Synthesis, Structure and Mechanism in Immunophilin Research

The ability to synthesize new molecular structures can greatly augment investigations of cellular systems. Synthetic chemistry coupled with structure determination is an especially powerful combination. These techniques have played a vital role in both the discovery and characterization of a family of intracellular receptors known as immunophilins. This review will attempt to highlight the synthetic and structural studies of immunophilin receptors that have been carried out in the Harvard and Cornell laboratories during the past several years.