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Professor Richard Taylor

The Total Synthesis of Compounds of Biological Importance:

The Design and Development of New Synthetic Methods

We are involved in two main areas of research which are often interlinked. The first is the synthesis of natural product and related compounds of biological interest. In order to carry out efficient target molecule synthesis, it is often necessary to develop new synthetic methodology. This leads on to the second main research area, the development of new synthetic transformations, particularly those using organometallic and organosulfur reagents.  We are also interested in the design of new telescoped and cascade organic transformations (including tandem oxidation processes, TOP) with environmental benefits.

A number of natural product targets are currently being pursued including the potent anticancer and antibiotic agents including ajudazol A colletofragarone A, daphnezomine N, dictyosphaeric acid, grandisine B, integrastatin A, janoxepine, oxazolomycin A and 'upenamide (see below).

In terms of methodology the following areas are of current interest:

• The development of new Cu(II)-catalysed Ar-H activation routes to oxindoles
• The development of novel palladium catalysts for coupling reactions
• Triple Diels-Alder cascade sequences to generate polycyclic amines
• Convergent acyliminium methodology for diversity in heterocyclic scaffolds

For a detailed description of the group’s activities please visit the Taylor Group web pages

3D view of (-)-grandisine B: A natural product synthesised in our group

Selected Recent Publications

• The Emergence of Palladium(IV) Chemistry in Synthesis and Catalysis.
  I J S Fairlamb, P Sehnal and R J K Taylor, Chem. Rev., 2010, 110, 824-889.
• First C−H Activation Route to Oxindoles using Copper Catalysis.
  J E M N Klein, A Perry, D S Pugh and R J K Taylor, Org. Lett., 2010, 12, 3446.
• Synthesis of yomogin using a telescoped α-methylene- γ-butyrolactone annelation procedure.
  R Kitson, G McAllister and R J K Taylor, Tetrahedron Lett., 2011, 52, 561.
• The First Syntheses of (±)-SDEF 678 Metabolite and (±)-Speciosins A–C.
  D R Hookins, A R Burns and R J K Taylor,  Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2011, 451.
• Synthetic Approaches to Enantiomerically Enriched 4-Hydroxycyclohex-2-en-1-one - A Key Chiral Building Block in Complex Natural Product Synthesis.
  A R Burns and R J K Taylor, Synthesis, 2011, 681.