Date of Award
2014
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Chemistry and Biochemistry
First Advisor
Dr. Anne Reeve
Abstract
Aspernigrin A (2) is a secondary metabolite obtained from the fungus Aspergillus niger found on the Mediterranean sea sponge Axinella damicornus. This compound has been seen to exhibit inhibitory properties on the growth of the human colon cancer cell line SW1116, as well as xanthine oxidase, making it a potential drug candidate. Several synthetic schemes have been proposed for the synthesis of aspernigrin A involving the bromination of a methyl group to activate the position for a cross-coupling reaction to join a phenyl group to the more substituted ring of aspernigrin A. One such scheme involves the bromination of 6-methyl-1,4-dihydro-4- oxopyridine-3-carboxylic acid (6), which is synthesized in two steps from 4-hydroxy-6-methyl2-pyrone (3). These two steps, being the reaction of (3) to form 3-(dimethylaminomethylene)-4- oxo-6-methyl-2-pyrone (5) and the reaction of (5) to form 6-methyl-1,4-dihydro-4-oxopyridine3-carboxylic acid (6), have been successfully completed. The third step, bromination of the 6- methyl position of (6), has been attempted but yet to be accomplished.
Recommended Citation
Robertson, Wesley S., "Investigating an Alternate Synthesis Pathway for Aspernigrin A" (2014). Honors Projects and Presentations: Undergraduate. 209.
https://mosaic.messiah.edu/honors/209
