The teaching is organized as follows:

Learning objectives

The course aims to provide students with basic knowledge about organic synthesis focusing on biologically active molecules with special attention to the implementation of sustainable chemistry concepts. Course topics are: retrosynthetic analysis in the planning of organic syntheses; fundamentals of stereochemistry, stereoselective reactions, and asymmetric catalysis; peptide synthesis; synthesis of nucleic acids and basics of combinatorial chemistry; synthesis of peptide and nucleic acid analogs and derivatives; bioconjugation reactions and biofunctionalized nanomaterials.

Program

- Course introduction: The importance of organic synthesis to prepare bioactive molecules. Introduction to synthetic strategies, conversion of functional groups, and protecting groups.
- Retrosynthetic analysis as a tool to plan organic synthesis. Fundamental of stereochemistry, stereoselective reactions, and asymmetric catalysis. The effect of stereoisomerism on biological activity.
- Synthesis of amino acids and peptides in solution and on solid phase: protecting groups for peptide synthesis; orthogonal protecting group strategies; formation of the peptide bond: activation and coupling methods; fragment condensation synthesis. Examples of bioactive peptide synthesis; examples of peptide synthesis with non-proteinogenic amino acids.
- Chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides: phosphodiester, phosphotriester, phosphoramidite, and H-phosphonate approaches. Protecting groups, purification strategies, and characterization methods.
- Introduction to the synthesis of oligonucleotide analogs, peptide nucleic acids (PNA)
- Bioconjugation reactions for the labeling of biological molecules; the concept of click-chemistry; preparation of antibody-drug conjugates.
- Introduction to nanoparticles. Design of nanoparticles for biomedical applications, nanoparticle biofunctionalization and characterization. Examples of drug and vaccine candidate formulations based on nanoparticles.
The listed topics are provisional. The program may undergo small changes during the semester.

Learning assessment procedures

The written exam consists of multiple-choice and open-ended questions, and exercises. The duration of the exam is between 90 and 120 minutes. Only in case the student has passed the written exam, he/she may ask the instructor for a complementary oral exam, which will last between 20 and 30 minutes.
For the laboratory part, the students are requested to prepare short critical reports about the performed experiments.