Thomas Maimone

Synthetic Organic Chemistry — Natural product total synthesis, Synthetic methods development, Medicinal chemistry and translational synthesis

Synthesis is the unifying theme of our group—total synthesis, new methods for organic synthesis, the synthesis of new catalyst architectures, and the synthesis of unique chemotypes for translational drug discovery applications. In the former area, we are actively pursuing innovative solutions to the total chemical synthesis of a number of complex, biologically active natural products. The identification and realization of powerfully simplifying transformations, which allow for rapid access to the target structure, is a major driving force of our research program. In addition, the interplay between structure and function, and target identification studies are also of particular interest and target selection typically reflects these objectives. In a second area, we are interested in exploring unorthodox approaches to catalyst design for transition metal-mediated and other catalytic processes. Traditional metal/ligand catalyst systems often feature rigid ligands with well-defined steric and electronic parameters. We are interested in the synthesis and study of fluxional ligand structures with the potential to access many different steric and electronic states during catalysis. Finally, our group has interest in covalent drug/probe discovery, particularly for targeting historically recalcitrant protein classes. We explore architecturally distinct chemical chemotypes (both fully synthetic and natural product-inspired) and study these molecules in collaboration with experts in biology and medicine.