Studies toward the total syntheses of highly potent cytotoxic alkaloids
including the bromopyrrole alkaloids and indole alkaloids were conducted and are
described. Studies carried out in the course of this dissertation consist of five total syntheses of natural products that include bromopyrrole alkaloids nagelamide A, D and agelastatin D as...
Verrucarol is the sesquiterpene portion of a number of macrocyclic di- and triesters of potential medicinal importance. In this study, a novel approach to the synthesis of this fungal metabolite is presented. An A-B-C route was investigated in which C-3 and C-4 of the C-ring were emplaced using a [2+2]...
Pelargonium graveolens Ait., rose geranium, contains several oxygenated monoterpenes, most of which are related to each other structurally. In this work, the metabolism and interconversions of these terpenes was investigated. A chromatographic analysis of geranium oil was performed initially for the purposes of identifying the terpenes and determining which chromatographic...
Studies towards the total synthesis of (+)-Phomactin A (1), D (6), and G (9), fungal metabolites with unique molecular architecture and pronounced biological activity, are described. These studies resulted in the synthesis of advanced intermediates 354 and 356, which contain all of the carbon atoms of 1, 6 and 9....
Two approaches to the tricyclic core of the furanoeremophilane sesquiterpenoids are described. The first approach entails a projected Diels-Alder/retro Diels-Alder reaction of an acetylenic oxazole 64. Construction of the pivotal aldehyde 67 commenced from ketone 68. The acetyenic moiety was then introduced via a Felkin-Ahn addition of lithiopropyne to aldehyde...
Coded metrics that compare representations of structures within the human body to evaluate their similarity are considered useful for planning radiation therapy on cancer targets. However, existing metrics fail to take into account the dose of radiation that will be received by both the target, and surrounding non-target tissue, during...
Ultrafast spectroscopy has recently gained momentum as a powerful, noninvasive characterization toolset capable of studying a diverse array of samples with applications in chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, and more. Two popular ultrafast spectroscopic techniques include femtosecond transient absorption (fs-TA) and femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS). The latter of these techniques...
Interesting rovibrational characteristics of two D_(3h) oblate symmetric top molecules were studied. Hamiltonian models for the fine rovibrational level structure of [1.1.1]propellane (propellane) were obtained for many low-lying modes. Ground state parameters (GSP) that are not exclusively K^(2n) dependent were obtained. Initially, the GSP were used in conjunction with density...
Widespread installation of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, has been delayed by the lack of suitable stationary energy storage solutions. Current large-scale technologies, such as pumped hydro and compressed air, are geographically restricted. This is where electrochemical energy storage - batteries or hybrid capacitors can play a...