Preparation and Screening of Bioactive Alkaloids from Alstonia

Research questions being addressed (objectives):
1. Can the cascade chemistry developed in our research group be extended to compounds in which the leaving group is attached to a secondary carbon atom?
2. Can this chemistry be applied to the preparation of alkaloid structures such as those found in several members of the Alstonia genus.
Approach to be taken and physical science content:
The project will involve carrying out synthetic organic chemistry in a research laboratory. The student will prepare novel compounds that will be used for a cascade process where three rings are formed in a single step using a sequence of condensation, cyclization, and dipolar cycloaddition reactions. This is anticipated to allow a rapid, stereocontrolled access to the core ring system found in several alkaloids. If successful, the products will be manipulated to provide the desired alkaloid structures and analogues.