Don M. Coltart
Office: 3219 FFSC
Phone: (919) 660-1522
E-mail: 
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Research Interests
Interfacing organic chemistry and biology provides exciting and powerful opportunities for addressing important scientific problems. My research interests center on combining these areas of science in order to make meaningful advances in each discipline. Broadly speaking, this will be done both by applying biological principles to the development of new synthetic methodology and other chemically-based processes, as well as bringing the principles and tools of organic chemistry to bear on important problems in biology, including the synthesis of biologically-active natural products. In other words, we will explore both faces of bioorganic chemistry. Synthetic organic chemistry plays a central and defining role in all of our research efforts. Indeed, many aspects of our research plans are specifically aimed at the total synthesis of natural products, either directly or indirectly. However, in such cases the final objective is generally not the synthesis of the natural product, which in and of itself can be a worthwhile and challenging goal. Instead, the completed synthesis marks the transition point into biological investigations. Hence, projects and targets are chosen with regard to both their chemical and biological significance and potential. Of particular interest is the development of operationally simple, stereoselective approaches to carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bond formation, and their synthetic applications, as well as practical and general techniques for preparing glycopeptides relevant to the study of glycobiology. We also seek to take lessons from Nature in terms of how it carries out certain functions, and apply those lessons to the development of new chemistry. The biochemical reactions of Nature provide a rich source of inspiration in this regard. Years of evolution have led to the refinement of these reactions, and much can be learned from the way they are carried out. In this aspect of our research, we hope to take advantage of this evolutionary investment by exploring certain promising “leads” suggested by Nature in areas such as catalytic asymmetric carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bond formation, particularly in the context of organocatalysis, and receptor–ligand interactions in the development of things such as antibody mimetics, targeted drug delivery systems, and medical diagnostics.
Publications
Most recent publications in PubMed