Moura-Letts Group

 Small Heterocycles are relevant scaffold among most natural products and  synthetic drugs.  They can also serve as chemical building blocks for the synthesis of larger, more complex heterocyclic molecular frameworks. We are focused on developing novel and efficient approaches for the synthesis of N,N-, N,O-, N,S-containing heterocyclic scaffolds.  

 The development of novel and efficient synthetic pathways for the production of pharmacologically relevant

core structures in analytical and pilot scale is an important field in organic chemistry. We are focused on key overlaping areas of chemical and biological space that through collaborations could provide a more thorough understading of the corresponding biological and biochemical processes. We aim to build stereochemically diverse libraries of these scaffolds for HTS and pharmacological evaluation.       

 Photoredox catalysis has become a leading research platform for the discovery of novel reaction pathways. We are interested in developing photoredox catalysts that can trigger orthogonal processes for the efficient synthesis and separation of mixture of compounds.      

 The isolation of natural products has been a focus in the field of organic chemisty for the last 60 years. The biodiversity in the Andes region has historically provided a large variety of plant species with medicinal properties. We are working on the isolation and structural characterization of a group of species that are known to have relevant medicinal properties.