Synthetic and Drug Research Laboratory

Activities

Isolation and characterization of frontier molecules

With the help of the experiences gained by the people through many generations, the traditional medicinal practitioners, faith healers and ethnic groups have made use of herbal products for various purposes. The herbal plants are being consumed by the people for the treatment of infectious diseases like flu, measles, typhoid, diarrhea, wound, cold, cough and other microbial diseases. Many medicinal plants such as Aconitum species, Aconitum spicatum, Acorus calamus, Allium prattii, Bergenia ciliate, Bergenia purpurascens, Caragana jubata, Caragana sukiensis, Mallotus philippensis, Picrorhiza scrophulariaeflora, Rheum australe, Rheum nobile, Rhododendron anthopogon, Usnea aciculifera, Zanthoxylum armatum and many more are currently under chemical and biological investigation in our laboratories. We are looking for frontier molecules from various natural sources to be utilized as potential drug. Our works on natural products have been described in several articles.

Derivatisation of natural bioactive compounds for activity enhancement

We are working on derivatisation of natural secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, anthraquinones etc. for enhancement of their bioactivities. For example, quercetin, a naturally occurring flavonoid, exhibits a high antioxidative property. Unfortunately its water insoluble property and the nature of rapid conjugation with glucuronosyltransferases and sulfotransferases present in the small intestine halts it to reach in the malignant organs through gastrointestinal tract in oral therapy. We are synthesizing several quercetin derivatives and comparing their in vitro and in vivo bioactivities to obtain medicinally important frontier molecules.

Development of novel synthetic methodologies

Development of novel strategies for the synthesis of various target molecules is our another research topic. We have established all basic requirements to work on advanced organic synthesis. Currently we are using various metal (Cu, Ag, Au, Fe, Ru, Rh, Ni, Pd, Pt, etc.) complexes to develop new catalytic reactions and studying their mechanisms. Cyclizations, nucleophilic additions, C-H activations and macrolide synthesis are our currently running projects.

Development of industrial processes and green chemistry

We are focusing on development of economic, industrial processes. Avoiding of organic solvents and hazardous reagents, development of high yielding and atom economic process, the use of mild conditions and ease work up protocols, microwave synthesis and short step total synthesis are the goals.

Team members

1. Dr. Gan B. Bajracharya ([email protected])
2. Mr. Gangaram Upadhyay ([email protected])
3. Ms. Najma Bajracharya
4. Mr. Nawraj Karki
5. Mrs. Sabita Shrestha
6. Ms. Sabina Pant