The coumarin-pterocarpan conjugate--a natural product inspired hybrid molecular probe for DNA recognition.

Thermally induced cascade sigmatropic rearrangement of a butynyloxycoumarin derivative has led to a quick access to the coumarin-pterocarpan hybrid molecule. Biophysical studies together with molecular modeling show that this nature-inspired hybrid molecule is capable of binding to the minor groove of DNA as a non-conventional entity.

A unified approach to the important protein kinase inhibitor balanol and a proposed analogue.

A common approach to the important protein kinase inhibitor (-)-balanol and an azepine-ring-modified balanol derivative has been developed using an efficient fragment coupling protocol which proceeded in good overall yield.