Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a powerful human pathogen that frequently infects people with weakened immune systems (i.e. cystic fibrosis, AIDS and cancer patients).  Tissue damage that occurs during P. aeruginosa infection is due mainly from the synthesis of exotoxin A, for which 1,8-naphthalimide has shown to be a good inhibitor with competitive inhibition, some aqueous solubility and a low IC₅₀ value (87 nM).

Studies to synthesize 1,8-naphthalimide derivatives that possess inhibition and binding properties comparable or superior to 1,8-naphthalimide have been ongoing. The talk will outline synthetic discoveries based on chemistry of 1-naphthyl amide derivatives. Specifically we have discovered that new naphthalimidines 1 succumb to lithiation at the peri position. In addition, when treated with a Lewis acid, the protecting group of compounds 1 migrates to the next carbon. That rearrangement can be intercepted with selected nucleophiles creating a reaction involving one-pot hydroxyl substitution and loss of the N-protecting unit.