The Organic Synthesis Core prepares novel, specialized organic compounds that are not readily obtainable from commercial sources for faculty in the Center for Molecular Medicine as well as other investigators at the University of Kentucky, other Kentucky universities. The core has all of the appropriate equipment needed to prepare small organic compounds (<2 kDa) along with access to appropriate analytical techniques, including NMR and mass spectrometry, for confirming structural assignments to characterize the final product(s), an essential element of any synthesis project. The core has synthesized and characterized novel probes for more than twenty-five investigators including photoactive drug analogs, fluorescent compounds used as molecular probes, modified natural products, unnatural peptides, and compounds used for the affinity purification of proteins. The core has developed small molecule libraries that have been effectively used for ligand and drug screening leading to the identification of novel targets and the development of therapeutics. In Phase III this core will continue to provide novel small-molecule probes for disease-relevant studies, further develop and expand its libraries of small-molecules for biological screening, and promote and facilitate the use of small-molecule approaches in our translational research efforts. In addition, the core will provide training opportunities for students and researchers who seek to learn synthetic organic chemical techniques and apply them to their research projects. An important but potentially overlooked aspect of the Organic Synthesis Core is that it does not compete with pharmaceutical companies, rather the services provided by the core complement what private enterprises do. Generally, a potentially valuable, new compound developed by the core in collaboration with an investigator will be patented and then licensed to a pharmaceutical company for development and testing leading ultimately to clinical trials.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 43 publications
