New Methods to Access Enantioenriched Heterobicyclic Scaffolds

This collaborative project between Kerr, Lindsay, and GSK will explore new methods towards the rapid preparation of enantioenriched heterobicyclic scaffolds via a cross coupling-ozonoloysis-reductive amination strategy. Such polar, three-dimensional structures have attracted considerable pharmaceutical interest in recent years, due to their favourable physical properties and occupation of underexplored regions of chemical space. The science is underpinned by Kerr's earlier development of magnesium-mediated methods for asymmetric deprotonation. GSK will bring expertise in identifying relevant pharmaceutical targets and desirable molecular architectures for application of emerging new methods, as well as key knowledge and facilities as related to high throughput chemistry and informatics. Ultimately, this project will deliver methods to rapidly prepare highly substituted organic end-products, which would be challenging (or require lengthier routes) to access via other means, and which could represent new drug scaffolds.
The main EPSRC research areas addressed are Catalysis, Chemical Reaction Dynamics and Mechanism, and Synthetic Organic Chemistry.