Professor SONG, Choongeui Research Team of Sungkyunkwan University has discovered Gamma amino acid synthesis method
- 자연과학대학
- Hit3486
- 2017-02-15
Professor SONG, Choongeui Research Team of Sungkyunkwan University has discovered a groundbreaking synthetic method for synthesizing novel gamma amino acid derivatives with an all-carbon quaternary stereogenic center.
Gamma amino acids are widely used in various neurological and psychiatric disorders. One of those is pregabalin having a tertiary carbon chiral center of Pfizer, a global pharmaceutical company for treating epilepsy, peripheral neuropathic pain and anxiety.
The synthesis of new gamma amino acid derivatives is an area of continuous research and effort in the pharmaceutical industry to reduce side effects and improve drug efficacy. However, although gamma amino acids with quaternary carbon chiral centers are expected to have better pharmacological effects, they have not been able to overcome the synthetic difficulties.
As a result of the study, new gamma amino acid derivatives are expected to be available for the development of new drugs in the therapeutic drug group using gamma amino acid. According to the results of this study, hydrophobic hydration, which occurs when water is used as a reaction medium in the in vivo reaction, is precisely controlled using a hydrophobic organic catalyst. It has become possible to produce gamma amino acid derivatives having quaternary carbon chiral centers which could not be synthesized in existing method. As a result, research on related drugs has become more active and the first steps toward the development of new drugs have been made.
Professor Song, who led the research, said, "It will have a tremendous impact on academia by introducing a new biomimetic methodology that will enable not only the synthesis of new gamma amino acids but also reactions that have seemed to be impossible.
This research was carried out with the support of the Basic Research Center and the Advanced Research Project of the Korea Research Foundation. The permanent achievement was published in the online edition of Angewandte Chemie International Edition(http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201611466/full), the world's top scientific journal. In addition, process patents and material patents for related technologies are currently filed.
Original article: http://edu.donga.com/?p=article&ps=view&at_no=20170125155206452752