This award is Career Advancement Award in the Organic Dynamics Program of the Chemistry Division. With these funds, Dr. Loraine Deck of the University of New Mexico will synthesize haloenol lactones, potential inhibitors of pancreatic cholesterol esterase, which are expected to bind covalently to the active site and cause permament inactivation of the enzyme. Bioassays will be conducted to verify the expected inhibition. The understanding of intermolecular interactions in biochemical processes is necessary before any clinical utility based upon them can rationally be developed. This work will study ways to understand, predict, and control enzyme-inhibitor interaction of a series of potential inhibitors of activity of a particular enzyme.
