Dr. William Quintana, Chemistry Department, New Mexico State University, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division under a Faculty Early Career Advancement Award to synthesize amino acids that contain boron polyhedra and to develop educational activities that directly involve students, thus making them more responsible for their own development. By expanding known amino acid preparations, derivatives of alpha-amino acids in which the alkyl group is substituted by a boron containing group will be synthesized. Likewise, the alpha-carbon atom of the amino acid will be replaced by a boron atom to produce boronated amino acids. These compounds then will be characterized by a variety of physical and spectroscopic methods. The educational component emphasizes course development at both the lower and upper undergraduate levels and will include the incorporation of demonstrations, the establishment of study groups, and the initiation of outcomes assessments. Amino acids which are modified to be slightly different from the naturally occurring amino acids have numerous potential applications. Because the modified amino acids resemble the natural ones, they may enter into biological systems but, because of the differences, they will not function exactly as their natural analogs. Consequently, modified amino acids can be used to probe or change biochemical processes. The purpose of the research portion of this project is to develop methods to produce new amino acids that contain boron instead of the usual carbon atoms. These have potential applications as enzyme inhibitors and in Boron Capture Neutron Therapy, a treatment being developed for some cancers. Both the research and the educational portions of this project are designed to serve the significant population of minority students enrolled at New Mexico State University.
