About
Mannich Black are a team of synthetic organic chemists from Sygnature Discovery, Nottingham. Tasked with the unenviable mission of designing synthetic routes to two highly complex natural products (Annotinolide C and Pestaloficin A), Mannich Black have been successful in reaching their final destination and an invitation to attend the final of the National Retrosynthesis competition at the SCI headquarters, Burlington House, London. The event takes place on Friday March 16th 2018 and showcases the talents and strengths of UK synthetic chemists from both industry and academia. Click here for more details on the event.
Please feel free to explore below and read more about the Mannich Black team and the natural products Annotinolide C and Pestaloficin A.
First Round Molecule
Annotinolide C
Annotinolide C, containing an unprecedented 12-spiro-9,12-γ-lactone moiety, represents one of three novel 7,8-seco-lycopodane-derived 8,5-lactones isolated from Lycopodium annotinum, a plant collected from a plateau of the Taibai Mountains in the Qinling Area, Shaanxi of China.
See Org. Lett., 2016, 18 (17), pp 4376–4379 for access to the isolation paper
The teams’ proposed synthesis for this natural product can be downloaded here
Final Round Molecule
Pestaloficin A
Pestaloficin A is one of seven new compounds produced by a mutant formed after the deletion of the COP9 signalosome subunit, PfcsnE, from the DNA of the plant endophytic fungus, Pestalotiopsis fici. The structure of Pestaloficin A was elucidated by comprehensive analysis by NMR spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, and HR-ESI-MS which identified a new type of dimeric-cyclohexanone derivative linked through an unprecedented pentacyclic spiral ring.
See Org. Lett. 2017, 19, 4700−4703 for reference
Team Profile
Tomas
Tomas Baikstis has been a Senior Scientist at Sygnature Discovery since Nov 2015. Previous to this, he worked for 7 months in the agrochemical industry for start-up Redag. Tomas completed his PhD at the University of Liverpool, working under the supervision of Andrew Evans and Christophe Aissa. His thesis was titled “Studies towards total synthesis of guaianolide repin.”
Emma
Emma Blackham has been a Scientist at Sygnature Discovery since Nov 2016. Previous to this, Emma gained her PhD from the University of Bristol working under the supervision of Professor Kevin Booker-Milburn. Her thesis is titled “The reactivity of tricyclic aziridines and their use in total synthesis.”
Matt
Matthew Crittall has been a Senior Scientist at Sygnature Discovery since early 2014, working as a medicinal chemist in a number of therapeutic areas including anti-fungal, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory as well as investigating treatments for type II diabetes and cystic fibrosis. Prior to this, Matt spent 18 months working as a synthetic chemist at Peakdale Molecular (now Concept Life Sciences). Under the supervision of Dr David Carbery, he completed his PhD at the University of Bath in 2012 with a thesis titled: “An Investigation into Helical Asymmetry”.
Ruggero
Ruggero Dondi has held the position of Senior Scientist at Sygnature Discovery since Dec 2016. Prior to this, he completed his PhD at the University of Leicester under the supervision of Dr Glenn Burley with a thesis titled “Directed Metallisation Using Molecular Recognition Tools” (2012). At the University of Bath, Ruggero has worked at the interface of biology and chemistry in the Eggleston group (http://www.bath.ac.uk/pharmacy/contacts/academics/ian_eggleston/), first as PDRA and then as a research officer. Ruggero also has previous experience of working in the pharmaceutical industry as a process chemist at Antibioticos S.P.A. (IT, now Olon S.P.A.) and Poli Farmaceutici (IT, now Almirall) and as a medicinal chemist at Merck-Serono (Geneva, CH).
Pauline
Pauline Drouhin has been a Senior Scientist at Sygnature Discovery since Jan 2017. Previous to this, she held the position of Research Scientist at Charles River Laboratories. Pauline completed her PhD at the University of York, working under the supervision of Professor Richard Taylor. Her thesis was titled: “Copper(II)-mediated cyclisation for the formation of diverse heterocycles of biological interest. Studies towards the total synthesis of the natural product rankinidine.”
Morgan
Morgan Jouanneau holds the position of Senior Scientist at Sygnature Discovery, beginning at the company in June 2017. He holds a PhD in Natural Product Synthesis from Paris-Sud University, working under the supervision of Dr Jean-Pierre Ferezou (2013). His thesis is titled “New approach toward the synthesis of thapsigargin (guaianolides) using ring closing enyne metathesis.” He has completed Post-docs in the US at Texas A&M University and Baylor University with Professor Daniel Romo (2014-2016) and in Paris at ESPCI with Professor Janine Cossy (2016-2017).
James
James Paliga currently holds the position of Scientist at Sygnature Discovery, having taken up a position 8 months previous following completion of his PhD from the University of Edinburgh under the supervision of Dr Stephen Thomas.