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Steve Marsden

Professor of Organic Chemistry
Research section: Organic Chemistry

Contact details

Room: G25
Tel: +44 (0)113 3436425
Email: S.P.Marsden@leeds.ac.uk

Keywords

Asymmetric synthesis
Development of New Catalytic Methods
Bioactive Target Synthesis
Organosilicon Chemistry


Photograph of Steve Marsden

Research interests

The main focus of our work is in the development and application of new synthetic methods. Recent and ongoing projects include:

  1. Development of methods for the construction of diverse quaternary asymmetric centres. Avenues of exploration include (a) the chemistry of heteroatom-substituted extended enolates; (b) the first asymmetric variants of the aza-Wittig reaction; and (c) metal-catalysed asymmetric arylation protocols.
  2. Development of new efficient catalytic methods (both metal and organocatalysed) for fine chemical synthesis. Examples include new catalytic hydrogenation catalysis and catalytic approaches to the de novo assembly of heteroaromatics.
  3. Application of the above methods to target synthesis of bioactive natural products. Recent completed syntheses include the complex amino acid myriocin, tetrahydrofuran-containing compounds such as monocerin, virgatusin and the core of the eunicellins, and the indolizidine alkaloid tashiromine. Current targets include complex indole alkaloids such as the okaramines.
The work is supported by the EPSRC, Royal Society (Industry Fellowship 2008-10 to SPM), AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, NPIL Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer and Syngenta.

Useful links

Marsden research group   
   
   

Selected publications

Electrophile-Directed Diastereoselective Alkylation of Prochiral Enediolates. S. P. Marsden, R. Newton, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2007, 129, 12600-12601

Synthesis and Application of P-Stereogenic Phosphines as Superior Reagents in the Asymmetric Aza-Wittig Reaction. C. E. Headley, S. P. Marsden, J. Org. Chem., 2007, 72, 7185-7189

Concise, Convergent Total Synthesis of Monocerin. J. H. Cassidy, C. N. Farthing, S. P. Marsden, A. Pedersen, M. Slater, G. Stemp, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2006, 4, 4118-4126

Asymmetric aza-Wittig reactions: enantioselective of b-quaternary azacycles' D. Lertpibulpanya, S. P. Marsden, I. Rodriguez Garcia, C. Kilner, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2006, 45, 5000-5002