Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Combinatorial Chemistry

Combinatorial chemistry has burst on the scene as a valuable tool for the discovery of new drug candidates. The ability to synthesize hundreds of compounds for screening is a useful complement to rational drug design. For a variety of reasons, it is often useful to synthesize members of a combinatorial library on solid supports. One of the fundamental problems with current approaches to the synthesis of molecules on solid support is that the structural complexity of the products is limited by the fact that each reaction product must be obtained in extremely high purity. We are developing a general approach to the synthesis of a variety of transition metal based reagents. These reagents are then used in the synthesis of libraries of organic molecules that are then screened for biological activity. Thus far this approach has been applied to the investigation of anti-cancer, and anti-malaria compounds.

We are also involved in the target orientated total synthesis of molecules that possess interesting biological activity. In collaboration with researchers at UTMB we have selected targets that have relevance in neurochemistry, cancer, pain and infectious disease.