Novel Electrochemical and Chemical Methods in Synthesis of Organic Compounds of Interest for Medicine and Material Chemistry

This project involves development and implementation of the novel and improvement of the known electrochemical and chemical methods of organic synthesis. The reactions to be studied have been selected to provide synthesis of compounds potentially interesting for medicine and material chemistry. The investigations devoted to electroorganic techniques will involve anodic generation of electrophilic species (free or “positive” halogens, PhS+ and PhSe+) capable of reacting with the unsaturated and aromatic natural products and/or their derivatives (cholesterol and similar steroids, protected glycals, physcion, emodin and similar natural anthraquinones, estrogens, etc.). Our recent findings (Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2009, 19, 1093; Bioorg. Chem. 2010, 38, 26; Polyhedron 2010, 29, 1863) that the large group of ferrocene derivatives containing a pyrazole ring or a sulfide group exhibit the distinct biological activity, prompted us to plan the synthesis of the new ferrocene derivatives containing diverse structural fragments, like heterocyclic ring(s), sulfide, hydroxyl and amino group, etc., and to examine their antimicrobial, antioxidant and anticancer activity. Some of compounds planned to be synthesized could serve as good bidentate ligands capable of coordinating with different metal ions. We plan to synthesize some transition metal complexes with these ligands and test them as the catalysts in some known reactions (Suzuki and Heck reactions, catalytic hydrogenation, etc.).