Thomas Snaddon
Indiana University, IN·Chemistry
Many drug candidates are complex three-dimensional molecules, and their atoms must be arranged in one specific 3D form. Chemists can now make very complex molecules, but preparing stereochemically complex ones in useful amounts is still very difficult and costly.
- Fields
Chemistry
Pharmacology
- Topics
organic chemistry
synthetic methodology
catalysis
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Sep 2027
What they work on
- Develop enantioselective Lewis base-catalyzed reactions, using catalysts that donate an electron pair, to build fluorinated C(sp3) stereogenic centers while controlling which mirror-image form is made.
- Design cooperative reactions in which a Lewis base and a transition metal catalyst act together. Test whether this pairing gives greater control over reactivity and stereoselectivity than either catalyst alone.
- Establish routine, flexible synthetic protocols for preparing valuable fluorinated molecular scaffolds of the kind found in therapeutics, biological probes and their synthetic intermediates.
- Use cooperative catalysis to discover reactions with new mechanisms that control which group reacts, at which position, and with what 3D arrangement (chemo-, regio- and stereocontrol).
More about the research
This slows the development and manufacture of medicines. The long-term goal is a general, modular and easy-to-use toolbox of stereoselective reactions, which produce one 3D arrangement of atoms over the others.
Why it matters
Drug candidates increasingly have complex 3D structures that are hard and costly to make. Routine, reliable methods for building fluorinated and non-fluorinated stereogenic carbon centers could help chemists prepare lead compounds, biological probes and key intermediates more efficiently. This could speed the design, development and manufacture of new medicines.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Brian Stoltz
California Institute of Technology, CA·Chemistry
Develop new stereoselective reactions that produce densely substituted, enantioenriched building blocks for synthesizing complex molecules.
Ming Chen
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, VA·Chemistry·Early-career
Develop asymmetric transformations of 1,1-bisborylalkanes bearing two chemically distinct boron groups on one carbon, so that each group can be activated separately to attach fragments in a chosen order.
Mark Biscoe
CUNY City College, NY·Chemistry
Develop palladium- and copper-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions that transfer handedness from enantioenriched secondary alkylboron reagents to new carbon centers with predictable retention or inversion.
The school
Indiana University: 21 labs on PI Pages, $897M a year on research, 438 research doctorates a year.
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