Tags: Organic Seminar


Glycosylation Methods in the Total Synthesis of Complex Glycosylated Natural Products

Carbohydrates are the most abundant class of molecules in the biosphere. Glycosylated secondary metabolites play a major role in carbohydrate chemistry expanding the scope of potential drug motifs. Glycosylated natural products are made out of sugars covalently O-, C-, N- or S- linked to the aglycone counterpart. In the course of synthesizing potential glycosidic therapeutics, effective and straightforward regio and stereoselective glycosylation…


Alternatives to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances for Food Packaging

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS’s) are widely used to coat paper and cardboard for food packaging because of their desirable grease, water, and heat resistant properties. However, the US FDA has raised concerns regarding the safety of these materials, citing the potential of degradation products to persist in rodents after repeated exposure, and known health risks of similar molecules. 1 In recent years, the US FDA and the EPA have…


Aminoglycoside Antibiotic Derivatization and Glycosidase Transition State Stabilization through Substrate Side Chain Restriction

The first half of the talk focuses on aminoglycoside antibiotics, highly active protein synthesis inhibitors that impact a wide range of both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. Though these drugs have many benefits and currently find use in the clinic, they can bring about reversible nephrotoxicity and irreversible ototoxicity. Thanks to its unusual structure, the aminoglycoside apramycin, while less active, exhibits significantly lower…


Higher Order Cycloadditions Accomplished Using Transition Metal Catalysis

Over the years, a common obstacle put in front of chemists has been the ability to construct molecules with medium sized ring structure in a high yielding and selective fashion. These higher order cyclic systems have a variety of problems synthetically with low levels of regioselective, chemoselectivity, stereoselectivity, and high levels of strain inside the scaffolds. There are very few examples of larger than six-membered rings easily…


Organo Boronates, Phosphates, and Sulfates Synthesized by Fluoride Exchange Reaction and Their Applications in Vitrimer System

Sulfur-fluoride exchange (SuFEx) reaction was first demonstrated by Sharpless and his co-workers1 in 2014. SuFEx is now considered as the second generation of click chemistry. It was established on the silicon centers, which can activate the exchange of S-F bonds for S-O bonds. A strong base, like triazabicyclodecene (TBD), was usually considered as the catalyst of SuFEx. Since then, we started to explore the possibility of the reaction between…


Light-Induced Hydrogen Sulfide Release from o-Naphthoquinone Methide Precursors (NQMPs)

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is one of the important gasotransmitters, a family of small gaseous signaling molecules. According to recent publications, hydrogen sulfide possesses anti-inflammatory,1 anti-tumor,2 cardiovascular protective,3 and antioxidant4 activities. However, the biological response to H2S strongly depends on H2S concentration and the specific site in the system.5 The use of H2S gas or inorganic sulfides is problematic due…


Introduction to the Organic Seminar


Improvement of Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate Nucleation for Use in Waterborne and Biologically Degradable Polymer Coating

Single-use plastics plague our oceans as landfills overflow and waste is mismanaged. Jambeck et al estimated that only 30% of all plastic ever produced are currently in use, and in 2015 only 9% was recycled.[1] The packaging and single-use plastics industry are two main contributors to this ever increasing amount of plastic production and pollution. To reduce waste accumulated in landfills the single-use abuse of environmentally persisting…


Cis/trans Photoisomerization: From Photoswitches to Light-Activated Molecular Rotary Motors

Over the past few decades synthetic chemists were striving to make a leap from simple molecular switches to molecular systems with controlled dynamic behavior. These research efforts were inspired by directional motion in living systems that are key to almost every essential process in the cell. The structure of molecular rotary motors resembles the layout of macroscopic electric motors which are widely used to convert energy into motion.…


TBA - Timothy Henkel

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