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"It isn't every day that one can put a new product
on the market," said Gregory B. Dudley, an assistant professor of
chemistry and biochemistry at FSU whose research lab bears his name.
"Even more exciting for me is the knowledge that
scientific breakthroughs in biomedical research and various other
areas of organic chemistry might be made possible as a result of this
reagent," Dudley said.
The Sigma-Aldrich Chemical Company has licensed
Dudley's patent-pending reagent from FSU and recently began marketing
it to chemical research labs worldwide under the name "Bn-OPT" - short
for BeNzylOxyPyridinium Triflate. FSU will receive royalties from
Sigma-Aldrich in the amount of 5 percent of net sales of the reagent.
Bn-OPT is designed to be employed as part of what
Dudley refers to as "protecting group strategies" in organic synthesis.
2-Benzyloxy-1-methylpyridinium trifluoromethanesulfonate — the rather
unwieldy chemical name for the new reagent - converts vulnerable
hydroxy groups, also known as alcohols, into benzyl ethers upon
warming. These less-reactive benzyl ethers provide "protection" for
alcohols during chemical synthesis. Bn-OPT emerged from his lab's
basic research in organic chemistry, and researchers now are studying
the reagent in search of new applications.
"Benzyl ethers have always played an important role
in organic chemistry, but their use has been limited by difficulties
in preparing them," Dudley said. "This reagent solves some of the
problems associated with making benzyl ethers."
Professor Joseph Schlenoff, the interim chairman of
FSU's department of chemistry and biochemistry, hailed Dudley as a
young educator whose work is helping others both in and out of the
classroom.
"Greg is one of our rising stars, both in teaching
and research in the area of synthetic organic chemistry," Schlenoff
said. "His discovery of this important new chemical reagent will bring
significant attention to our department and to the cutting-edge
research that is being conducted here." |
