Xiaoguang Lei
Email: xglei(at)pku(dot)edu(dot)cn；
Office：, Peking University, 100871
Lab Homepage: http://www.chem.pku.edu.cn/leigroup
Research Area:
Many critical biological processes are conducted by small molecules and so they can arguably be regarded as another essential component of the “central dogma” of molecular biology. Biologically meaningful small molecules may be natural products, which are discovered by nature through many cycles of diversity generation and natural selection, or they may be prepared through organic synthesis for the development of drug candidates or chemical probes to study life’s processes. New small molecules are needed to function as probes to further study the known biological pathways, to discover novel pathways and interactions, to validate potential drug targets, and to treat unmet medical needs as drugs. Accordingly, the central theme of our research focuses on the efficient synthesis of these small molecules, as well as the subsequent biological evaluations of these molecules applying medicinal chemistry and chemical biology approaches.
One of our major research interests is to discover chemical probes against novel cancer targets. We aim to accelerate the development of more efficacious anti-cancer drugs by discovering novel small-molecule probes of candidate cancer targets which have not been modulated by small molecules. The goal is to identify these gaps and to undertake collaborative probe-development projects involving high-throughput chemical screening, synthetic and medicinal chemistry, and mechanism-of-action studies. Currently we are particularly interested in projects involving challenging targets such as protein-protein interactions, transcription factors, and epigenetic targets.
Selected Publications:
1. Li, Q.; Dong, T.; Liu, X.; Lei, X.* “A Bioorthogonal Ligation Enabled by Click Cycloaddition of o-Quinolinone Quinone Methide and Vinyl Thioether” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 4996-4999. (News story describing this work was highlighted in Chem. & Eng. News 2013, 14, 37).
2. Li, T.; Chen, J.; Li, X.; Ding, X.; Wu, Y.; Zhao, L.; Chen, S.; Lei, X.*; Dong, M.* “Absolute Quantification of a Steroid Hormone that Regulates Development in Caenorhabditis elegans” Anal. Chem. 2013, 85, 9281-9287.
3. Li, C.; Dong, T.; Dian, L.; Zhang, W.; Lei, X.* “Biomimetic Syntheses and Structural Elucidation of the Apoptosis-Inducing Sesquiterpenoid Trimers: (-)-Ainsliatrimers A and B” Chem. Sci. 2013, 4, 1163-1167.
4. Wang, G.;* Wang, X.; Yu, H.; Wei, S.; Williams, N.; Holmes, D. L.; Halfmann, R.; Naidoo, J.; Wang, L.; Li, L.; Chen, S.; Harran, P.; Lei, X.*; Wang, X.* “Small Molecule Activation of the TRAIL Receptor DR5 in Human Cancer Cells” Nat. Chem. Biol. 2013, 2, 84-90. (News stories describing this work were highlighted in Chem. & Eng. News 2013, 2, 37; Nature Asia 2012, December 24).
5. Li, H.; Wang, X.; Hong, B.; Lei, X.* “Collective Synthesis of Lycopodium Alkaloids and Tautomer Locking Strategy for the Total Synthesis of (-)-Lycojapodine A” J. Org. Chem. 2013, 78, 800-821. (Featured and Cover Article).
6. Li, C.; Dian, L.; Zhang, W.; Lei, X.* “Biomimetic Syntheses of (-)-Gochnatiolides A-C and (-)-Ainsliadimer B” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 12414-12417.
7. Sun, L.; Wang, H.; Wang, Z.; He, S.; Chen, S.; Liao, D.; Wang, L.; Yan, J.; Liu, W.; Lei, X.*; Wang, X.* “Mixed Lineage Kinase Domain-like Protein Mediates Necrosis Signaling Downstream of RIP3 Kinase” Cell 2012, 148, 213-227. (News stories describing this work were highlighted in Chem. & Eng. News 2012, 5, 40; Nature China 2012, February 1; Asian Scientist 2012, January31; and Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 2012, Feb. 8).
8. Li, H.; Wang, X.; Lei, X.* “Total Syntheses of Lycopodium Alkaloids (+)-Fawcettimine, (+)-Fawcettidine and (-)-8-Deoxyserratinine” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 491-495; Angew. Chem. 2012, 124, 506-510.
9. Liao, D.; Li, H.; Lei, X.* “Efficient Generation of ortho-Quinone Methide: Application to the Biomimetic Syntheses of (±)-Schefflone and Tocopherol Trimers” Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 18-21.
10. Li, C.; Tu, S.; Wen, S.; Li, S.; Chang, J.; Shao, F.; Lei, X.* “Total Synthesis of the G2/M DNA Damage Checkpoint Inhibitor Psilostachyin C” J. Org. Chem. 2011, 76, 3566-3570.
11. Chou, T.; Dong, H.; Zhang, X.; Lei, X.; Hartung, J.; Zhang, Y.; Lee, H. L.; Wilson, R. M.; Danishefsky, S. J. * “Multifaceted Cytoprotection by Synthetic Polyacetylenes Inspired by the Ginseng-derived Natural Product Panaxytriol” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2011, 108, 14336-14341.
12. Li, C.; Yu, X.; Lei, X.* “A Biomimetic Total Synthesis of (+)-Ainsliadimer A” Org. Lett. 2010, 12, 4284-4287.
13. Gong, Y.; Wang, X.; Wang, J.; Yang, Z.; Li, S.; Yang, J.; Liu, L.; Lei, X.*; Shao, F. * “Chemical Probing Reveals Insights into the Signaling Mechanism of Inflammasome Activation” Cell Res. 2010, 20, 1289-1305.
14. Han，Z.; Niu, T.; Chang, J.; Lei, X.; Zhao, M.; Wang, Q.; Cheng, W.; Wang, J.; Feng, Y.; Chai, J.* “Crystal structure of the FTO protein reveals basis for its substrate specificity” Nature 2010, 464, 1205-1209.
15. Lei, X.; Danishefsky, S. J.* “Efficient Synthesis of a Novel Resorcyclide as Anticancer Agent Based on Hsp90 Inhibition” Adv. Synth. Catal. 2008, 350, 1677-1681。
16. Lei, X.; Porco, J. A., Jr.* “Total Synthesis of the Diazobenzofluorene Antibiotic (-)-Kinamycin C.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 14790-14791. (News story describing this work was highlighted in Chem. & Eng. News 2006, 45, 9)
17. Porco, J. A., Jr.*; Su, S.; Lei, X.; Bardhan, S.; Rychnovsky, S. D. “Total Synthesis and Structure Assignment of (+)-Hexacyclinol” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 5790-5792; Angew. Chem. 2006, 118, 5922-5924. (News stories describing this work were reported in Chem. & Eng. News 2006, 31, 11 and Nature 2006, 442, 492-493)
18. Lei, X.; Zaarur, N.; Sherman, M. Y.; Porco, J. A., Jr.* “Stereocontrolled Synthesis of a Complex Chemical Library via Elaboration of Angular Epoxyquinol Scaffolds.” J. Org. Chem. 2005, 70, 6474-6483.
19. Lei, X.; Porco, J. A., Jr.* “Synthesis of a Polymer-Supported Anthracene and Its Application as a Dienophile Scavenger.” Org. Lett. 2004, 6, 795-798.
20. Lei, X.; Johnson, R. P.; Porco, J. A., Jr.* “Total Synthesis of the Ubiquitin-Activating Enzyme Inhibitor (+)-Panepophenanthrin.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2003, 42, 3913-3917; Angew. Chem. 2003, 115, 4043-4047. (This publication was highlighted as a “Hot Paper”)