Arun K. Ghosh

Active Mentor - currently hosting PULSe students for laboratory rotations and recruiting PULSe students into the laboratory; serves on preliminary exam committees

Current Research Interests:

My research group is involved in multidisciplinary research projects in the areas of synthetic organic, bioorganic and medicinal chemistry. Of particular interest, we are investigating:

- Synthesis and biological studies of Bioactive Natural Products

- Design and synthesis of Molecular Probes for Bioactive Peptides and Proteins

- Structure-based Design of Enzyme Inhibitors for Alzheimer's Disease and AIDS

- Development of Asymmetric methodologies (Catalytic and Stoichiometric)

- Multicomponent Reactions (MCR) for Highly Functionalized Products

The total synthesis and exploration biology of various medicinally important natural products are important parts of my group's research. These interests include the development of new synthetic methodologies, general strategies for synthesis and the study of important structure-function relationships. In this context, we are investigating the chemistry and biology of anticancer agents laulimalide, amphidinolides, peloruside A and opioid receptor antagonist salvinorin D. Another important research area in my group is the design and synthesis of molecular probes and nonpeptidal turn-mimics for biologically active peptides and proteins. We are currently studying critical ligand-binding site interactions of various proteolytic enzymes. This includes, memapsin 2, a very significant target for Alzheimer's disease as well as, HIV protease whose clinical effectiveness for the treatment of AIDS has been well recognized. Furthermore, we are involved in the development of asymmetric reactions based upon various intermolecular or intramolecular metal chelations. Of particular interest, we are investigating a variety of asymmetric syntheses including syn- and anti- selective aldol, hetero Diels-Alder, conjugate addition and multicomponent (MCR) reactions.

Selected Publications:

Ghosh A.K.;Gemma, S.;Tang, J., beta-secretase as a therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease. Neurotherapeutics 2008, 5, 399-408.

Ghosh A.K.;Kulkarni, S.S.;Xu, C.X.;Shurrush, K., Asymmetric multicomponent reactions: convenient access to acyclic stereocenters and functionalized cyclopentenoids. Tetrahedron-Asymmetry 2008, 19, 1020-1026.

Ghosh A.K.;Takayama, J., Enantioselective synthesis of cyclopentyltetrahydrofuran (Cp-THF), an important high-affinity P2-ligand for HIV-1 protease inhibitors. Tetrahedron Letters 2008, 49, 3409-3412.