My group research projects are designed to combine synthetic combinatorial chemistry with high-throughput screening and molecular evolution. The first goal is to develop a uni-versal tool box for asymmetric acylation/hydrolysis catalysts, which can be applied to highly efficient resolution of racemic (or meso) alcohols. Parallel or split/mix synthesis using solid phase chemistry of catalyst libraries will be integrated with qualitative fluorescence-based high-throughput screening to discover novel lead structures. A selected lead catalyst will be optimized by iterative structure activity relationship (SAR) study using sublibrary synthesis and quantitative screening.

We are also interested in the development of new biologically active molecules by com-binatorial library. One of the approaches is to build up new carbohydrate mimetic libraries and screen them in a variety of biological targets including in vitro and cell-based in vivo assays to disclose structures with novel properties. The libraries will contain monomers, dimers, and oligomers of carbohydrate analogues with diverse functionalities including sulfate and phosphate groups. Several different solid phase synthesis strategies and pharma-cophore shuffling techniques will be integrated to generate the libraries and to improve the properties of the selected structures, which finally will give useful tools for biological studies or drug candidates.