Presentation

The Bio-Organic Chemistry laboratory (CBO) headed by Prof. Stéphane Vincent is located in the Organic Chemistry Unit (UCO) at the University of Namur. This unit is articulated around the complementary activities of Prof. Steve Lanners (Synthetic Organic Chemistry, COS), Prof. Berionni (Reactivity and Organic Catalysis, RCO) and Prof. Stéphane Vincent (CBO).

The CBO specializes in organic chemistry in general, and more particularly in glycosciences for the multi-step synthesis of organic molecules or molecular probes targeting various applications (biochemistry, virology, bacteriology, medicinal chemistry, green chemistry and catalysis, etc.).

The molecules mainly synthesized in this laboratory are: glycoconjugates, organophosphorus and organofluorine derivatives, nucleosides and glycolipids. Topics interfacing with medicinal chemistry led to Prof. Vincent to synthesize heterocyclic drug-like molecules or beta-lactam antibiotics. Syntheses of dendrimer-type derivatives centered on different molecular “nuclei” have also been developed: mainly fullerenes (C60), pillar-arenes, calixarenes and porphyrins.

At the interface with enzymology and biocatalysis, the CBO also manipulates proteins either for the purposes of chemo-enzymatic synthesis or for studies of inhibition or mechanisms of enzymatic reactions (glycosyltransferases, glycosidadases, mutases, kinases, epimerases etc…). Enzyme activity tests are commonly developed by different technologies.

The laboratory is currently made up of 7 doctoral students, 4 post-doctoral researchers and a part-time technician. A full-time technician assigned to the UCO is in charge of the maintenance of all equipment. Since the creation of the laboratory, 10 doctoral students and 19 master's students have completed their thesis and 15 post-docs have spent at least one year in the laboratory.

Group picture 2019