For this month's episode, Dani and LC dive into the challenges of strained cyclic peptide synthesis with Niki Patel and Dave Petrone who recently completed the total synthesis of Darobactin A in collaboration with Professor Sarlah's group at UIUC. Now this wasn't Merck's first foray into natural product total synthesis, in fact Darobactin A is part of a rich legacy of total syntheses at Merck that spans 80 years! 
Niki and Dave share how the internal Merck team first envisioned putting this molecule together - including how to construct the complex non-canonical amino acids and ultimately how to forge the highly strained bis-macrolactams. They then walk us through how the team ended up collaborating with Professor Sarlah's team at UIUC combining efforts to complete the total synthesis. Niki, Dave, and Professor Sarlah describe that first meeting and share how they ultimately overcame the macrocyclization challenges which resulted in the total synthesis of Darobactin A!
This episode is filled lots of learnings which include how to construct strained cyclic peptide but more importantly, how a strong network can elevate problem solving and potentially lead to a fruitful academic-industrial collaboration. 
Read the paper we discussed today here:
Total Synthesis of Darobactin A - JACS
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