Bio-organic Chemistry
Bioorganic chemistry is the chemistry of life. The Hopkins group brings the
experimental techniques and theories of modern organic chemistry to bear on
problems of structure and reactivity involving Nature's molecules. Current
projects probe the secrets of Nature's most magnificent molecules, the proteins
and nucleic acids, as well as her more modest, but no less seductive, smaller
molecules. The tools of today allow the organic chemist to tackle problems
which only a decade ago seemed insurmountable. As a result, opportunities open
to those trained in organic chemistry include myriad fascinating challenges
both traditional and decidedly non-traditional.
Double helical DNA is a molecule of great interest to the Hopkins group. By
combining the powerful tools of organic synthesis with those of solid phase
biopolymer synthesis, Hopkins's students are making nucleic acids which contain
unnatural residues. In one project, a probe for molecular motion is built into
the heart of DNA; the spectroscopic red flag that this probe waves tells
scientists about the physical gyrations this macromolecule undergoes. An
unanticipated benefit of this work has been the discovery that DNA structures
can be detected by their "dynamic signatures." Syntheses of new nucleic acid
motion probes and their incorporation are underway and promise to yield
exciting and unexpected results.
Nature's system for storing and reproducing the genetic material is beautiful,
but not foolproof. A class of agents known as bifunctional alkylating agents
thwart DNA's grand design by covalently linking the intertwined threads of the
duplex to one another: so joined, the strands cannot separate to fulfill their
appointed tasks.
Hopkins's students have embarked on a general program to define the chemistry
of reactions of bifunctional alkylating agents with duplex DNA. Their results
have already pinpointed the precise sites at which many such lesions are formed
by highly toxic, naturally and unnaturally derived substances. The techniques
they have pioneered hold great promise for unraveling the mechanisms by which
these sites in DNA are cross-linked.
Students in this group are exposed to a wide variety of experimental and
theoretical techniques, and learn to think about problems in an array of
disciplines. Electron spin resonance, gel electrophoresis, and automated solid
phase synthesis are as likely to be used as the thin layer chromatography plate
and infrared spectrophotometer of classical organic chemistry. It is no
coincidence that so many organic chemists are thinking about biological
problems: it is a field of great excitement.
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