Tsung-Tee Li

Bio: Tsung-Tee Li is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Claisen rearrangement & Carroll rearrangement. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 7 publications receiving 677 citations.

Bonding Properties of Cyclopropane and Their Chemical Consequences

Abstract: Among the cyclic compounds of carbon, cyclopropane and its derivatives are outstanding by virtue of their unusual structural, spectroscopic, and chemical properties. The cyclopropane ring more closely resembles the CC double bond than the cyclobutane ring: it is a small ring with “double bond character”. Cyclopropyl and vinyl groups interact with neighbouring π-electron systems and p-electron centers; both cyclopropane derivatives and olefins form metal complexes, and add strong acids, halogens, and ozone; they both undergo catalytic hydrogenation and cycloadditions. While distinct differences in reactivity do exist–the double bond usually being more reactive than the three-membered ring–there are no fundamental differences in behavior.–Although cyclopropane derivatives have been known for more than 90 years, intensive studies have been limited to the past 25 years. The development of carbene chemistry has rendered cyclopropane derivatives far more readily accessible. In recent years, the synthetic potential of the small-ring function has been increasingly exploited. A considerable number of newly developed methods utilizing this approach clearly demonstrates that the reactivity of the cyclopropene ring, like that of the CC double bond, qualify it as a “functional carbon group”. This development is in full swing; we may therefore justifiably devote considerable effort to the study of cyclopropane chemistry.

Small molecule natural products in the discovery of therapeutic agents: the synthesis connection.

Abstract: Natural products have been a rich source of agents of value in medicine. They have also inspired, at various levels, the fashioning of nonnatural agents of pharmaceutical import. Hitherto, these nonnatural derivatives have been primarily synthesized by manipulating the natural product. As a consequence of major innovations in the subscience of synthetic methodology, the capacity of synthesis to deal with molecules of considerable complexity has increased dramatically. In this paper, we show by example some total syntheses which draw from strategy-enabling advances in methodology. Moreover, we show how these capabilities can be used to discover and develop new agents of potential pharmaceutical value without recourse to the natural product itself.