New Anti-cancer Organic Compounds for a More Eco friendly Organic Chemistry
The research of two PhD students Sundaramoorthi Sarathkumar and Veerababurao Kavala at the Department of Chemistry was published as the cover of the latest journal Organic Letters issued by American Chemical Society.
This paper proposes a new anti-cancer organic compound that reacts in water through a water-soluble rhenium element catalyst, breaking the limitation that most organic substances can only react in organic solvents in the past, reducing the use of more polluting organic solvents, and the catalyst can be reused. Significant progress has been made to create environmentally friendly organic chemistry.
The paper was titled: A Water-Soluble Rhenium(I) Catalyst for the Regio- and Stereoselective C(sp2)–H Alkenylation of N-Pyridyl-/N-Pyrimidylindole and the N–H Alkenylation of N-Pyrimidylaniline Derivatives with Ynamides. The inspiration comes from indole, an aromatic heterocyclic organic compound found in olives trees. The researchers spent a year and a half on the research under the guidance of Professor Yao Ching Fa. According to Veerababurao Kavala, water is easily available to anyone. The use of water as solvents can reduce the amount of chemical waste, the catalyst can be reused.
Professor Yao has been teaching at NTNU since 1993. He has published more than 158 paper on international journals. Three of his papers received Best Paper Award in Tetrahedron Letters and four of his papers are on the cover.
The research team was on the cover of Asian Journal of Organic Chemistry in 2019. Paper by Veerababurao Kavala was on The Journal of Organic Chemistry under the guidance of Professor Yao. In 2020, the team once again made it to the cover of The Journal of Organic Chemistry, which is an evidence of international recognition.