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Toward The Total Synthesis Of Dragonamide E And Its Potential Medicinal Application Against Leishmaniasis, Nathaniel M. Smith

Chemistry Theses

Leishmaniasis is one of the world’s most neglected tropical diseases, with hundreds of thousands of cases occurring worldwide annually. The disease originates from being infected by protozoa of the Leishmania genus, which are parasites that destroy mammalian cells as part of their life cycle. Currently utilized treatment strategies for leishmaniasis have many disadvantages, warranting the search for a new leishmaniasis treatment.

Cyanobacteria have been discovered to synthesize a wide variety of cytotoxic chemicals as part of their own defense mechanism. One strain of cyanobacteria, Lyngbya majuscula, produces several families of compounds, one of which is known as the “dragonamides”. …