East Carolina University. Tomorrow starts here.®
 
Department of Chemistry
Brian E. Love




 
undefined
 

Office:  SZ 534
Phone:  (252)328-9778
Email:  loveb@ecu.edu


Brian E. Love
Associate Professor, Organic Chemistry

Postdoctoral Fellow, UCLA (1985-1987)
Ph.D., Princeton University (1986)
B.S., Texas Christian University (1980)

Research Interests

Synthetic methods, synthesis of heterocycles, asymmetric synthesis

Though Dr. Love's research interests span several topics, the theme common to them all is the development of new methodology in organic synthesis (that is, designing new reagents and new synthetic pathways for creating compounds of interest) with an emphasis on practicality. One major area of research is the development of new routes to biologically active heterocycles. For example, some years ago we devised a new synthetic route (shown below) to a class of compounds known as β-carbolines.  Many β-carbolines possess significant biological activity, and so are of interest to the pharmaceutical industry.  We are currently working on improvements to this synthetic approach.

undefined

Another area of concentration is organic stereochemistry-both the development of new methods of preparing optically active compounds and the design of new reagents for determining their optical purity.  For example, we have developed an efficient synthesis of “BINOL” (shown below), a compound that has found extensive use in asymmetric synthesis.  We are currently investigating new NMR-based methods of determining its optical purity.  This is but one of several projects that have an analytical "flavor" to them.  For example, the development of reagents for determining the enantiomeric excess of chiral amines (and also alcohols) via NMR methods is also under active investigation. 

undefined


Selected Publications

  1. Brian E. Love, "Synthesis of β-Carbolines. A Review," Organic Preparations and Procedures International, 1996, 28, 1-64.

  2. Brian E. Love, "Modification of Round Bottom Flasks to Allow Complete Removal of Contents by Syringe," Organic Preparations and Procedures International, 1997, 29, 600-601.

  3. Brian E. Love and Binh T. Nguyen, "A General Synthesis of 1-(Dialkylaminomethyl)indoles," Synlett, 1998, 1123.

  4. Brian E. Love and Edward G. Jones, "The Use of Salicylaldehyde Phenylhydrazone as an Indicator for the Titration of Organometallic Reagents," Journal of Organic Chemistry, 1999, 64, 3755-56.

  5. Brian E. Love and Edward G. Jones, "An Improved Synthesis of Camphorquinone-3-oxime," Synthetic Communications, 1999, 29, 2831-2840.

  6. Brian E. Love, Tavia S. Boston, Binh T. Nguyen and Jeffrey R. Rorer, "A Comparison of Imine Forming Methodologies," Organic Preparations and Procedures International, 1999, 31, 399-405.

  7. Brian E. Love and Binh T. Nguyen, "Oxidation of Alcohols by Bromine on Alumina," Synthetic Communications, 2000, 30, 963-970.

  8. Brian E. Love and Robert A. Bills, "Facile Synthesis of BINOL in the Absence of Solvent," Synthetic Communications,  2002, 32, 2067-2073.

  9. Brian E. Love, “Preparation and Enantiomeric Excess Determination of Optically Active BINOL and BINOL Derivatives,” Current Organic Synthesis, 2006, 3, 169-185.

  10. Brian E. Love, “Synthesis of Carbolines Possessing Antitumor Activity,” Topics in Heterocyclic Chemistry, 2006, 93-128.

  11. Brian E. Love, "Facile Synthesis of N-Dialkylaminomethyl-Substituted Heterocycles," Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2007, 72, 630-632.

  12. Brian E. Love, Joseph Walas, "Sturdy Reusable Capillaries for Boiling-Point Determinations," Chemical Educator, 2008, 13, 302-303.

  13. Brian E. Love, Jeffrey Bonner-Stewart, Lori A. Forrest, "Improved Synthesis of Diquinones," Synlett, 2009, 5, 813-817.

  14. Brian E. Love, Jeffrey Bonner-Stewart, Lori A. Forrest, "An Efficient Synthesis of Oosporein," Tetrahedron Letters, 2009, 50, 5050-5052.

MS Theses Directed

James Wynne (1996) "New Synthetic Approaches to β-Carbolines"
Darrell Campanella (1997) "New Reagents for Kinetic Resolution of Alcohols"
Shawn Bartley (1997) "The Attempted Synthesis of Benzofuro[2,3-c]pyridines"
Jeff Rorer (1998) "Synthesis of N-Tosyl Imines"
Chip Al-Hashimi (2001) "Potential Pathways to β-Carbolines"
Nicole Morris (2002) "Attempted Syntheses of Chiral Primary Amines and New Reagents for Determining Their Enantiomeric Excess"
Rob Bills (2002) "Synthesis and Enantiomeric Excess Determination of 1,1'-Bi-2-naphthol (BINOL)"