Introduce

The total synthesis of natural products has long served as a principal driving force for discovering new chemical reactivity, evaluating physical organic theories, testing the power of existing synthetic methods, and enabling biology and medicine.  Research in our group continues in that tradition, with efforts focused in particular on developing reactions, reagents, and strategies to rapidly assemble entire collections of natural products in hopes of gaining a fuller understanding of their biochemical potential.  Over the past decade, these efforts have afforded access to numerous classes of compounds, including halogenated materials, diverse polycyclic and stereochemically dense alkaloids, non-functionalized terpenes, and oligomeric polyphenols.  This talk will present recent advances and discoveries, focused particularly on structurally unique terpene and alkaloid-based targets.