Good teaching: prizes for innovative teaching and student research

Two students from the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy were honoured for their work:

„Ni(II)-Catalysed Negishi Cross-Coupling Reactions with Chiral Pyridine-Hydrazone Ligands for Atroposelective Biaryl Synthesis“

Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy
Damian Groß

Damian Groß has developed and optimised a new method for the stereoselective synthesis of biaryl atropisomers. These compounds are of great importance as reagents, catalysers and medicines and form important structures for new functional molecules in technology and medicine. Groß applied a wide range of preparative organic chemistry laboratory techniques as part of this work. The results he achieved will enable a broad application of this methodology in the future, in particular for the synthesis of new ligands and other natural substances as well as drugs. The easy accessibility of the catalyst system, its simple realisation and the fact that it does not require expensive reagents are particularly noteworthy. His results have already been published in a renowned scientific journal.

„Design and synthesis towards Trx-selective inflammatory-regulating prodrugs utilising self-immolative spacers”

Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy
Julia Brandmeier

Julia Brandmeier's project enabled the design, synthesis and already practical applications of a new class of diagnostics for understanding metabolism and therapeutic drug candidates. These were developed to interact with one of the most important metabolic networks in cells, the thioredoxin system of thiol/disulphide oxidoreductases. It plays an essential role in DNA synthesis and inflammatory reactions and regulates the repair of damage in cells. Until now, it has been difficult to selectively target this enzyme class with small molecules. By overcoming the barrier in the adaptation between certain disulphide enzymes and amine-containing agents, the work has a strong model character. Brandmeier's research encompassed fundamental chemistry and organic synthesis, chemical biology, pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry, biochemistry and cell biology. It is already being transferred to applications at LMU and developed further - from diagnostics to antiproliferative cancer therapeutics.