| UTAS Collaborators | School of Chemistry |
|---|---|
| Project Status | Current |
In the School of Chemistry there is a number of projects in Natural Product Chemistry from the isolation and identification of new chemical structures, the synthesis of natural products and new methods for the efficient isolation of compounds from complex mixtures.
Historically man has looked towards nature for the treatment of ailments and plants have been a rich source of chemical compounds that have been used in traditional and modrern medicines. However, there is still need to discover the next generation of anti-cancer, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal colecules and the isolation of natural products from Tasmanian plants provides a potential source of new chemical structures that have the potential to fill this need. Nature has developed chemical synthesis over billions of years and can synthesise compounds of such chemical complexity and beuaty that would be difficult, if not impossible, to perform in a normal laboratory setting. The challenge is isolating and identifying new molecules and the number of unique plant species in Tasmania provides an opportunity to utlise the remarkable chemical synthesis capabilities that nature has developed for it’s own use such as in the synthesis of molecules for communication mechanisms and to fight disease and predators.
In the School of Chemistry we are continuing this search for new and novel chemical
structures by investigating Tasmanian plants as many of these are unique to our state. We are also investigating new techniques of isolating these compounds which move away from historical methods and develop sustainable methods for natural product isolation.
Examples of projects are given below;
For further detail, please refer to the research pages of the staff listed below on the School of Chemistry web site, http://www.utas.edu.au/chemistry/
Members (External)
Dr Jason A Smith: Jason.Smith@utas.edu.au
Dr Chris Hyland: Chris.Hyland@utas.edu.au
Professor Brett Paull: Brett.Paull@utas.edu.au
Professor Pavel Nesterenko: Pavel.Nesterenko@utas.edu.au
Professor Emily Hilder: Emily.Hilder@utas.edu.au
Associate Professor Robert Shellie: Robert.Shellie@utas.edu.au