Associate Professor of Chemistry, 1983 B.A. - Saint John's University,1971 M.A. - Saint John's University,1976 Ph.D.- Catholic University of America, 1985 EMAIL: JKLASSEN@CSBSJU.EDU Phone: 612-363-5305
Organic Fall 1997 Lab Schedule
------ Day 2
------ Day 4
Office Hours
2:40 - 3:50 on Days 1 and 5
9:40 - 10:50 on Day 3
and by appointment
Responsibilities:
Research:
Diastereo- and Enantiospecific Synthesis
of 2-Substituted-1-Aminocyclopropane-1-Carboxylic Acids.
1-Aminocyclopropanecarboxylic acids (ACCs) are an interesting and
important class of compounds both from a synthetic stance, as well as
for their varied and potentially useful biological applications.
These include possible use as conformationally constrained amino acid
components of peptides as well as key intermediates in the synthesis
of carbocyclic nucleosides.
Chiral synthesis usually proceeds along two complementary lines.
Either chiral reagents or auxiliaries are developed that allow for
the transfer of stereochemical information to the desired
intermediate or a suitable starting material from nature's "chiral
pool" is used. This research takes aspartic acid as a starting
material, transforms this into a key intermediate, a chiral epoxide.
At this point we have synthesized the stereoisomers of the glutamate
analogue and are close to completing tryptophan, arginine, and
proline derivatives.
Synthesis of Biologically Important Terpenes
from Citramalic Acid
This project involves the total synthesis of the two enantiomers of E 3,7-dimethyl-1,6-nonadien-3-ol. The proposed synthetic plan derives the chiral center from citramalic acid, which is then coupled with the remaining portion of the molecule. One of these two enantiomers should function as a pheromone for certain insects. Professor Jim Poff and a student in the Biology department are coordinating the biological testing of the two enantiomers.
Research Student:
Junior Saul McBroom worked on the synthesis of the chiral terpene during the summer.