wtang

Overview

Dr. Weiping Tang's lab focuses on organic synthesis and chemical biology. Please visit his group website for updated information.

Organic Synthesis:
Our laboratory is interested in developing efficient and stereoselective methods for the synthesis of natural products and pharmaceutical agents with complex carbo- or heterocycles. Cycloaddition is one of the most efficient means to access highly functionalized ring systems from simple building blocks. In the past couple of years, we have realized a series of new cycloaddition reactions by employing propargylic derivatives as the starting material and late transition metals as the catalyst. The propargylic derivatives are generally prepared from addition of terminal alkynes to aldehydes or ketones. In the presence of acidic transition metals, the propargylic derivatives can undergo rearrangement to generate precursors for cycloadditions, which are mediated by the same metal catalyst through redox cycles. Numerous new cascade reactions can be developed by taking advantage of the dual role of the metal catalysts. The highly functionalized mono- and polycyclic products can then be converted to biologically active natural products and pharmaceutical agents.

Chemical Biology:
Gene expression is regulated by both genetic and epigenetic events through transcription factors and chromatin-modifying enzymes. We are interested in developing chemical probes to modulate gene expression by targeting transcription factors (e.g. aryl hydrocarbon receptor and estrogen receptor) and chromatin modifying enzymes (e.g. histone demethylases and deacetylases). Discovery of specific chemical probes for these targets are important for understanding numerous cellular events such as stem cell differentiation and the treatment of diseases such as cancer. Selective chemical probes are designed based on mechanisms, prepared using methodologies developed in our laboratory, and characterized by biochemical and cell-based assays.