CHED 1632 |
| Nature has accrued through evolutionary experimentation a vast body of information that is of huge value in addressing a wide range of problems in science. A purpose of biomimetic research is to design or discover agents that emulate the functional performance of natural systems. A further purpose is to use our resultant understanding to go beyond Nature. This lecture will describe how a remarkably complex natural product that is difficult to synthesize can be simplified structurally through function oriented synthesis (FOS) to a designed and readily synthesized agent with activity superior to the natural lead. A related study on breaching biological barriers will focus on remarkable compounds that are highly water-soluble but yet pass easily through a non-polar barrier, enabling or enhancing uptake of attached drugs or probes into cells. The use of these mimetics for new therapeutic applications and real time imaging in animals will be presented. |
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Exploring and Exploiting Nature with Biomimetics
1:30 PM-4:45 PM, Tuesday, March 27, 2007 McCormick Place North -- Room N230A, Level 2, Oral
Division of Chemical Education |