The areas of research in the Department of Organic Chemistry include synthetic and mechanistic organic and organometallic chemistry, novel reactions for organic synthesis, bond activation by metal complexes, polymeric reagents and catalysis. Bioorganic chemistry includes the studies of plant antiviral agents, the molecular mechanism of action of rhodopsin, artificial ion carriers and molecular sensors. Biological chemistry includes studies on structure,function, and mode of action of biologically active peptides and proteins; thermophilic enzymes; enzymes involved in DNA repair, DNA and RNA processing; studies of ordered, compact states of nucleic acids; and biomedical applications of EPR and NMR. Computational chemistry deals with the prediction of molecular properties by first principles (ab initio) and semiempirical quantum mechanical calculations.

M.D. Bachi

Organic synthesis through free radical reactions.

Synthesis of Yingzhaosu A and related antimalarial drug candidates.

Stereocontrol through Sulfur-Mediated Temporary Intramolecularization of Reactions.

http://www.weizmann.ac.il/Organic_Chemistry/bachi.shtml

Y. Burstein

Thermophilic enzymes

1. Isolation, characterization and cloning of enzymes from extremophilic microorganisms.

2. Structure,function and thermal stability relationship studies of extremophilic enzymes.

3. Crystalization and determination of the three-dimensional structures of extremophilic enzymes.

The thymic peptide hormone THF-g 2: Chemistry, biology and clinical application.

M. Fridkin

Chemical-Biological and Clinical studies on novel drugs, primarily of peptidic nature,related to therapy of infectious ,inflamatory and neoplastic diseases.

Studies include: drug design, pro-drugs, long-acting drugs and drug delivery.

Novel synthetic and analytical methdologies are being developed.

http://www.weizmann.ac.il/Organic_Chemistry/fridkin.shtml

G.(J.M.L.) Martin

Computational Chemistry

1. High-accuracy ab initio thermochemistry: method development and applications.

2. Application of density functional methods to organometallic systems, with special reference to catalysis.

3. Ab initio prediction of rotation-vibration spectra beyond the harmonic approximation.

D. Milstein

Organometallic chemistry and catalysis

1. Bond activation by electron-rich transition metal complexes.

2. Rational design of homogeneous catalysis and synthetic methodology based on transition metal complexes.

3. Impact of molecular order on catalysis and reactivity.

A. Minsky

Cellular organization of biomacromolecules

1. High-resolution structural studies of ordered cellular biomacromolecules and chemical properties of ordered DNA phases and DNA-protein complexes.

2. Packaging and ordered phases of DNA in living systems (viruses, bacteria, sperm cells).

3. Effects of stress (starvation, drugs, cold-shock) on DNA and protein organization within cells.

R. Neumann

Catalysis and oxidation - Green chemistry

1. Catalytic oxidation, activation of molecular oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, nitrous oxide and ozone - Green chemical transformations.

2. Polyoxometalates as novel catalysts for oxidation reduction and acid catalyzed reactions.

3. New organo-polyoxometalate materials.

A. Shanzer

Supramolecular chemistry

1. Biomimetic ion binders, diagnostic tools in imaging technologies (fluorescent probes) and potential therapeutic agents. Synthesis, using classical and combinatorial chemistry methods and evaluation.

2. Synthesis and properties of molecular based devices; molecular sensors, switches and logical gates for application in nanotechnology.

3. Surface bound functional assemblies.

Home Page: http://www.weizmann.ac.il/Organic_Chemistry/shanzer/Shanzer_Group.html

M. Sheves

Molecular mechanism for the function of retinal proteins

1. Spectroscopic properties of retinal proteins.

2. Molecular mechanism for visual pigments photochemistry.

3. Protein-chromophore interactions in bacteriorhodopsin.

J. Sperling

Chemical and biological aspects of protein-nucleic acid interactions

1. Nuclear ribonucleoprotein complexes and their role in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression: Biochemical characterization and structural studies using high-resolution electron microscopy.

2. Mechanisms and protein factors involved in pre-mRNA processing.

3. Development of strategies for tagging nucleic acids with gold clusters for their use in structural biology, Biotechnology and micro-electronics.

 This file was last modified on 08/15/2004 15:13:57

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