Part I: Highly oxygenated biphenyls inspired by natural products as antiviral agents Part II: Novel Trypanosomacidal agents for the treatment of human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) and chagas disease

This two-part thesis, reports on two drug discovery projects. Part I investigates analogues of a biphenyl natural product as antiviral agents. The optimisation of the synthesis of the natural product is discussed, as well as the synthesis and biological activity of more polar analogues. The second project concerns the discovery of novel trypanosomacidal agents based on an existing series of 1-(2-(2-phenylthiazol-4-yl)ethyl)ureas. The aim of this project was to further optimise this class of compounds, to produce more metabolically stable analogues and identify a suitable drug candidate. Significant improvement in trypanosomacidal potency was achieved, along with modest increases in metabolic stability.