CAREER: New Uses of Pyridine Ring Opening Reactions and Their Products, and Applications to Natural Product Synthesis

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

Exploitation of the century-old Zincke ring-opening reaction of pyridines for the development of new methods for natural product synthesis is the focus of the research supported by this grant. Specifically, the proposed research involves the further development of methods for converting pyridines into other heterocycles and for generating stereodefined dienes and polycyclic lactams from the pyridine-ring-opened products, called Zincke aldehydes. Each of these reaction types is applicable to problems in natural product synthesis. With this CAREER award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program is supporting the research of Professor Christopher Vanderwal of the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. Professor Vanderwal's research focuses on natural product synthesis and new reaction discovery for applications in the pharmaceutical field. Professor Vanderwal is also seeking to improve informal and formal communication skills for graduate students in chemistry. Key aspects of this program include the introduction of a graduate student hosted seminar series and graduate-level seminar courses, wherein the students present the lecture materials to each other.