Dr. Mohammad Mousa Aldhoun
Faculty of Pharmacy
Philadelphia University
Work Tel: + 962 6 4799000 Ext. 2327
Email : maldhoun@philadelphia.edu.jo
Educations:
2006 – 2009
Doctorate in Organic Chemistry, Ferrara University, Italy.
Thesis title: “Synthesis of C-glycosyl amino acids as stable
building blocks for modified glycopeptides synthesis”.
1997 – 2001
Masters in Chemistry, University of Yarmouk, Jordan.
Thesis title:
“A study in the synthesis of phthalimidines
derivatives from O- Phthaladehydic acid”.
1993 – 1997
Bachelor in chemistry. Yarmouk University, Jordan.
Research interests:
Carbohydrates, Amino acids, Glycosylated amino acids,
peptide
synthesis., Heterocyclic chemistry, Multi step synthesis and C- glycosyl
selenocysteine derivatives.
Work Experiences:

13sept 2010 – To date
Assistant Professor
Pharmacology faculty, university Philadelphia

13th March 2009 to February 2010
Researcher, University of Ferrara, Italy

2001-2006High school teacher, Chemistry classes,
Ministry of Education, Jordan.

1998-2000
Teaching
assistant
during
Master’s
studies
Yarmouk University, Jordan. General Chemistry lab and
Organic
Chemistry labs. (Formal scholarship for the best
achievements the group).
Publications

Alessandro Dondoni, Alessandro Massi, Mohammad Aldhoun.
Hantzsch – Type Three – component Approach to a New Family of
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Carbon – Linked Glycosyl Amino Acids. Synthesis of C-glycosylmethyl
Pyridylalanines Journal of Organic Chemistry 2007, 72, 7677-7687
Mohammad Aldhoun, Alessandro Massi, Alessandro Dondoni. Click

Azide- Nitrile Cycloaddition as New Ligation tool for the synthesis of
tetrazole –tethered C-Glycosyl α-amino acids, Journal of Organic
Chemistry 2008, 73, 9565-9575.
Personal skills

Computer skills (windows, Words, Excel, Access, PowerPoint,
Chemdraw, and Internet).

Lab skills ( running and analysis of IR, H1-NMR, C13-NMR, Mass
spectrometry , UV-Visible, carrying out chemical transformations, Paper chromatography,
Flash Chromatography, drying organic solvents , crystallization and identifications of new
organic compounds using different spectroscopic techniques.

Microwave Synthetic system
Language competence



Arabic – Mother tongue
English – 2nd Language
Italian- Beginners level
Abstract of my Doctorate work
I have studied and synthesized new class of C-glycosly amino acids whose structure features a
hetrocycle ring holding the carbohydrate and the amino acid fragments. Pyridine and tetrazole rings were used as
hetrocycle linkers in this project. This class of C-glycosyl amino acids is of interest as new chealtors and as
building building blocks for cotranslational glycopeptides synthesis. In the first part, C-Glycosylmethyl
pyridylalanines were synthesized via thermally induced Hantzsch-type cyclocondensation using an aldehydeketoester-enamino ester system. To one of these reagents was attached a C-glycosyl residue, while to another was
bound an amino acid fragment. In a one-pot optimized methodology, the dihydropyridine was not isolated while
its purification was carried out by removal of unreacted material and side products using polymer-supported
scavengers. Then the dihydropyridine (mixture of diastereoisomers) was oxidized by a polymer-bound oxidant to
give the target pyridine bearing the two bioactive residues. In this way, a range of eight compounds (58-68%
yield) was prepared in which the elements of diversity were (i) the gluco and galacto configurations of the
pyranose ring, (ii) the α- and β-configurations at the anomeric center, and (iii) the positions of the carbohydrate
and amino acid sectors in the pyridine ring. The orthogonal functional group protection in these amino acids
allowed their easy incorporation into oligopeptides via sequential amino and carboxylic group coupling.
In the second part, tetrazole moiety was constructed via Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition
between nitriles and organic azides. Two sets of compounds have been prepared, one being constituted of Cgalactosyl and C-ribosyl O-tetrazolyl serines, while the other contains S-tetrazolyl cysteine derivatives. In both
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cases, the synthetic scheme involved a two-step route: the first one being the thermal cycloaddition of a sugar
azide with p-toluensulfonyl cyanide (TsCN) to give a 1-substituted 5-sulfonyl tetrazole and the second the
replacement of the tosyl group with a serine or cysteine residue. For the high efficiency and operational
simplicity, the azide-TsCN cycloaddition appears to be a true click process. Finally, one of the amino acids
prepared was incorporated into a tripeptide
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