My research interests are in synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry. Synthetic organic chemistry is the science of using reactions to assemble complicated molecules from simpler ones. One of my particular interests is in the synthesis of chiral molecules containing nitrogen. A molecule is chiral if, because of its three-dimensional structure, it is non-superimposable on its mirror image (just like a left hand is a non-superimposable mirror image of a right hand). Oftentimes, when a pharmaceutical molecule is chiral, only one of the two mirror image molecules (termed 'enantiomers') is the active compound while the other may be inactive, or even cause dangerous side effects. Many biologically active molecules also contain nitrogen. Therefore, our studies in the fundamental aspects of reactions forming single enantiomers of nitrogen-containing molecules will be of interest to the pharmaceutical industry.

Medicinal chemistry is the science of building new molecules, then testing and quantifying their biological activity, and then using that information to design and build new molecules with more potent activity. After several iterations of this process, the end result is an optimized molecule that could be a drug candidate. One of my current interests in medicinal chemistry is in the development potential drugs for the treatment of Cystic Fibrosis, a genetic disease for which there is still no cure. This research is being done in collaboration with researchers at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children.

1. Alkhouri, B.; Denning, R. A.; Kim Chiaw, P.; Eckford, P. D. W.; Yu, W.; Li, C.; Bogojeski, J. J.; Bear, C. E.; Viirre, R. D.  “Synthesis and Properties of Molecular Probes for the Rescue Site on Mutant Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator” Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2011, 54, 8693-8701.  This article is available online (open access) at: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jm201335c

2. Porosa, L.; Viirre, R.D. “Desymmetrization of malonamides via an enantioselective intramolecular Buchwald-Hartwig reaction” Tetrahedron Letters, 2009, 50, 4170-4173. This article is available online (subscribers only) at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040403909009733

3. Galas, H.; Viirre, R.D.; Lough, A.J. “meso-4,5- Diphenylimidazolidin-2-one” Acta Crystallographica Section E, 2009, E65, o3087. This article is available online (open access) at: http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?S1600536809046133

4. Porosa, L.; Viirre, R.D.; Lough, A.J. “N,1-Bis(4-chloro-2- methylbenzyl)-3-methyl-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline-3- carboxamide” Acta Crystallographica Section E, 2009, E65, o3090. This article is available online (open access) at: http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?S1600536809046765

5. Viirre, R.D., Evindar, G., Batey, R.A. "Copper-Catalyzed Domino Annulation Approaches to the Synthesis of Benzoxazoles under Microwave-Accelerated and Conventional Thermal Conditions" Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2008, 73, 3452-3459. This article is available online (subscribers only) at: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jo702145d

6. Hudson, R.H.E.; Dambenieks, A.K.; Viirre, R.D. "A Direct Synthesis of Pyrrolocytosine from 5-Iodocytosine" Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids, 2005, 24(5-7), 581-584.

7. Hudson, R.H.E.; Dambenieks, A.K.; Viirre, R.D. "Fluorescent 7-Deazapurine Derivatives from 5-Iodocytosine via a Tandem Cross-Coupling-Annulation Reaction with Terminal Alkynes", SYNLETT, 2004, 2400-2402.

8. Hudson, R.H.E.; Viirre, R.D.; Liu, Y.; Wojciechowski, F.; Dambenieks, A. "Chemistry for the Synthesis of Modified Peptide Nucleic Acid", Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2004, 76(7-8), 1591-1598.

9. Hudson, R. and Viirre, R. "Progress Towards a Submonomer Synthesis of PNA" Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids, 2003, 22(5-8), 1017-1022.

10. Hudson, R., Viirre, R., McCourt, N., and Tse, J. "Nucleobase-Modified Peptide Nucleic Acid" Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids, 2003, 22(5-8), 1029-1033.