Medicinal Chemistry Shared Resource (MCSR)

Educational Support

Lecture on Synthesis (Chem-502): Chemistry plays a central and highly interdisciplinary role in the sciences and synthesis is the core discipline that sets the stage for the highest level of creativity and future discoveries. Understanding the synthesis and the individual functionalities, including their stereochemical relationships, of organic compounds provides the basis for developing new matter and it enables a chemist to deduce physicochemical properties, reactivity and biological activity from the molecular structure. With this in mind, mechanistic and synthetic aspects as well as applications of important reactions and methodologies will be discussed. This knowledge will be utilized to develop strategies towards the synthesis of multifunctional organic compounds including natural products. Through retrosynthetic analysis of selected target compounds using the so-called disconnecting approach you will learn to systematically convert a complex structure into synthons (ideal building blocks) and to rationally plan synthesis.

Training on experimental techniques, synthesis planning and execution, structure identification and compound characterization is available in the laboratory.