Synthetic Organic and Organometallic Chemistry

The research efforts in our group are directed toward the development of new reactions that will assist us in the synthesis of biologically important molecules. Our synthetic targets include compounds that are found in nature, as well as unnatural compounds, which display potential therapeutic properties. Some of the disease states that we emphasize are cancer, HIV, arthritic, and other autoimmune dieseases. Our projects fall into three main categories:

1. New Organic Reactions Mediated by Eco-friendly Indium and Bismuth
2. New Stereoselective Reactions Catalyzed by Transition Metals
3. Total Organic Synthesis of Biologically Active Compounds/Medicinal Chemistry

For more information about our projects, visit our group home page.

Selected Publications

"Atom Transfer Cyclization Catalyzed by InCl3 via Halogen Activation"
Cook, Gregory R. and Hayashi, Ryuji
Org. Lett. 2006, 8, 1045.

"Tandem Palladium-Catalyzed Allene Arylation and Oxazoline Formation "
Cook, Gregory R. and Xu, Wei
Heterocycles 2006, 67, 215-232. Special Edition Honoring Prof. Trost

"Hydrogen Bond Directed Palladium-Catalyzed Allylic Substitution of Cyclic Substrates"
Cook, Gregory R.; Saraswathiamma, Manjusha
Tetrahedron Lett. 2005, 38, 6491.

"Catalytic Enantioseletive Indium-Mediated Allylation of Hydrazones"
Cook, G. R.; Kargbo, R.; Maity, B.
Org. Lett., 2005, 7, 2767.

"Synthesis and Evaluation of Novel Oxazoline MMP Inhibitors"
Cook, G. R., Manivannan, E. Underdahl, T.; Lukacova, V.; Zhang, Y.; Balaz, S.
Biorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 2004, 14, 4935.

"Nitrogen Heterocycles via Palladium-Catalyzed Carbocyclization. Formal Synthesis of (+)-a-Allokainic Acid "
Cook, G. R. and Sun, L.
Org. Lett., 2004, 6, 2481.

"Highly Diastereoselective Indium-Mediated Allylation of Chiral Hydrazones"
Cook, G. R.; Maity, B.; Kargbo, R.
Org. Lett., 2004, 6, 1741.

"Hydrogen Bond Directed Highly Regioselective Palladium-Catalyzed Allylic Substitution"
Cook, G. R.; Yu, H.; Sankaranarayanan, S.; Shanker, P. S.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 5115.

"Stereoselective Synthesis of D-erythro- and L-threo-Sphinganines via Palladium-Catalyzed Equilibration and Suzuki Coupling"
Gregory R. Cook and Ketheeswaran Pararajasingham
Tetrahedron Letters 2002, 43, 9027-9029.

"Palladium-Mediated Regiodivergent Kinetic Resolution"
Cook, G. R.; S. Sankaranarayanan
Org. Lett. 2001, 3, 3531.