activity of kinases. The second project is directed at the use of ketene equivalents in the construction of functionalized seven-membered rings and their use in the synthesis of tropane alkaloids, molecules of interest due to their biological activity. The third project develops tetramethylene ethane equivalents, which are reagents that enable step economical synthesis of numerous basic building blocks of synthesis. This study is coupled to the synthesis of a new family of solvochromatic dyes, agents that can sense their molecular environment and "report" optically through changes in their fluorescence. Finally, the project also seeks to develop new catalysts that would operate in water, an environmentally attractive solvent for synthesis and a necessary solvent for studies of catalysis in biological systems. These catalysts could be used to target cells and organs by enabling the catalytic release of small molecule sensors and drugs. These projects provide an comprehensive training program, exposing students to the fundamentals of chemical structure, mechanism and synthesis, while at the same time creating new knowledge that provides connections to applications of societal value. The PI and his coworkers are actively involved in the creation of new courses, web sites, and outreach to high school students that collectively draw on the research proposed in this project.
