New Strategies and Catalysts for an Economic Access to Highly Functional Asymmetric Macrocycles

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ludger A. Wessjohann
• Subject Area: Organic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: from 2003 to 2008
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5407883

The aim of the project is the design and elaboration of rapid, efficient and waste-minimized strategies and tools for the synthesis of asymmetric, highly functionalized macrocycles of a molecular weight range of ca. 500 to 2000. Up to eight building blocks will be combined and cyclized in a one pot fashion. The overall process including the synthesis of the building blocks will not include the loss of a single carbon, ideally only water or in the case of enzyme applications the respective activation groups (e.g. diphosphate) are released. Even the designed chemical catalysts should either be recoverable due to immobilization, and/or be metal free. This will be achieved by natural product derived di- or polyfunctional building blocks, multiple or multiple-interlocked multi-component reactions -initially mostly of UGI-type-, new cyclization processes (by multi-component and enzyme-catalyzed cyclization reactions), the study of new catalytic systems for multi-component-reactions and combinations of all of the above.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Netherlands
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Romano V. A. Orru