Natural products inspired synthesis

by McIntosh, Matt C.

Thiamine is an essential cofactor for all living things. The mechanism of thiamine action proposed by Ronald Breslow in 1958 has inspired the invention of a wide variety of chem. transformations catalyzed by thiamine and other N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs). We will described mechanistically novel stoichiometric transformations of NHCs that provide biomedically relevant azoles.