The research interests of the Radical Chemistry and Catalysis group are on the development of new environmentally friendly and economically sustainable methodology for the transformation of relatively cheap starting material into valuable building blocks with the highest molecular complexity, which can be transformed further to the desired target.

To accomplish the goal of economically sustainable methodology, our research interest will be focused on Metalloradical Catalysis, the Valorization of greenhouse gas, and the functionalization of oleochemicals and Natural Product-Based Drug Design.

Metalloradical Catalysis: Since the historical report on "Triphenylmethyl: An Instance of Trivalent Carbon" by Gomberg, the field of radical chemistry has advanced significantly. Due to the mild reaction conditions, high functional group tolerance, and high chemoselectivity, extreme reactions are viable alternatives to their ionic counterpart. However, taming organic radicals to a required extent is still challenging. We are developing new metal radical-promoted catalytic stereoselective radical reactions and understanding the reaction mechanism utilizing modern synthetic techniques and computational tools.

Valorization of greenhouse gas and functionalization of oleochemicals: Modern human civilization constantly faces the challenges of global warming and the impending shortage of fossil fuels. The amount of greenhouse gases has steadily increased since pre-industrial times, and now these components are the main responsible factors for climate change. To address these challenges, we are designing a new catalytic process for the Valorization of CO2 and catalytic functionalization of biomass such as oleochemicals.

Natural Product-Based Drug Design: Another area of concern is the emergence of more life-threatening diseases. To provide an alternative, it is essential to design new molecules by natural product-based or computer-based drug design. Furthermore, according to FDA guidelines, every newly synthesized drug should be enantiopure. Nonetheless, the rapid and streamlined synthesis of complex organic molecules with very high enantiomeric excess is still a long-standing problem in organic synthesis. We are developing a new biomimetic approach for synthesizing biologically active natural products. Their biological activity will be studied with the leading expert in this field.

Faculty: Dr. Ajoy Kapat, Assistant Professor
Students:

• Asrar Ahmad, Ph.D.scholar
• Garvisha Mittal, OUR student, Class of 2023
• Asrar Ahmad, Ph.D.scholar
• Abhay Dixit, OUR student, Class of 2023