Dr. Ken Feldman is a new awardee under the Presidential Young Investigators Program, with interests in synthetic organic chemistry. Dr. Feldman's experience was enriched with a stay in industry before joining the staff at the Pennsylvania State University. The emphasis of the research is on the development of novel bond-forming processes useful for the synthesis of complex natural products. The research involves two projects, both of which are designed to effect a multicomponent condensation of a finite and predetermined number of small "monomer" units. By this methodology, one can efficiently construct a complex organic structure from simple precursors. Both projects utilize reaction sequences which include initiation, propagation, and termination stages. By precisely controlling the timing of these three events, one can control the length of the propagation portion of the sequence and hence control the overall number of "monomer" units which are incorporated in the product molecule. Ultimately, these "oligomeric" segments will be useful in the synthesis of natural products which themselves have small segments of repeating molecular units, such as the polyacetate-derived polyene antibiotics.
