On May 14, 2018, George A. O’Doherty, professor of Department of Chemistryand Chemical Biologyat Northeastern University, was invited to visit School of Pharmacy and made a fascinating academic report for teachers and students.
Inthe lecture titled “The Use of De Novo Asymmetric Synthesis in Carbohydrate and Natural Product Medicinal Chemistry”,Prof. O’Doherty introduced the mechanism of the asymmetric synthesis of carbohydrate, the highly efficient synthesis method and its application in the natural product synthesis including flavonoid glycosides, merremoside D, cardiac glycoside, etc. The report was presented vividlyand conveyed rich and profound knowledge in a simple way, which inspiredstrong interest of teachers and students and motivated their innovative thinking.
Over the years Prof. O’Doherty has been working in two related areas of organic synthesis: carbohydrate synthesis and natural product synthesis. He, in particular, develops highly efficient routes for the application of asymmetric catalysis to the synthesis of anti-cancer/anti-microbial agents, which transform inexpensive achiral starting materials into enantiopure products poised for the conversion into complex molecules with biologically relevant properties, now widely used in biomedical investigation. In recent years, Prof. O’Doherty has published more than 130 articles in the prestigious academic journals includingJournal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie International Editionand Chemical Communications.
Some teachers, postgraduates and undergraduates of the School of Pharmacy attended the lecture.