A Synergistic Approach to Antimicrobial Synthesis

This thesis outlines two key approaches to antimicrobial synthesis. The first is through the attempts at the synthesis of analogues of a known antibiotic, virginiamycin MII. The second is through reaction design targeted towards a natural product with antimicrobial activity, hisunic acid. The reaction design revolves around the application of organocatalysis, specifically N-heterocyclic carbenes.