Scissoring The Lipids May Lead To Tuberculosis Vaccine

Monday, July 28, 2014 - 12:20 in Biology & Nature

A new strategy enables molecules to be disconnected essentially anywhere, even remote from functionality.   The organic synthesis strategy, developed by Professor Varinder Aggarwal and Dr Ramesh Rasappan in the School of Chemistry, involves a new method for combining smaller fragments together in which there is no obvious history in the product of their genesis. Their paper describes not only this new strategy, but also its application to the shortest known synthesis, just 14 steps, of hydroxyphthioceranic acid, a key component of the cell wall lipid of the virulent mycobacterium tuberculosis. The method is now being developed to explore the possibility of creating a tuberculosis (TB) vaccine.  read more

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