Yale chemists have synthesized a complex, potentially cancer-fighting molecule found in sea sponges discovered off the coast of South Korea.
The work, described in the journal Science, sets the stage for identifying the active biological mechanism of gukulenin A, an intricate, much-heralded molecule - first isolated from the marine sponge Phorbas gukhulensis in 2010 - that may have applications in chemotherapy.
"This molecule is highly complex, and the synthetic version is the most complex structure my lab has created to date," said Seth Herzon, the Milton Harris '29 Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences and senior author of the new study.
Herzon is a member of the Yale Cancer Center and holds joint appointments in the departments of pharmacology and therapeutic radiology at Yale School of Medicine.
