Research

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Synthesis of selectively complexing ligands and development of the separation and Analytical methods the for strategic and expensive metals

· The work during my second post-doctoral tenure at Paul Scherrer Institute Switzerland and during my doctoral tenure at Department of Chemistry, University of Pune and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India; was dealing with the synthesis of multivalent organic ligand molecules like different malonamides and their derivatives which are having ability of binding and complexing with actinides/ lanthanide metal ions.

· The work also involved the designing of the new ionic liquid ligands and diluent moieties to get the selectivity in actinides metal ions and their applications in coordination and separation chemistry of f block elements.

· Supported liquid membrane system using synthesized ligands have been developed for the separation of actinides.

· During this work the basic actinide complexation studies have been carried out using the different spectroscopic techniques such as UV, ICP-OES, TRLFS, GCMS, IR, NMR, GPC, HPLC, LC-MS and gamma ray spectroscopy. The work has resulted in most of my major publications.

Work done at Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland; University of Pune, and BARC, Mumbai, India, New J. Chem 2015; Dalton trans. 2013; Radiochim. Acta 2013; J Membra. Sci. 2013, Sep. Sci. Technol. 2014

Synthesis of Imidazolidinone hybrid organocatalyst, and gold/thiourea catalysis on nitro alkyne and allene isatin analogues

· The research work carried out during my first postdoctoral tenure at the Department of Chemistry ‘Ciamician’, University of Bologna, Italy is dealing with the organocatalysis research area. We have emphasized our efforts on the synthesis of new Imidazolidinone hybrid catalyst, and study of the thiourea and gold catalyst strategies on newly designed structural entities belonging to the isatin alkyne or allenes.

· We have developed the cyclic amino acid amine type of Imidazolidinone organocatalyst ligands from the amino acid precursors. Attempts were carried out starting from the L-Serine or ethyl bromo acetate to achieve the cyclic Imidazolidinone moiety by using acetonide or formyl cyclization of amino acid amidic and amine nitrogen atoms. Further installation of the diphenyl alcohol group using the methylation reaction using strong base and silyalation afforded the desired hybrid class of imidazolidininone catalyst in good stereochemical control. The organocatalysis studies were carried out on the reactions such as alkylation, cyclopropanation, and Michael addition. Present work is in process of manuscript preparation.

· The allene and nitroalkyne adduct of the isatin has been constructed successfully. The simple protocol for the allene synthesis has been developed using the formyl homologation reaction on the propargyl protected Isatin. Further efforts towards the cyclization of such nitro unsaturated isatin systems can give rise the fascinating cyclised products and could be studied for the cascade type of reactions. Present work is in advanced stage of cyclization of the nitro alkynes with functionalized isatin using Au catalyst.

Work done at University of Bologna, Italy, under communication for publication

Carbohydrates modification using click chemistry and carbohydrate smart polymers

· Along with my PhD work, at dept. of chemistry, University of Pune; I was also involved in the synthetic projects for the carbohydrate modifications using simpler strategies. It involves the conversion of D-glucose into the five membered ring furanose form using the acetonide protection.

· C-5 position of this moiety undergoes selective deprotection and NaIO4 diol cleavage to get aldehyde and then the subsequent alkyne construction using Bestmann conditions. In another sequence, the C-3 alcohol was converted to corresponding azide or alkyne using NaN3 or propargyl bromide. These scaffolds then exposed to click reactions in mild conditions.

· The free OH in the sugar moieties can be acrylated and polymerized under radical conditions; or copolymerized with acrylic acid or N-isopropyl acrylamide to give pH or thermosensitive smart polymers. The synthesized polymer molecules showed good haemeagglutination and viral recognition activity. The work is in process of publication to international journal.

Work done at University of Pune, India, New J. Chem. 2015

THE MAIN AREA OF THIRST WERE

o The designing and synthesis of new multivalent ligands derivatives and ionic liquids ligands.

o Separation of f blocks metals by complexation, membranes, and utilization of spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques.

o Rare earth metal separations using improved strategies.

o Rigorous analytical (separation and spectroscopy) and synthetic organic chemistry expertise

EXPERIMENTAL SKILLS:

  • Experienced in handling organic reactions like amide coupling, Imine coupling, Huisgens Cycloaddition, C- Coupling using organolithium reagents.

  • Pd, Fe, Zn, Cu mediated hydrogenation/reduction reactions.

  • Handling moisture sensitive reactions. Capable of handling radioactivity and radiation detectors. Well versed with the solution chemistry of actinides.

  • Drying and distillation of organic solvents.

  • Purification of organic compounds by distillation, vacuum distillation, crystallization and chromatographic techniques.

RELEVANT SCIENTIFIC / SOFTWARE SKILLS :

  • Operation of instruments and Interpretation of spectral data from UV, IR, ICP-OES, GPC, NMR, HPLC, LC-MS, CHNS, etc.

  • Well versed with HPTLC, Prep HPLC technique, Gel Permeation Chromatography, Combiflash, chiral chromatography.

  • Knowledge software’s such as ISIS Draw, ChemDraw, and other computer knowledge.

  • Literature search by using Spresi-web, Sci-Finder, Scopus, reaxys, etc.

  • Well acquainted with the chemistry of f block elements and their spectroscopic properties like Time Resolved Laser Fluorescence Spectroscopy.

  • Capable of handling radiotracers and radiation detectors