Stephen E. Shanahan

Potent and long-acting dimeric inhibitors of influenza virus neuraminidase are effective at a once-weekly dosing regimen.

ABSTRACT Dimeric derivatives (compounds 7 to 9) of the influenza virus neuraminidase inhibitor zanamivir (compound 2), which have linking groups of 14 to 18 atoms in length, are approximately 100-fold more potent inhibitors of influenza virus replication in vitro and in vivo than zanamivir. The observed optimum linker length of 18 to 22 Å, together with observations that the dimers cause aggregation of isolated neuraminidase tetramers and whole virus, indicate that the dimers benefit from multivalent binding via intertetramer and intervirion linkages. The outstanding long-lasting protective activities shown by compounds 8 and 9 in mouse influenza infectivity experiments and the extremely long residence times observed in the lungs of rats suggest that a single low dose of a dimer would provide effective treatment and prophylaxis for influenza virus infections.

Carbon–carbon bond forming reactions with substrates absorbed non-covalently on a cellulose chromatography paper support

Reactions and purifications, including carbon-carbon bond forming reactions, can be carried out on a cellulose support on which the substrates are non-covalently absorbed.

The use of cellulose (chromatography paper) as a cheap, versatile and non-covalent support for organic molecules during multi-step synthesis

Cellulose chromatography paper provides a novel non-covalent support for synthesis and in-situ purification of multi-dimensional arrays.