BIOORGANIC APPROACH TO CATALYSIS
AND BIOACTIVE SMALL MOLECULES
Our laboratory employs primarily organic synthesis to create molecules that either mimic or modulate biological systems. This requires both the analysis of a desired function and an understanding or investigation of the structural and physical properties of the prepared molecules, as well as the biological system. When we arrive at a well-correlated relationship between our desired function (catalysis or bioactivity, in our case) and structure, successful materials may be made and used for synthesis or the understanding or corroboration of biological systems. We have fruitful collaborations with analytical, biological, and material laboratories that have shared goals, but our laboratory also employs a good level of biochemical approaches to develop needed assays and, of course, we use a full range of analytical tools to obtain information regarding the function of new materials.
