Synthetic Organic Chemistry Core

The Synthetic Organic Chemistry Core (SOC) was established within the Sealy Center for Molecular Science and is an integral part of the NIEHS Center at UTMB. The SOC 1) provides an on-campus cost-efficient chemical synthesis facility with expertise in synthesis of defined chemical DNA lesions and other organic molecules for biological and medical research which are unavailable elsewhere or prohibitively expensive commercially, and 2) to reduce costs for this service by sharing this resource campus wide and externally among several research groups. The SOC program for achieving these goals utilizes known literature methods and develops new methods and protocols when necessary for the synthesis of modified nucleosides representing known site-specific DNA damage and also develops methods and protocols for purifying and analyzing these defined products. Services in the past funding year

The Director of the SOC is Dr. Richard P. Hodge, Ph.D., a Scientist in the Sealy Center for Molecular Science. He and the other members of the SOC, Ms. Linda C. Hackfeld, M.S., (Research Associate II) and Ms. Misty Renevy (Research Assistant II), provide scientific expertise and technical support for the NIEHS center Investigators in conducting a wide range of organic chemistries, purification methods and analyses. The SOC is housed in Room 2.205 of the Basic Science Bldg., adjacent to the Truman Blocker Medical Research Bldg. and the NIEHS Center at UTMB. The SOC is a 700-sq. ft. full service synthetic organic chemical facility utilizing state of the art equipment capable of carrying out multistep organic syntheses from mg to 100g scales. Capabilities include reactions up to 2L volumes, temperature controlled reactions from -78oC to 200oC, photochemical reactions, rotary evaporation and lyophilizations up to 5L, flash and gravity feed chromatography of up to 3Kg of media, oligonucleotide syntheses from 20nM to 30uM scale, Analytical and Preparative HPLC and Karl-Fischer water titrations.

The SOC has been providing valuable synthesis services to the NIEHS Center at UTMB for the past 8 years. In the past funding year, the BRFC provided services to 13 NIEHS Center Investigators (Table C). Modified DNA synthesis service has been highly utilized by the DNA Repair & Mutagenesis Research Core, as evidenced in Table C by usage by the Prakash's and Gorenstein groups. Small molecule synthesis requests have steadily increased in the Biotransformation Research Core, as evidenced by work requests from the Ansari, Xie, Fox and Halpert groups. The SOC has also been used to some extent by the Srivastava research group in the Oxidative Stress & Signaling Research Core, and also by the Asthma Pathogenesis Core (Brasier) and the Biomolecular Resource Facility Core (Kurosky) – the latter to develop reagents for use in key services they provide to the Center. The SOC has also provided services to the Vanderbilt NIEHS Center for Dr. Stone in synthesis of large scale amounts of butadiene – oligonucleotide conjugates for NMR study. The immediate benefit of the SOC to Center Investigators is that the Center grant pays one-half the reagent costs associated with any service provided by the SOC to Center members. The core enhances the Center by providing access to and expertise in organic synthesis as well as operation and maintenance of equipment that would be prohibitively expensive to Center members if duplicated in individual Center Investigator's laboratories.

Core Director and Members

Richard P. Hodge, Ph.D., Director, Synthetic Organic Chemistry Service Core, Scientist, Sealy Center for Environmental Health & Medicine

Linda C. Hackfeld, M.S., Member, Synthetic Organic Chemistry Service Core, Research Associate II, Sealy Center for Environmental Health & Medicine

Misty Renevy, B.S., Member, Synthetic Organic Chemistry Service Core, Research Associate I, Sealy Center for Environmental Health & Medicine

Important Links

SOCC http://research.utmb.edu/starline/research/resres/synthetici.htm

SOCC http://www.scms.utmb.edu/cores/soccl/index.htm

SOCC Forms & Pricing http://www.scms.utmb.edu/cores/soccl/forms.htm