Andraž Oštrek: From Simple Molecules to Complex Natural Compounds
ASEF and Zavod Pospešek are organizing an online popular science lecture by Andraž Oštrek, ASEF Fellow 2019 and a doctoral student of chemistry at the University of Pavia in Italy. The lecture held in Slovene will take place online on Thursday, April 22, 2021, at 7 PM.
REGISTRATION
To view the lecture, you must register by April 22 at the latest by 6 PM The zoom link for access and the code for asking questions will be sent to all registered users by e-mail on the day of the event. It is possible to register for the event here.
ABOUT THE LECTURE
We encounter chemistry (unconsciously) every day, every moment. Organic compounds are the building blocks of our lives and, in addition to inorganic materials, they are also the building blocks of our surroundings. Humanity has always been interested in the biological, especially potential healing or toxic, effects of a wide variety of natural products. With the development of the biological sciences, these effects can be accurately scientifically evaluated, but we need compounds in pure form. They can also be prepared in sufficient quantities in the laboratory with organic synthesis. Organic chemistry is (among other things) at the basic level engaged in research and discovery of new methods by which we can perform conversions of organic chemical compounds. By synthesizing such transformations, we synthesize organic molecules and increase their complexity. By changing the individual parts of the compounds, analogs can also be prepared, which is important, for example, when searching for new active ingredients. In the lecture, we will learn some details from research projects in the fields of potential antimalarials and macrocyclic peptides. In addition, we will learn how organic chemistry solves the set synthetic problems and learn about some of the strategies that led to the synthesis of some important natural products.
ABOUT THE LECTURER
Andraž Oštrek is a doctoral student of chemistry at the University of Pavia in Italy, where he is engaged in research in the field of organic chemistry. During his undergraduate and master’s studies in chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the University of Ljubljana, he first gained research experience abroad at the German Freie Universität Berlin, and then in 2019 joined the group of doc. dr. David Sarlah at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he participated in a project of total organic synthesis of macrocyclic peptides.
