Synthesis of betalains from a protected seco-DOPA

• Grant number: 22/13004-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2023
• End date: June 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Erick Leite Bastos
• Grantee: Francisco Gobbi Barbosa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Betalains are a class of pigments present in a wide variety of plants, fungi and bacteria.These natural products are widely used as colorants in the food industry and haverecently been used as antioxidants, redox mediators, and sensors. Obtaining betalains bychemical synthesis is a valuable strategy for creating functional pseudo-naturalderivatives. In this undergraduate research project, we propose to synthesize betalainsthrough the coupling of amines of interest with protected 4,5-seco-DOPA, whosesynthesis is already described in the literature.