Andrew Pampu

Working on the synthetic development of a compound called Herquline. A genus of Penicillium produces this compound, which has an A and B form. Herquline A can be used as an anti-influenza antibiotic and herquline B can be used to inhibit platelet aggregation. While I hope my research will uncover the reason why the synthetic method differs from the biosynthetic method. Also, I hope to discover a new and more efficient way to produced this compound in a lab setting.

Working on the synthetic development of a compound called Herquline. A genus of Penicillium produces this compound, which has an A and B form. Herquline A can be used as an anti-influenza antibiotic and herquline B can be used to inhibit platelet aggregation. While I hope my research will uncover the reason why the synthetic method differs from the biosynthetic method. Also, I hope to discover a new and more efficient way to produced this compound in a lab setting.

As mentioned in his biography, Andrew is currently working on a projected called "Metal-Catalyzed Coupling of Aryl Bromides and Disubstituted Alkyl Bromides in the Synthesis of Bis-para-anisyl alkanes" with his mentor, Dr. Frederick Heldrich. The goal of the project is to create Bis-para-anisyl alkanes which can then be reduced to [n.0]-meta-cyclophanes, which are tricyclic compounds and are a synthetic model of a biologically active compound, called Mycocylcosin. Mycocyclosin can be reduced via Birch Reduction to yield Herquline. Although not the focus of the experiment, the relation between the meta-cyclophanes and Herquline does provide a overarching application, or relevance, for the synthesis. Herquline A and B, have been shown to exhibit antiviral and antibiotic application for different aspects of medicine such as the inhibition of the influenza virus replication, as well as inhibition of platelet aggregation. Synthesizing the anisyl alkanes will allow Andrew and his mentor uncover information about how changing the carbon-chain length of the non-aromatic ring in the tricyclic compound can influence confirmation angles between the biphenyl component of the compound, as well as probe for stereo-electronic control during the Birch Reduction step, in order to obtain the desired regiochemistry for meta-cyclophanes that most resembles the regiochemistry present in Herquline compounds. Andrew hopes that this project, which has been developed and innovated for over thirty years by his mentor, will result in a publication.