Virtual Lecture: New Strategies for Chemical Synthesis: from Amine Synthesis to Gene Modification

Lecture held on: June 24, 2021

Presenter

Prof. Matthew Gaunt – Yusuf Hamied Professor of Chemistry, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

In the lecture, Prof. Matthew Gaunt described some of his recent work in the development of visible light mediated synthetic transformations. There is evidence to suggest that increasing the level of saturation (number of sp³-hybridized carbon atoms) in small molecules increases the chance of success in the transition from discovery, through clinical studies, to drugs. The increasing demand for such saturated polar molecules in drug discovery, however, has continued to drive development of practical catalytic methods to synthesize complex saturated alkylamines. In particular, processes that transform diverse, accessible feedstocks into structurally diverse sp³-rich architectures provides a strategic advantage in complex alkylamine synthesis. Prof. Gaunt described new platforms for alkylamine synthesis based the discovery and development of distinct activation modes accessible to all-alkyl iminium ions. These operationally straightforward reactions exhibit broad functional group tolerance, facilitates the synthesis of drug like amines and alkaloid natural products not readily accessible by other methods and is amenable to late stage functionalization applications, making it of interest in pharmaceutical research and other areas. In the second part of the lecture, Prof. Gaunt discussed how visible light mediated photocatalysis can be used to affect change on biological macromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. Such transformations enable the assembly of information-rich conjugates with which evolving problems in chemical biology can potentially be addressed.