Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Heterocyclic compounds are one of the most important classes of molecules that are structurally diverse and found ubiquitously in a variety of synthetic drugs, bioactive natural products, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and other commercial materials. Among them the indole core, widely regarded as "privileged framework," is a prevalent substructure in many natural products and biologically active compounds. Owing to their special significance, indole-based polycyclic compounds attract special attention as a building block for the development of therapeutic agents by medicinal chemists. A plethora of bioactivities surrounding the indole core continue to be a driving force in the development of new methodology to find useful compounds and increase the heterocyle diversity. Thus, the need for development of efficient and practical syntheses of indoles bearing a variety of substitution patterns is of great significance. The objective of my research program is to explore and develop novel and efficient synthetic methodology of indole-fused polycyclic heterocycles bearing a variety of substitution patterns. To achieve this, I am proposing to exploit the chemistries of transition metal catalysis, substrates having C-C multiple bonds, reactive intermediates and cascade/domino cycloaddition reactions. The long-term goal is to expand my program towards natural product, pharmaceutical agents and unique materials synthesis, while diversifying methodology development aspects to other important heterocycles. The proposed studies will lead to novel indole-based molecular architectures with interesting biological properties and 3-D topologies. These molecules could also further serve as template for synthesizing compounds of desired frameworks following a target based synthesis approach. Particular attention will be given to incorporating green properties (such as, clean and quantitative conversion, mild conditions, catalyst recycling, atom economy, one-pot cascade reactions, and low waste production) to methodologies developed in my laboratory in order to advance their practical and commercial importance. Training of highly qualified personnel will be of utmost importance during this endeavor with a commitment to our values of equity, diversity, and inclusion.