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Stewart Schneller

Stewart Schneller

 

Professor and Dean
Indiana University, Ph.D., 1968
Stanford University, NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, 1968-1970
University of Massachusetts, Postdoctoral Associate, 1970-1971

schnest@auburn.edu
(334) 844-6963

Organic Chemistry: synthesis of nucleosides and nucleotides


Past Research Associates
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S-Adenosyl-L-methionine (AdoMet, Fig. 1)-dependent transmethylations play an important role in regulating various biochemical and physiological processes.  One such process that is the focus of the Schneller laboratory is the formation of the methylated capped 5'-terminus of eukaryotic and viral mRNA.   These unique structures consist of (1) an N-7 methylguanosine residue linked at the 5'-hydroxyl group by a triphosphate to the 5'-end of the mRNA strand and (ii) a methyl substituent on the 2'-hydroxyl of the penultimate nucleotide (Fig. 2).  Such methylations, which are catalyzed by N-7 methyltransferases and nucleoside 2'-methyltransferases that use AdoMet as the co-factor, are necessary for a fully functional mRNA.

 

The research currently underway deals with antiviral drug design and discovery with focus on inhibition of terminal viral mRNA methylation with particular attention to transition state analogs of the methyl transfer (Figure 3) and analogs of the AdoMet co-factor (Figure 4).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Target viruses include: 

 

RNA Viruses

Bunya viruses

      Rift Valley Fever

      Sandy Fever

      Punta Toro

      Hantan

Alphavirus

      Venezuelan Equine Encephalomyelitis

Flaviviruses

      Yellow Fever

      Japanese Encephalitis

      Banzi

      Dengue

      Hepatitis C

Arenaviruses

      Pichinde

      Lassa

      Junin

Retrovirus

      HIV

Rhabdovirus

      Vesicular Stomatitis Virus

Filovirus

      Ebola

        

DNA Viruses

Poxviruses

      Vaccinia

      Cowpox

      Monkeypox

      Smallpox

Adenovirus

      Human Adenovirus type 2
This research is supported by the National Institutes of Health.

 

Examples of recent publications from the

Schneller  group

Yang, M.; Ye, W.; Schneller, S.W. Preparation of Carbocyclic S-Adenosylazamethionine Accompanied by a Practical Synthesis of (-)-Aristeromycin. J. Org. Chem. 2004, 69, 3993-3996. (PDF)

Yang, M.; Schneller, S.W. 5'-Homoaristeromycin. Synthesis and Antiviral Activity against Orthopox Viruses. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2005, 15, 149-151. (PDF)

Roy, A.; Schneller, S.W.; Keith, K.A.; Hartline, C.B.; Kern, E.R. The 4',4'-Difluoro Analog of 5'-Noraristeromycin: A New Structural Prototype for Possible Antiviral Drug Development toward Orthopoxvirus and Cytomegalovirus. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2005, 13, 4443-4449. (PDF)

Hausmann, S.; Zheng, S.; Fabrega, C.; Schneller, S.W.; Lima, C.D.; Shuman, S. Encephalitozoon cuniculi mRNA (Guanine N-7)Methyltransferase. J. Biol. Chem. 2005, 280, 20404-20412. (PDF)

Yang, M.; Schneller, S.W.; Korba, B. 5'-Homoneplanocin A Inhibits Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. J. Med. Chem. 2005, 48, 5043-5046. (PDF)

Roy, A.; Schneller, S.W. An Unusual Occurrence on Attempted Purine C-8 Electrophilic Fluorination of 5'-Noraristeromycin. Org. Lett. 2005, 7, 3889-3891. (PDF)

Yang, M.; Zhoiu, J.; Schneller, S.W. The Mitsunobu Reaction in Preparing 3-Deazapurine Carbocyclic Nucleosides. Tetrahedron 2006, 62, 1295-1300. (PDF)

Zhou, J.; Yan, M.; Akdag, A.; Schneller, S.W. C-4' Truncated Carbocyclic Formycin Derivatives. Tetrahedron 2006, 62, 7009-7013.121. (PDF)

Roy, A.; Serbessa, T.; Schneller, S.W. 3'-Fluoro-3'-deoxy-5'-noraristeromycin Derivatives: Synthesis and Antiviral Analysis. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2006, 14, 4980-4986. (PDF)

Yang, M.; Serbessa, T.; Schneller, S.W. The 3-Deaza and 7-Deaza Derivatives of 5'-Amino-5'-deoxy-5'-noraristeromycin. Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun. 2006, 71, 1122-1129. (invited paper) (PDF)

Yin, X.q.; Schneller, S.W. A Practical Synthetic Route to 4'-Alkylaristeromycin Derivatives: 4'-Methylaristeromycin. Tetrahedron Lett. 2006, 47, 4057-4059. (PDF)

Ye, W.; Schneller, S.W. 5'-Methylaristeromycin and Related Derivatives. J. Org. Chem. 2006, 71, 8641-8643. (PDF)

Yin, X.-q.; Li, W.-k.; Schneller, S.W. An Efficient Mitsunobu Coupling to Adenine-derived Carbocyclic Nucleosides. Tetrahedron Lett. 2006, 47, 9187-9189. (PDF)

Yin, X.; Zhao, G.; Schneller, S.W. Carbocyclic Sinefungin. Tetrahedron Lett. 2007, 48, 4809-4811. (PDF)