Paul Floreancig

Natural Product Synthesis as an Entry to New Method Development and Biological Studies

The rigor of natural product synthesis continues to inspire new method development and to deliver compounds that provide insights into biological activity. This seminar will detail three studies that support this statement. Specifically, the talk will focus on 1) the extension of an approach to allylic alcohol transposition reaction to an efficient synthesis of the spliceosome inhibitor herboxidiene and an analog that provides insight into the biologically relevant conformation, 2) the advancement of unimolecular reactions that proceed through oxidative C–H functionalization to a bimolecular process for spiroacetal synthesis leading to the synthesis of the actin-binding cytotoxin bistramide A, and 3) the path from designing a multicomponent protocol for the synthesis of pederin and psymberin to understanding the structure-activity relationships of these compounds and a move into oxidative cargo release.