# Supplemental Funding Request for Photochemical Electrocyclizations to Virulence Inhibiting Natural Products]

> **NIH NIH R01** · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · 2020 · $35,219

## Abstract

Supplemental Funding Request for Photochemical Electrocyclizations to
 Virulence Inhibiting Natural Products]
 Research Strategy
Abstract of R01 GM132531-01. Reports of the increasing prevalence of drug resistant
bacteria has resulted in a vital need for new strategies for the development of
antimicrobials. This application offers such an approach. We plan to take advantage of
the enhanced understanding of the role that communication plays in bacterial virulence
to develop small molecules that interrupt this phenomenon. Specifically, this work is
focused on developing structurally and biologically interesting small molecule natural
products from the discorhabdin and abietane families as virulence inhibitors. As part of
our effort to generate these families we are developing new chemistry centered around
photochemical electrocyclization reactions including enantioselective transformations.
Request:
 We are requesting funds for a Waters Alliance HPLC system (see attached
quote). This proposed system would replace our current 15-year old system that has
been unusable for the past 1.5 years.
Scientific Justification:
 The work that is currently funded by this grant is dependent upon our being able
to generate single component small molecule analogs of the discorhabdin and abietane
families that are also optically pure. This is due to it being critical that we know the
precise composition of everything that bring into antibacterial bioassays and for the
reproducibility of both the assays and the synthesis. One of the most accurate means of
determining purity is via HPLC, hence this supplemental request. Ready access to this
instrument will make it much easier to determine the purity, including the optical purity, of
our synthetic samples and allow us to more rapidly make decisions about research
directions.
Why the equipment was not anticipated:
 At the time that we submitted this grant application our previous HPLC was still
working. We thought that we would be able to continue using the old instrument but it
turns out that its repair would not be cost effective (one estimate puts the cost of repair
at $20,000). Our research program simply has not had the funding to make this sort of
purchase over the past several years.
Routine training and maintenance:
 Waters fully supports their instruments and will provide training. The Waters
technician (Denise Kent) is regularly on the University of Utah campus at our Mass
Spectrometry facility. Our initial training will be provided by Waters; subsequently a
group member will be put in charge of routine maintenance and training-we will follow
Waters’ recommendations for routine maintenance.
Timeline for installation and operation:
 Waters promises to install the instrument within 30 days of it being ordered. We
anticipate it being fully operational within one week after that. Thus, the instrument will
be ready to use within 45 days of this supplemental request being granted.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10132514
- **Project number:** 3R01GM132531-02S1
- **Recipient organization:** UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
- **Principal Investigator:** JON Douglas RAINIER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $35,219
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10132514

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10132514, Supplemental Funding Request for Photochemical Electrocyclizations to Virulence Inhibiting Natural Products] (3R01GM132531-02S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10132514. Licensed CC0.

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