- Head of Program: Prof. László Somsák
- E-mail: somsak.laszlo@science.unideb.hu
Heterocycles represent more than half of the known organic compounds and form the basic scaffold of numerous families of natural products e. g. flavonoids, alkaloids, antibiotics. They play fundamental roles in biochemical processes of living organisms. Most natural and synthetic drugs as well as agrochemicals contain at least one heterocycle whose preparation in an efficient and stereoselective manner is a major challenge for synthetic organic chemistry.
Carbohydrates (glycans) – the most widespread compounds with the biggest mass on Earth – may also appear as heterocycles. The study of carbohydrates, due to mutual interactions between several fields of science (e. g. synthesis, analytics, biochemistry, biomedicine, materials science), is being nowadays integrated into a complex approach called glycoscience. Biological roles of heterocycles and carbohydrates are mostly realized by their interactions with macromolecules e. g. proteins recognizing or/and transforming (small) molecules or inducing immune responses (receptors/lectines, (glyco)enzymes, antibodies, respectively). Study of such interactions in a chemical biology approach may yield informations on essential properties of the interacting system to be utilised among others in drug design.
Based on this background the program offers education and research in the following main areas: synthesis of carbohydrate containing compounds of natural origin and their core scaffolds; design and synthesis of glycomimetics and enzyme inhibitors; study of mechanisms of action of glycoenzymes; investigation of carbohydrate–protein interactions by up-to-date instrumental methods; synthesis, selective transformations and structural elucidation of potentially pharmacologically active natural O-heterocycles (e. g. flavonoids, chromonoids, coumarins), their sulfur-containing analogues and O,N-heterocycles.
For a more detailed listing and description of the courses and research topics, please, consult