# New Methods and Strategies for the Synthesis and Selective Derivatization of Natural Products

> **NIH NIH R35** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2021 · $356,719

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 These studies are focused on developing new catalytic approaches and strategies to improve the
availability of cardiotonic steroids, bioactive terpenoids, and glycosylated natural product-based molecules of
therapeutic value. Due to the importance of steroidal hormones for the regulation of vital biological processes in
the human body, many members of the terpene family of natural products possess a wide spectrum of biological
activities. In particular, cardiotonic steroids have many centuries-long history of serving as effective drugs for the
treatment of various heart conditions. In addition, many recent studies suggest that these compounds hold great
potential as the therapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer, inflammation, immune and metabolic diseases,
and in various important health-related areas such as contraception. The developed in these studies new
synthetic approaches could significantly improve the availability of otherwise difficult-to-access stereoisomeric
cardenolide scaffolds with unusual substitution or oxidation patterns, and one of our objectives is to conduct the
medicinal chemistry exploration of various natural and unnatural cardiotonic steroids. The techniques developed
in this project will also improve the accessibility of related natural products such as bioactive plant- and bacteria-
derived glycosylated steroids, and diterpenes of grayanotoxin, isopimarane and kuarane families. Finally, these
studies will result in new catalytic techniques and strategies that will enable a direct and straightforward
glycosylation of complex natural products. One of the important objectives of these studies will be developing
new methods and catalysts for the asymmetric reactions that will enable the synthesis of natural products and
therapeutic agents.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10120707
- **Project number:** 5R35GM136341-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Pavel Nagorny
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $356,719
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2025-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10120707

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10120707, New Methods and Strategies for the Synthesis and Selective Derivatization of Natural Products (5R35GM136341-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10120707. Licensed CC0.

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