Comp Chem Research Developments

July 14, 1999

Engineering Improved Pharmacophores

The paper "Quantum Chemical Characterization of the Cyclization of the Neocarzinostatin Chromophore to the 1,5-Didehydroindene Biradical" by Chris Cramer and the late Bob Squires of Purdue University was accepted for publication in one of the first issues of the new ACS journal Organic Letters. This paper provides an accurate prediction for the cyclization thermochemistry of a chromophore that generates the pharmacophore in neocarzinostatin and related antitumor antiobiotics. Engineering improved pharmacophores of this type is a topic of great current interest to the pharmaceutical industry.