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Research Summary
Although it may not be widely appreciated by the general public, synthetic organic chemistry is a cornerstone of modern society. From pharmaceuticals to materials to fuels, organic synthesis is the intellectual discipline that allows for the rational preparation of a vast array of chemicals that help drive our lives and our economy. Moreover, organic synthesis is the mechanism by which the molecular “tools” that other scientists require are prepared. As such, organic synthesis is integral to a diversity of scientific fields, enabling many of the breakthroughs that are achieved in areas such as biochemistry, molecular biology, oncology, material science, and nanotechnology, to name a few. With these facts in mind, there can be little argument against the importance of basic research in synthesis, which leads directly to fundamental advancements in our ability to prepare new substances.
The mission of our group is to discover new strategies, methods, and reagents that allow complex organic molecules to be prepared with greater speed, efficiency, and elegance. This general goal is pursued through investigations in areas that include catalysis, method development, and natural product synthesis.
More specifically, our group is seeking solutions to what we view as some of the most challenging and important problems in synthesis today. Some of the projects we are working on include the functionalization of unactivated C-H bonds, the development of new complexity-building cycloadditions, and the total synthesis of complex natural products (e.g. haouamine A, gaudichaudiic acid G, cephalotaxine, magellanine, penifulvin).
As a major part of our program, natural product synthesis serves as a venue not only to investigate the scope and utility of our new reaction methodologies, but also to inspire us to develop creative solutions to the challenges that Nature provides in the form of complex molecular architecture. Furthermore, our efforts in total synthesis are generally focused on molecules that have some demonstrated biological activity (antitumor, antibiotic, neurotrophic, anti-HIV, etc.). In this way, once we have answered our primary questions pertaining to chemistry (in the form of a completed synthesis), we may then use the expertise that we have gained to further investigate the biological or perhaps even medicinal properties of these molecules and their related analogues. Although this aspect of total synthesis is often paid lip-service to, we strongly view biological collaboration as one of the most direct and influential ways that our advances in chemistry can impact outside of our scientific area.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, students and postdoctoral fellows in the Lambert group have the opportunity to receive hands-on training in a broad range of synthetic aspects that include asymmetric catalysis; total synthesis; reaction design and development; molecular recognition; geometric control; transition metal, Lewis acid, and organocatalysis; and catalyst design.
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"Total Synthesis of UCS1025A," Lambert T. H.; Danishefsky, S. J., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 128, 426
"Olefin Cross-Metathesis: A Powerful Tool for Constructing Vaccines Composed of Multimeric Antigens," Wan, Q.; Cho, Y. S.; Lambert, T. H., J. Carbohydrate Chem. 2005, 24, 425
"Development of a New Lewis Acid-Catalyzed [3,3]-Sigmatropic Rearrangement: The Allenoate-Claisen Rearrangement," Lambert, T. H.; MacMillan, D. W. C., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 13646.
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