Nationall Chemiccal Laborratory
(Counccil of Scientiific & Industtrial
Researrch)
Dr. Homi Bh
habha Road, P
Pune – 411 00
08, India
Publication and Sciience Comm
munication Unit
Date: April
A
7, 2015
5
G
Pandey deliverrs Prof. K. V
Venkataraman memoria
al lecture att CSIR-NCL
L
Prof. Ganesh
R- National Chemical Laboratory (C
CSIR-NCL), Pune organ
nized the Tw
welfth Prof. K.
The CSIR
Venkatarraman Memo
orial lecture on March 11,
1 2015. Prrof. Ganesh Pandey, Dirrector, Centre
of Biome
edical Resea
arch (CBMR
R), Lucknow
w and former outstandin
ng scientist of CSIR-NC
CL
delivered
d a talk on ‘C
Complex Na
atural Produ
uct Structure
es, a Driving
g Force for Innovations in
Organic Chemistry’.
C
nesh Pandey
y talked abo
out the total synthesis off the comple
ex natural pro
oducts havin
ng
Prof. Gan
various medicinal
m
prroperties. He
H mentione
ed that the idea behind
d developing a synthettic
methodology is not just adding
g one more
e method but
b it should also be practical an
nd
ways look ffor
applicable with new advantagess. He exclaimed “Organic chemistss should alw
ons!”. He sa
aid that a new
n
approach for drug
g discovery is essential and naturral
innovatio
products play a cruc
cial role for this. He me
entioned the fact that 68
8 % of drug
gs today havve
n origins in natural
n
prod
ducts. Contin
nuing with th
his, Prof. Pa
andey revea
aled a diversse
their own
set of alk
kaloids with complex arrchitectures,, their promising anticancer properrties and the
eir
potential as new dru
ug moleculess. A unifying
g theme com
mprising the utilization of
o an opticallly
2.1] heptano
one structura
al frameworkk and their a
analogs thatt can addresss
active azzabicyclo[2.2
the synth
hesis of the
ese diverse natural prod
ducts was put
p forward by Prof. Pandey
P
with a
prerequissite to develo
op novel me
ethodologies in a highly regior
and enantio-selecctive mannerr.
g with the synthesis of the key building blocks, some of th
he major asp
pects such a
as
In dealing
how the reaction parameters
p
n the enantiomers were
are optimizzed to switch between
d and divers
se methodolo
ogies that w
were develop
ped in the co
ontext of the
e synthesis of
explained
the naturral products
s, such as Lepadiformin
L
ne, Cylindriccine, Gracila
amine, Asph
hidophilline A,
A
Dendrobiine, Amaryllidaceae were described
d by Prof. Pandey.
P
With simple illu
ustrations, th
he
synthetic challenges faced durin
ng these en
ndeavours were
w
also sh
hared. He allso presente
ed
nt efforts on
n the enantioselective total synthesis of stenine and th
he
some of their recen
ne, jerantinin
ne, taberson
nine and vin
ncadifformine.
biological synthesis of vincristine, vinblastin
Communication
Phone
+91--20-2590 2034/ 22025 (O)
Fax
+91-20-2590 2680
2
Website
w
www.ncl-india.org
The vincadifformine - vinca alkaloid needs special mention. A short route for the synthesis of
both the enantiomeric natural products in a single synthesis was developed employing the
Claisen rearrangement for constructing the contiguous quaternary centers present in this
molecule. He also briefly shared the synthesis of aspidospermidine where vinylation was
employed. Prof. Pandey concluded with a quotation stating “Nature gives you problems,
Chemistry finds the solutions and Biology has the last word”.
Earlier, Dr. Sourav Pal in his welcome remarks recalled the memories of Prof. K.
Venkataraman former CSIR-NCL Director during 1957-1966 and first Indian Director after
Prof. J. W. McBain and Prof. G. I. Finch who was remarkable organic chemist. He formally
introduced the speaker Prof. Ganesh Pandey who had worked at CSIR-NCL before shifting
to CBMR. The lecture was organized under the auspices of the NCL- Research Foundation.
Prof. Ganesh Pandey delivering the Prof. K. Venkataraman Memorial lecture
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Notes to Editor:
National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL, www.ncl-india.org), Pune India is a research,
development and consulting organization with a focus on chemistry and chemical engineering. It has a
successful record of research partnership with industry. NCL is a flagship laboratory of the Council of
Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR, www.csir.res.in) which is the largest network of publicly funded
research institute in India.
Communication
channels
Phone
+91-20-2590 2034/ 2025 (O)
+91-20-2590 2530 (R)
Fax
Website
+91-20-2590 2680
www.ncl-india.org
e-mail: [email protected]