NIH Funds Alkaloid Synthesis Research
Professor Corey Stephenson and his group have received a 5-year, $1.7 million award from the National Institutes of Health (NIGMS) to develop novel catalytic approaches to the synthesis of alkaloid natural products. These visible light-mediated methods provide innovative avenues toward challenging molecular architectures with broad biological activity.
The Stephenson Group focuses on performing syntheses in an environmentally conscious way. By using visible light, they prepare waste-free, non-toxic “reagent” complex natural products. Since most organic molecules do not absorb visible light, they can use photosensitive catalysts (widely studied for their photophysical properties) to carry out transformations under mild conditions in the presence of otherwise reactive functional groups. These new chemical reactions will enable the synthesis of biologically active natural products implicated in cancer, infection, and cardiovascular disease.
