A new approach to chemical synthesis
MIT chemists have devised a new way to synthesize a complex molecular structure that is shared by a group of fungal compounds with potential as anticancer agents. Known as communesins, these compounds have shown particular promise against leukemia cells but may be able to kill other cancer cells as well. The new synthesis strategy, described in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, should enable researchers to generate large enough quantities of these compounds to run more tests of their anticancer activity. It should also allow scientists to produce designed variants of the naturally occurring communesins, which may be even more potent. “This is just the foundation,” says Mohammad Movassaghi, an MIT professor of chemistry and the paper’s senior author. “We’ve laid the foundation for implementation of this strategy to access other variations, both natural and nonnatural.” Communesins are a unique family of polycyclic and complex naturally occurring alkaloids. One of the major...