Date/Time
Date(s) - 03/11/2022
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm

Please join us for a department seminar delivered by McMaster’s own Dr. Jakob Magolan. 

This presentation will be provided in hybrid format.

Title: Synthesis of Rare Prenylated Phenolic Natural Products

Date: Thursday, November 3, 2022

Time: 1:30-2:30

Room: ABB 165

Zoom: Please contact chemgrad@mcmaster.ca for Zoom details 

Host: Daniel Hrabowyj

 Abstract: Many prenylated phenolic natural products are of biomedical interest but are prohibitively expensive to enable clinical development or are simply not sold in sufficient quantities from any commercial source. The biosynthetic assembly of these molecules relies on prenyltransferase enzymes that affix lipophilic side chains to aromatic scaffolds with a degree of substrate- and site-selectivity that is generally superior to laboratory methods. Our lab has developed a chemical process that enables the efficient and scalable ortho-selective prenylation of phenols offering unprecedented access to hundreds of rare natural products. This phenolic prenylation leverages a surface-templating effect of alumina to direct the regioselectivity of Friedel-Crafts allylation of phenols with allylic alcohols.   This seminar will include the story of our discovery of this chemistry and its use for efficient total syntheses of several rare phenolic natural products.