New methods and strategies for the synthesis of nucleoside analogues and natural products
Robert Britton
Professor
Simon Fraser University
October 5, 2026
10:00 a.m.
In-person: C2-361
Abstract: Synthetic mimics of nucleosides, known as nucleoside analogues, are an important class of antiviral and anticancer drugs as well as building blocks used in next generation oligonucleotide therapeutics. Our efforts to develop a robust and scalable de novo synthesis of nucleoside analogues will be presented along with its application in the synthesis of locked and thionucleosides as well as other high-value nucleoside analogues. Additionally, we have recently completed a short total synthesis of the antimitotic natural products sarcodictyin A and eleutherobin. The development of these processes and their application in the generation of unnatural analogues of these potentially important anticancer agents will be discussed.
Rob Britton completed his B. Sc. degree at the University of Waterloo in 1996 and carried out undergraduate research project with Professor Victor Snieckus. He then moved on to the University of British Columbia where he was involved in natural product isolation, structure determination and total synthesis under the supervision of Professors Raymond Andersen and Edward Piers. In 2002, he was awarded a NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship for research into the stereochemical assignment and total synthesis of complex macrolides with Professor Ian Paterson at the University of Cambridge. In 2004, Rob accepted a position as Senior Research Chemist in the Process Research group at Merck Frosst Canada before joining the faculty at Simon Fraser University in 2005 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011 and Full Professor in 2015. His current interests range from the total synthesis of biologically active natural products to the development of new synthetic methods for the synthesis of 18F-labelled PET imaging agents and rapid production and diversification of nucleosides.