Medicinal Photochemistry: Synthesis and release of bioactive compounds
Title of Project
Medicinal Photochemistry: Synthesis and release of bioactive compounds
Name of Advisor/s
A/Prof Michael Oelgemoeller
College
College of Science & Engineering
Summary of Project
The neglect of organic photochemistry by the industrial R&D community has left a diverse structural pool of possible new lead structures almost completely unexplored. My Group at JCU has developed a series of useful photochemical transformations, which are applied to the synthesis of novel bioactive compounds. In particular, the photodecarboxylative (PDC) addition to phthalimides has been utilized in the synthesis of pharmacologically active alkyl- or arylmethylidene isoindolinones. Members of this important target family possess cardiovascular, anti-cancer and anesthetic properties. An alternative approach deals with photochemical macrocyclizations. The focus of this research area is to study photoinduced cyclization reactions of peptides and peptide analogues. The aims are twofold: (I) to identify new candidates for encapsulation, molecular recognition or sensoring and (II) to synthesize novel peptidomimetics. Interesting biologically active target families are benzodiazepines and pyrrolames. An additional research area deals with the photochemical release of pharmaceuticals, in particular photodynamic therapy (PDT) anti-cancer drugs.
Key Words
medicinal chemistry, organic chemistry, photochemistry, bioactive compounds
Would suit an applicant who
Interest in medicinal, organic and photochemistry.
