Week 8

Welcome back to my blog! This week, I started an acetylation of the TBS-protected dexamethasone as my first dexamethasone analog. I have the product right now, but the actual structure is yet to be elucidated by nuclear magnetic resonance. If the NMR indicates the structure is in fact the target structure (shown below), then I will deprotect it (by removing the TBS protecting group) and assay it in order to test its efficiency.

I also finally got the Chinese Hamster Ovary cells and they are still alive (as of yesterday). I also split them so the cells don’t become hyperconfluent (which basically means there are way too many cells bunched together, leading to cell death) and replaced the media (its nutrients needed to survive).