Necessity is the mother of invention: Natural products and the chemistry they inspire

The chem. synthesis of natural products provides an exciting platform from which to conduct fundamental research in chem. and biol. Our group is currently pursuing the synthesis of a no. of structurally complex natural products, including the diterpenoids perseanol and talatisamine. The densely-packed arrays of heteroatoms and stereogenic centers that constitute these polycyclic targets challenge the limits of current technol. and inspire the development of new synthetic strategies and tactics. This seminar will describe the latest progress in our methodol. and target-directed synthesis endeavors.