The Kalesse Group

Contact

Professor Dr. Markus Kalesse 

Natural products are one of the very important research topics in Organic Chemistry. Besides the more classical fields as isolation and structure elucidation a special focus is put in our group on efficient and selective synthesis of biologically important natural products. On the other hand, the synthesis of complex natural products which is judged by the highest synthetic standards, can not be the sole reason for the initiation of such a research program. The variety of different techniques and new methods in organic chemistry makes it possible to synthesize complex natural products and to further evaluate the biological mechanism and targets.

Natural products connect organic chemistry with cell biology since they allow to address questions such as cell cycle regulation or transport through membranes. In our research projects we perform the synthesis of natural products not only to establish practical routes to the compounds, but to unravel the important pharmaceutical subunits and to gain insight into the connection between structure and function. In this context we have synthesized ratjadone and callystatin together with their derivatives for establishing the mode of action for these important natural products.

Research Projects

Synthesis of Tedanolide

Synthesis of Hexacyclinsäure

Synthesis of Amphidinolide H

Design of Depeptidized Peptides

Vinylogous Mukaiyama Aldol Reaction