Acquisition of a Supercritical Fluid Chromatography Mass Spectrometer System

Project Summary This proposal requests funding to purchase a Waters Acquity UltraPerformance Convergence Chromatography (UPC2) system equipped with photodiode array and single-quadruple mass spectrometer detectors. The instrument will be used to characterize the numerous novel molecules synthesized at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison, and will be located in the Department of Chemistry Synthesis and Catalysis Center. Projects that will be supported by this instrument are addressing fundamental biological questions and challenges in drug synthesis. The Yoon group is developing new general strategies for the controlled

photochemical synthesis of complex organic molecules and small-molecule therapeutics. The Stahl group develops new oxidation and oxidative coupling reactions that form carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds with broad impact in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery. Research in the Wickens group combines electro-

and photochemical methods to selectively transform simple and inexpensive molecules into compounds of medicinal importance, facilitating the development and large-scale preparation of new pharmaceuticals while simultaneously reducing the cost of life-changing medicines. The Schomaker group uses mechanistic insight to

tune the reactivities of unusual intermediates to achieve mild, versatile syntheses of stereochemically rich, densely functionalized N-hetero- and carbocycles, including those in bioactive molecules that bind to specific ribosomal subunits. The synthesis of macrocyclic compounds displaying stable axial chirality that play important

roles in biology and medicine is the focus of research in the Gellman lab, where new bifunctional foldamer catalysts are being developed to exploit non-traditional peptide scaffolds that orient reactive groups to achieve high stereoinduction during macrocyclization. The Martell group's growing research program is developing hybrid

biological-synthetic catalysts consisting of three-dimensional, self-assembled DNA and protein scaffolds as catalysts for stereo- and regio-selective transformations, coupling reactions, and the tagging of endogenous proteins to locate the specific subcellular regions where they reside. And, the Blackwell group is addressing the

urgent global need for new antimicrobial therapies with an integrated research program at the interface of chemistry and biology focused on chemical signaling pathways that allow bacteria to act as a group at high cell densities and activate behaviors that significantly impact human health, including the initiation of deadly

infections. The ultimate goal of all these projects is to find ways to improve human health by discovering new therapies and drugs.