Discovery of a synthetic method to form 2, 2’-bis(naphthoquinone) compounds

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Jayalakshmi Sridhar

Xavier University of Louisiana, USA

: J Pharm Drug Deliv Res

Abstract

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Quinones are key structural components in many natural products and therapeutic drugs impacting many disease conditions, viz antimicrobial, antiparasitic, anti-tumor, inhibition of PGE2 biosynthesis and anti-cardiovascular disease. As part of our efforts in the design and development of kinase inhibitors as potential therapeutics for cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, the synthesis of monohydroxy naphthoquinones using Diels-Alder reaction was pursued. This lead to the discovery of a novel method for the synthesis of 2, 2’-bis(naphthoquinones) using conjugated ketene silyl acetals with benzoquinone. The analysis of the reaction conditions and the product structures using NMR and X-ray lead to the elucidation of a credible mechanism of dimer formation. The control of reactant stoichiometry to yield either the monomer of the dimer product is explored.

Biography

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Jayalakshmi Sridhar has her expertise in organic synthesis of complex molecules and computational molecular modeling. Her research work group focuses on the development of modulators for three classes of proteins: (1) Protein kinases that regulate many of the key signaling pathways in the cell, (2) the cytochrome P450 enzymes that metabolize exogenous and endogenous substances in the body and (3) Liver X Receptor β that is a key mediator in many of the cellular processes. The development of new synthetic methods for the target molecule is part of his research focus.

E-mail: jsridhar@xula.edu