Building up antioxidants
Hans-Joachim Knölker, and colleagues from the Technical University of Dresden have developed the first total synthesis of a family of antiostatins. Antiostatins, isolated from a strain of bacteria, are antioxidative agents with potent antibiotic activity. Until now, they have only been available in very small amounts, and therefore have been difficult to study in any depth. But by combining several molecular building blocks together, Knölker has made gram quantities of the final compounds.
‘Our “building-block-system” approach to the antiostatins is highly flexible,’ says Knölker. ‘By exchanging the building blocks, we can prepare structural analogues of the natural products.’
Knölker says that he can now make enough of the target compounds to be able to study the effects of changes to the compounds’ structures on their biological activity. ‘The antibiotic activity observed for many carbazole alkaloids and especially our recent finding of derivatives with an efficient inhibitory activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis will be guiding our investigations in this direction,’ says Knölker.
Original publication: Kerstin E. Knott, Chem. Commun., 2009.
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Topic world Synthesis
Chemical synthesis is at the heart of modern chemistry and enables the targeted production of molecules with specific properties. By combining starting materials in defined reaction conditions, chemists can create a wide range of compounds, from simple molecules to complex active ingredients.
Topic world Synthesis
Chemical synthesis is at the heart of modern chemistry and enables the targeted production of molecules with specific properties. By combining starting materials in defined reaction conditions, chemists can create a wide range of compounds, from simple molecules to complex active ingredients.
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