Faculty Bibliography

[reaction: see text] Concise total syntheses of the bioactive polypropionates aureothin, N-acetylaureothamine, and aureonitrile are described.

A chiral bidentate olefin ligand L with a 1,4a,5,8a-tetrahydro-naphthalene-2,6-dione framework has been designed, which forms a homoleptic palladium(0) complex L2Pd of unprecedented stability.

The total synthesis of naphthoquinone natural products isolated from the Bignoniaceae plant family is described. Pinnatal, isopinnatal, sterekunthals A and B, pyranokunthones A and B, and anthrakunthone have been prepared along the lines of a biosynthetic proposal involving pericyclic reactions as key steps. The first case of catalysis in oxa 6pi electrocyclizations is reported.

Intramolecular cycloadditions of 5-vinyl-1,3-cyclohexadienes were studied with B3LYP/6-31G(d) density functional calculations. The one-atom tether dictates that the Z substituent becomes exo and the E substituent becomes endo in the TS. The geometry of the cycloaddition TS is typical of a pericyclic transformation except unusual twisting of the dienophile places the endo substituent in a relatively steric-free position and the exo substituent in a highly crowded position. The experimental rate differences between isomeric pairs of vinylcyclohexadienes can be explained by comparing reactant destabilization when a bulky group occupies the Z position of the starting alkene and transition state stabilization when a bulky group is endo in the cycloaddition TS.

The biomimetic synthesis and full structural elucidation of rubicordifolin, a cytotoxic natural product isolated from Rubia cordifolia, is described.

The total synthesis of smenochromene D, an unusual ansa-terpenoid is described. The synthesis features an unprecedented macrocyclization proceeding through a biomimetic electrocyclization. The enantiomeric relationship between smenochromene D and likonide B is established.

Members of a family of alpha-methoxy-gamma-pyrone-containing polypropionate natural products have been stereoselectively synthesized. Two key iodovinyl pyrone building blocks were coupled to appropriately selected vinyl stannanes to assemble the highly substituted polyene side chains of the natural products. [structure: see text]

Neurons have ion channels that are directly gated by voltage, ligands and temperature but not by light. Using structure-based design, we have developed a new chemical gate that confers light sensitivity to an ion channel. The gate includes a functional group for selective conjugation to an engineered K(+) channel, a pore blocker and a photoisomerizable azobenzene. Long-wavelength light drives the azobenzene moiety into its extended trans configuration, allowing the blocker to reach the pore. Short-wavelength light generates the shorter cis configuration, retracting the blocker and allowing conduction. Exogenous expression of these channels in rat hippocampal neurons, followed by chemical modification with the photoswitchable gate, enables different wavelengths of light to switch action potential firing on and off. These synthetic photoisomerizable azobenzene-regulated K(+) (SPARK) channels allow rapid, precise and reversible control over neuronal firing, with potential applications for dissecting neural circuits and controlling activity downstream from sites of neural damage or degeneration.

The total synthesis of (-)-frondosin B, the enantiomer of naturally-occuring (+)-frondosin B, is described, wherein a palladium-catalyzed cyclization is used to establish the tetracyclic ring system of the natural product. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The total synthesis of the molluscan polypropionate (-)-crispatene is described. The synthesis features a palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling to establish a sensitive conjugated tetraene and its Lewis acid-catalyzed cycloisomerization to yield the bicyclo[3.1.0]hexene core of the natural product. The absolute configuration of (-)-crispatene and related molecules is established.