Premium
Concise Total Syntheses of Bioactive Alkaloids Enabled by Development or Application of Cascade Reactions: A Personnel Adventure
Author(s) -
Xie Xingang,
She Xuegong
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chinese journal of chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1614-7065
pISSN - 1001-604X
DOI - 10.1002/cjoc.202000522
Subject(s) - total synthesis , chemistry , biochemical engineering , adventure , nanotechnology , computer science , organic chemistry , artificial intelligence , engineering , materials science
Abstract Design and development of new tactics and strategies to improve synthetic efficiency is a hot topic and main concern in nowadays’ chemical synthesis of bioactive natural products. Cascade reactions, which construct several bonds in one step via an orchestrated sequence, have been regarded as an important tactic to rapidly increase the molecular complexity, therefor to improve the synthetic efficiency. In this perspective account, we demonstrated and highlighted the significance of cascade reaction developments and applications in concise syntheses of bioactive alkaloids based on our own recent adventure in this research field. What is the most favorite and original chemistry developed in your research group? Total synthesis of bioactive natural products is the most favorite chemistry in my research group and development or application of new strategies to improve the synthetic efficiency is the most original chemistry developed in my research group. How do you get into this specific field? Could you please share some experiences with our readers? My PhD project was total synthesis of bioactive natural lignans and I devoted myself into synthetic methodology development during my postdoctoral research period. In my opinion, a highly efficient synthetic method will greatly shorten the synthetic route and improve its efficiency for a target‐oriented total synthesis. On the other hand, target‐oriented total synthesis is the best platform to evaluate the practical value of a synthetic method. So I choose total synthesis of natural products and target‐oriented synthetic methodology development as my research fields when I began my independent research. How do you supervise your students? When the students start their projects, I discuss the research subjects with them once a month. Every Saturday night we hold a group meeting to learn and discuss the most recent published literatures related to our research. I give more encouragement when the students meet difficulties in their research. Then we try to solve the difficulties together. What is the most important personality for scientific research? In my view, diligence and persistence are the most important personalities for scientific research. What's your hobby? What's your favorite book(s)? Reading. My favorite book is Sapiens‐a brief history of humankind . How do you keep balance between research and family? I usually spend six days (from Monday to Saturday) on research work. On Sunday I will cook some delicious food and enjoy it with my family. My wife understands and supports my work very well. She has done a lot for our family.