Adjunct Professor

Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology
Chemical Biology Program

Research Interests

Cation-conducting channels

There are three areas currently under active study in our laboratory. The major area involves the development and study of completely synthetic molecules that function as cation-conducting channels in phospholipid bilayers. The effort involves the design of these compounds, the synthetic organic chemistry required to bring them to hand, and then study by a variety of analytical techniques including 23Na-NMR, fluorescence, planar lipid bilayer conductance, etc.

Novel, switched amphiphiles and membranes

The second area of effort involves the development of novel amphiphiles that form membranes. The compounds studied thus far are of the form ~tail in which the headgroup is normally polar and the tail is a nonpolar residue, often a hydrocarbon chain. The headgroups have often been organometallics such as ferrocene because the oxidation states and therefore the polarity of these substances can altered. This provides a mechanism by which the aggregation of amphiphiles can be controlled.

MyristoylCoa: protein myristoyl transferase, NMT

The third area of interest involves a collaborative effort with Prof. J. I. Gordon of this Department. It involves the study of the fatty acid binding site in myristoylCoa:protein myristoyl transferase, NMT. We prepared numerous analogs of myristic acid, study of which led to an understanding of the binding site. NMT uses the coenzyme A derivative of myristic acid rather than the fatty acid itself. Our desire to understand the formation of CoA derivatives and how they are bound has led to a program to design and prepare CoA analogs that may be of use in other biological systems as well as useful as mechanistic probes of CoA synthetases generally. We also designed and synthesized a novel fatty acid-type ligand that assisted in obtaining the crystal structure of the holoenzyme.

Gokel Biosketch

Education

• Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, B.S. chemistry, 1968.
• University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, Ph.D. Chemistry with I. K. Ugi, 1971.
• UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, postdoctoral fellowship with D.J. Cram, 1972-1974.

Experience

• Professor of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology, Director, Bioorganic Chemistry Program, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, August 1993-present.
• Professor of Chemistry, 1985-1993; Associate Chairman for Research, Director of Graduate Studies, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida 33124, 1985-1992.
• Professor of Chemistry, 1982-1984; Associate Professor of Chemistry, 1978-1982,
  Department of Chemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742.
• Visiting Professor of Biological Chemistry, Univ. of Maryland Medical School, Baltimore, MD, 1982-83.
• Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, 1974-1978.
• Chemist, Central Research Department, E.I. DuPont de Nemours Co., Wilmington, DE 19898, June-August, 1974.

Distinctions

• Allan C. Davis Medal, Maryland Academy of Sciences: "Maryland's Outstanding Young Scientist, 1979."
• Leo Schubert Award, Washington Academy of Sciences, "For Outstanding Teaching of Science," 1981.
• Member, Washington Academy of Sciences, 1981.
• "Frontiers of Chemistry" lecturer, Case Western Reserve University, November, 1981.
• McElvain lecturer, University of Wisconsin, March, 1993.
• "Outstanding Professor," College of Arts and Sciences, University of Miami (Alumni Award), 1993.
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Senior Fellow, 1994.
• Izatt-Christensen International Award in Macrocyclic Chemistry, 1996.
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1996.
• Editor, Supramolecular Chemistry, (1992-1999).
• Editorial advisory board of Chemical Communications, (1998 - present).

Selected Publications

G.W. Gokel, Crown Ethers and Cryptands, Volume 3 in J. F. Stoddart (Ed.), Monographs in Supramolecular Chemistry, The Royal Society of Chemistry, London, England, 1991, 190 pp. Reviewed in J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 1992, 114, 4017.

Gokel, G.W.; "Lariat Ethers: From Simple Sidearms to Supramolecular Systems," Chem. Soc. Reviews, 1992, 21, 39-47.

G.W. Gokel, "Macrocyclic Compounds" in McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, 8th Edn., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1995, pp. 281- 285.

Gokel, G.W.; "Crown Ethers and Cryptands," in J. A. Semlyen (Ed.), Large Ring Molecules, John Wiley, New York, 1996, pp 263-307.

Gokel, G.W.; Schall, O.F.; "Lariat Ethers," Comprehensive Supramolecular Chemistry, 1996, 97-152.

Contact Information

George W. Gokel
University of Missouri, St. Louis
http://www.umsl.edu/divisions/artscience/chem/gokellab/

Laboratory Website

http://molecool.wustl.edu/gokellab.html

Chemical Biology Program Website

http://molecool.wustl.edu/chembio/