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Ken S. Feldman (b. 1956) Professor of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University B.S. Harvey Mudd College, 1978 Ph.D. Stanford University, 1984 Phone: (814) 863-4654 Fax: (814) 863-5319 Email: ksf@chem.psu.edu |
Fresh from consulting with Albert, Dr. Feldman returns to the lab. |
Research Interests: Total synthesis of natural and unnatural products; new synthetic methods.
Organic synthesis in the Feldman group is focused on the development
of new general methods for the efficient synthesis of complex molecules. These
target molecules often have some particular relevance to the chemistry of
biological systems. Our current efforts are directed toward three general
research areas:
1) Alkynyliodonium Salts and alkylidenecarbenes. Methodology development in support of the synthesis of stereochemically complex heterocyclic structures utilizing sequential conjugate addition-carbene insertion reactions of alkynyliodonium salts.
2) Pummerer chemistry and the oxidative cyclization of heterocycles. Extension of Pummerer reaction chemistry to indole and imidazole substrates for the biomimetic synthesis of complex polycyclic alkaloids.
3) Diradical cyclizations for C–C bond formation in sterically congested environments. Novel methods for the generation of diradicals under mild conditions, and their cyclization, electrocyclization, and cycloadditions are being explored within the context of natural products synthesis.
4) Kinamycin chemistry. The biological mechanism-of-action of diazoparaquinone-containing natural products, such as Kinamycin F and prekinamycin, is under investigation.
