David Hangauer

Addition of trimethylsilyl cyanide to α-substituted ketones: Catalyst efficiency

Abstract Addition of trimethylsilyl cyanide to α-substituted ketones is often slow and incomplete when catalyzed by zinc iodide. Use of potassium cyanide/18-crown-6 complex as catalyst is a superior method, providing high yields of adducts.

Total synthesis of erbstatin

Abstract The total synthesis of erbstatin in six steps and 38% overall yield from commercially available lactone 1 is presented.

Modeling the Mechanism of Peptide Cleavage by Thermolysin

Merck & Co. has for some time utilized a molecular modeling system that we developed for aiding drug design.’.’ More secently, it became clear that more powerful systems were needed to study the relevant larger structures which were becoming increasingly available, and to study steric and electrostatic surfaces. We have obtained such equipment and utilized it for drug design. At the same time, realizing that many of the modeling functions can be performed on less expensive equipment, we have modified our program to run on several types of graphics terminals. Characteristics of our current system for molecular modeling, and some applications to drug design, are discussed below.