Aza-peptides with basic amino acid residues (lysine, ornithine, arginine) and derivatives were synthesized by an effective approach featuring alkylation of a hydrazone-protected aza-glycine residue with α-bromo ω-chloro propane and butane to provide the corresponding alkyl chloride side chains. Displacement of the chloride with azide and various amines gave entry to azaOrn, azaLys, and azaArg containing peptides as demonstrated by the solution and solid-phase syntheses of 29 examples, including an aza-library of Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide-6 analogs.

A modular approach to synthesize anti-Apicomplexa parasite inhibitors was developed that takes advantage of a pluripotent cyclic tetrapeptide scaffold capable of adjusting appendage and skeletal diversities in only a few steps (one to three steps). The diversification processes make use of selective radical coupling reactions and involve a new example of a reductive carbon-nitrogen cleavage reaction with SmI2. The resulting bioactive cyclic peptides have revealed new insights into structural factors that govern selectivity between Apicomplexa parasites such as Toxoplasma and Plasmodium and human cells.

The oxidation of appropriate 2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl ketones gives direct access to amomols by means of the formation of a transient spirocyclohexadienone-oxocarbenium ion that is intermolecularly intercepted by an alcohol. Furthermore, homochiral amomols and other new analogues were synthesized for the first time and were biologically evaluated on Plasmodium falciparum.