Dr. Alexei Novikov
Associate Professor
M.S., 1995, Higher Chemical College, Moscow, Russia; Ph.D., 2001, Emory University, Atlanta, GA; 2001-2004, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Arizona, Tucson, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
The interests of Dr. Novikov’s research group are synthesis of natural products and development of methods for their synthesis.
Natural products, a general name for chemical compounds originating from plants, animals, or any other natural sources, have long been and still remain a key for discovery of new compounds for medicinal, or any other applications that entail biological activity. While some natural products are easily available in large quantities from their corresponding sources, much more often they are rare and elusive. To fill the demand for their easier availability, the science of organic synthesis arose, dealing with preparation of a compound of a given structure on demand.
The intricate and complex structure of many natural products poses numerous challenges to the field. Two general directions have historically developed – the targeted preparation of a particular compound from simple precursors (total synthesis), and general search for methods that would allow quick and effective assembly of some elements of the structure, without an immediate target in mind, to strengthen the overall available toolkit of methods (synthetic methodology).
In our group we pursue projects in both these directions. In the area of total synthesis our particular interests are relatively small, yet intricate natural products (such as Plakortethers, Massariulactone, and Terpiodiene). Our current interest in the area of synthetic methodology is C-H insertion sulfonyl substrate.
