[Cheese_Burgers]

I'm taking an advanced organic chemistry course this semester that covers the synthesis of natural large molecules. Our final exam is a presentation, laying out a thorough dissection of an advanced synthesis. Are there any particularly interesting synths of natural, organic products that come to mind?!    Thanks

[Sophia7X]

Taxol comes to mind

[408]

What is a "large molecule" in your class?

[trinitrotoluene]

There's an app called Chemistry by Design... I think that is the name. Contains the syntheses for a large number of natural products. I'm sure you can find quite a few interesting syntheses and then check out the literature from there!

Cheers

[Cheese_Burgers]

What is a "large molecule" in your class?

Sorry, large molecule is misleading. To be more specific, I'm looking for a recent total synthesis of a natural organic molecule consisting of 15 to 30 steps. Steps can also be misleading... so far in the class we've explored synthetic routes for prostaglandins PGF2-alpha and PGE2 by E.J. Corey, PGA2 and PGF2alpha by G.Stork. This is a final project due late november so between now and then we will also be learning techniques used in the synthesis of Monensin (by Y.Kishi and also by WC Still), Isocomene(by MC Pirrung), Endiandric Acids(by KC Nicolaou), Asteltoxin(by SL Schreiber), Periplanone B (by WC still), Periplanone B (by SL Schreiber), Hirsutene & delta9(12)-Capnellene (by DP Curran), Gilvocarcin M &V (by K. Suzuki), and finally Strychnine(by LE Overman).

[Dan]

Wiley have published a series of books (KC Nicolaou is an author on all three): Classics in Total Synthesis (1996), Classics in Total Synthesis II (2003) and Classics in Total Synthesis III (2011), which should provide plenty of inspiration.

I would recommend finding them in the library unless you want to make a substantial financial investment....

A free web resource you might find interesting: http://totallysynthetic.com/blog/

[Cheese_Burgers]

Appreciate it! I'll go to my lib now!