This award from the Professional Opportunities for Women in Research and Education (POWRE) program for the research and educational activities of Professor Cynthia McClure of Montana State University is supported by funds provided by the National Institutes of Health through interagency transfer to NSF. The research enabled by the POWRE award aims at a new synthetic methodology for production of nitrogen heterocycles of biomedical significance. Professor McClure, an established researcher in organophosphorus chemistry, will undertake exploratory study of the oxa-di-pi-methane photochemical rearrangement of a series of aza-bicyclic systems, with a view to using the reaction as a method for constructing the ring system that is present in a number of pyrrolizidine and indolizidine alkaloid structures. Many of these alkaloids exhibit potent antibiotic and anti-tumor properties. The opportunity afforded through the POWRE program will enhance Professor McClure's research and leadership potential and her educational mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students.
