University of Tasmania, Australia

Development of new synthetic technology and application to the synthesis of biologically important compounds

The need for synthetic methods for the efficient synthesis of organic molecules is crucial to the development of new drugs. In many cases new reagents are sought that replace toxic substrates or reduce side-reactions and waste products or even to perform transformations that are not currently possible. Projects are available that will involve the development of new synthetic transformations of organic molecules including the reductive transformation of pyrroles and developing the chemical reactivity of cyclopropenes. The methodology will then be applied to the synthesis of biologically important compounds including natural products. The project will involve techniques for the handling and manipulation of organic molecules and modern NMR techniques to characterise compounds.