Research

My work in the Williams group has focused on the total synthesis of naturally occurring alkaloids. My most recent synthetic efforts have been directed toward the total syntheses of two recently discovered secologanin derived compounds: alangiside and javaniside, both of which have shown the ability to mediate Cu(II) dependant DNA strand scission.

My previous work was directed toward the synthesis of the Welwitindolinones (1-10) which are a series of ten novel tetracyclic alkaloids isolated by Stratmann and Moore from the lypophilic extracts of the cyanobacteria Hapalosiphon welwitschii in 1994 and Fischerella muscicola in 1999. These extracts have attracted a great deal of attention due to their larvicidal and antifungal activities and their ability to reverse multiple drug resistance (MDR). The former activities have been linked to welwitindolinone A (1) and the latter to the major component of the algal extract, N-methyl welwitindolinone C isothiocyanate (5) also known as N-methyl welwistatin. It is this alkaloid’s MDR reversing ability along with its unique structural challenges that have attracted our synthetic efforts.