Research Summary - My research interests encompass medicinal chemistry and natural products drug discovery with a special emphasis on the central nervous system (CNS) therapeutic area. Current projects involve the synthesis and SAR of analogues of CNS-active natural products as well as the isolation, semi-synthesis and SAR of compounds from plants possessing activity in the CNS.

Selected publications

Synthetic studies of neoclerodane diterpenes from Salvia divinorum: selective modification of the furan ring. W.W. Harding, M. Schmidt, K. Tidgewell, P. Kannan, K. G. Holden, C. M. Dersch, R. B. Rothman, T. E. Prisinzano. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2006, 16, 3170-3174.

Enantioselective synthesis of (2R,3R) and (2S,3S)-2-[(3-chloro-phenyl)-(2-methoxy-phenoxy)-methyl]-morpholine. W.W. Harding, M. Hodge, D. Parrish, J. R. Deschamps, W. Woolverton and T. E. Prisinzano Tetrahedron:Asymmetry 2005, 16, 2249-2256.

Neoclerodane Diterpenes as a novel Scaffold for µ opioid receptor ligands. W.W. Harding, K. Tidgewell, N. Byrd, H. Cobb, C. M. Dersch, E. R. Butelman, R. B. Rothman and T. E. Prisinzano. J. Med. Chem. 2005. 48, 4765-4771.

Salvinicins A and B, new neoclerodane diterpenes from Salvia divinorum. W.W. Harding, K. Tidgewell, M. Schmidt, K. Shah, D. Parrish, J. R. Deschamps, J. Snyder, C. Dersch, R. B. Rothman and T. E. Prisinzano. Organic Letters, 2005, 7, 3017-3020.

Pharmacokinetics of the plant-derived hallucinogen salvinorin A in non-human primates. T.E. Prisinzano, E. R. Butelman, M. S.. Schmidt, W. W. Harding, K. Tidgewell, M. J. Kreek, D. J. Murry Synapse 2005, 58, 208-210.

Determination of Salvinorin A in body fluids by high performance liquid-chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization. M. S. Schimdt, T. E. Prisinzano, K. Tidgewell, W. Harding, E. R. Butelman, M. J. Kreek and D. J. Murry. Journal of Chromatography B 2005, 818, 221-225.

A facile method for the preparation of deuterium labeled salvinorin A: synthesis of [2,2,2-2H3]-salvinorin A. K. Tidgwell, W. W. Harding, M. Schmidt, K. G. Holden, D.J. Murry and T. E. Prisinzano. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters 2004, 5099-5102.