Background |
PhD, Columbia University, 1972
BA, Harvard University, 1969
Alfred P. Sloan Research Foundation Fellow
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow
Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award
Eli Lilly Young Scientist Award
American Cyanamid Award for the Advancement of the Art and Science of Chemical Synthesis
Clark Distinguished Teaching Award
Chemical Manufacturers Association National
ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, 1996
Catalyst Award, 1999 |
Research Description |
The research in our group focuses on modern applications of synthetic organic chemistry to a wide range of problems of biological interest. For example, we're interested in improving how modern diversity-oriented synthesis can be improved and enhanced. The use of combinatorial chemistry to create vast libraries of small molecules for drug discovery and development depends critically on effective methods for making complex structures in relatively few synthetic steps. Multiple component condensation (MCC) reactions such as the Ugi, Passerini, and Mannich reactions are particularly effective at building functionalized, drug-likes tructures from different families of compounds in a single step. Such processes are quite rare in chemistry (you can count the known MCC reactions on your fingers and toes), and we believe that inventing and developing new ones is an important pursuit in academic chemistry. The figure below depicts just a few of the novel one-pot MCC reactions that have been developed recently by our group to transform simple carbonyl compounds to pharmaceutically interesting structures. |
Publications |
G. Zhao, U. C. Deo, B. Ganem, "Selective Fowler Reductions: Asymmetric Total Syntheses of 1sofagomine and Other 1-Azasugars from Methyl Nicotinate," Org. Lett. 2001, 3, 201.
M. A. Clark,, Q. Wang, B. Ganem, "Oxidation of Bicyclic Oxazolidines: Applications to Glycomimetics and Novel Saccharide Derivatives," Tetrahedron Lett. 2002, 43, 347.
Q. Xia, B. Ganem, "An Efficient Synthesis of Substituted Prolines by the Selective Reduction and Reductive Cyanation of 2-Pyrrolidones," Tetrahedron Lett. 2002, 43, 1597.
D. S. Hamilton, Z. Ding, B. Ganem, D. J. Creighton, "Glutathionyl Transferase-Catalyzed Addition of Glutathione to COMC: A New Hypothesis for Antitumor Activity," Org. Lett. 2002, 4 |
