A US research team could have found a way to make natural products easier to use and identify in drug studies through use of a rhodium catalyst.

The scientists found that by using the device they were able to more easily establish which parts of molecules are important for bioactivity and which can be tagged, Chemical and Engineering News reports.

The process exploits natural products' alcohol groups and works by activating a bifunctional reagent, through which a rhodium carbenoid immediate is formed, which inserts into an alcohol's O-H bond.

This reaction produces an alkyne to which tags can then be attached in a later stage of the process.

According to the team, which was led by Daniel Romo at Texas A&M University and Jun O. Liu at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, this method is quicker than the standard approach of locating tag attachment points through multistep natural product synthesis.

William H. Fenical, chemistry professor at the University of California, said: "This is a fine contribution. There is no doubt that this exciting new technology will facilitate studies of the biochemical targets of a wider variety of bioactive natural products."

Source: Tagging Natural Products, 01/10/09

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i40/8540notw4.html

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/_img/85/i40/8540notw4img1.gif


Ÿ Adfero Ltd