Jungkyun Im has obtained his Ph.D. degree in 2010 from Pohang university of science and technology in the field of bioorganic medicinal chemistry. During the Ph.D. course he has synthesized glycodendrimer, molecular transporter, stereoisomers of kinase inhibitor, and etc. In particular, to overcome the problems in the drug delivery across biological barriers, he prepared a series of novel molecular transporters based on carbohydrate as a scaffold. The G8 (containing eight guanidine units) sorbitol-based molecular transporter was found to be highly effective in cellular uptake as well as crossing the BBB. Employing the G8 sorbitol-based molecular transporter, he has prepared AZT(the first drug approved by FDA for the treatment of AIDS), and 5-Fu(the drug approved for the treatment of solid tumors) conjugates to examine their delivery to the mouse brain.

The blood brain barrier (BBB) is composed of densely packed endothelial cells which surrounds the vessels of the brain. Endothelial cells of brain capillaries are tightly joined through tight junctions. Thus most molecules in blood plasma such as chemicals as well as pathogens are excluded from the brain. Due to this unique barrier property, brain can be effectively protected from common infectious and inflammatory processes. On the other hand, when the brain is in trouble by a certain disease, the BBB becomes the major hurdle for drug delivery to the brain. In addition, many kinds of efflux pumps are present in the endothelial cells in the brain. For these reasons, the development of CNS (central nervous drug) drugs with the BBB permeability is the major issue in pharmaceutical research. Employing the G8 sorbitol-based molecular transporter, we have prepared AZT and 5-FU conjugates to examine their delivery to the mouse brain. The transporter has two selectively protected-primary hydroxyl groups. One hydroxyl group was conjugated to the drug of interest, while the other was used to attach a fluorophore via suitable linkers. For AZT and 5-FU conjugation, we utilized the succinate ester linker, which can be enzymatically cleaved to release the drug after successful delivery to tissues.

Din-Chi Chiu has received his BS from Department of Material Science and Engineering, National Chiao Tung University. Motivated by the passion on organic synthesis and drug discovery, he’s currently majoring chemistry in National Taiwan University and conducting research about development of new anti-influenza agent as his master study.

Influenza, an acute respiratory disease, remains to impact public health greatly. One of the envelope protein called Neuraminidase (NA) acts as a critical role in replication cycle of influenza virus, and its inhibitors such as oseltamivir and peramivir have been widely used for clinical treatment of influenza infections. Despite NA’s high conservation, certain mutations such as H274Y and R292K have been observed, thus leading to suppression of drug effectiveness. Referring to the co-crystal structure of NA and peramivir or oseltamivir, the drop of drug activity can be attributed to those unfavorable interactions between the hydrophobic substituents, 3-pentyl or 3-pentoxyl, on NA inhibitors and amino acid residues of NA. Consequently, peramivir derivatives bearing hydrophilic side chain were designed and synthesized in order to overcome drug resistance. (Fig.1) Gratifying, a pioneering method with complete consumption of the dipolariphile was developed by using reduced amount of nitrile oxide 1,3-dipole to conduct the 1,3- dipolar cycloaddition reaction. Aside from discovery of an alternative synthetic route, alleviated drug resistance is observed on analogs with various hydrophilic substituents, and improvement of inhibitory effects toward mutant viruses can be expected.

Sanjeev Dhawan has done his B Pharmacy from Punjab Technical University, India. He did M Pharmacy in Medicinal Chemistry from Lovely Professional University, Punjab in 2013. He has been awarded NRF-TWAS fellowship South Africa in 2016. He has worked as Research Associate in Jubilant Chemsys, Noida, India from 2013-2016. Currently, he is pursuing his PhD in Organic Chemistry from University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, School of Physics and Chemistry, Westville, Durban, South Africa.

Diabetes mellitus represents a group of chronic disorders with diverse multiple etiology. It is characterized by high blood glucose (hyperglycemia) resulting from the malfunctioning in insulin secretion and/or insulin action, leading to impaired metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins in the body. According to 2013 WHO report, approximately 4.9 million people have died thus far and around 415 million are currently suffering from DM worldwide. Coumarins have potential to act as anti-diabetic agents with excellent pharmacological profile. Accordingly, different hydroxycoumarins were prepared and engaged in further transformations. The synthesized compounds were structurally characterized using different spectroscopic techniques. The synthesized compounds were tested in vitro for their anti-diabetic activity using the standard drug (acarbose) as a control. Some of the coumarin derivatives exhibited excellent anti-diabetic activity even better than the standard drug, based on the IC50 data. The effect of alkyl chain length and electronic nature (electron-donating/withdrawing) of substituents attached to coumarin ring on the anti-diabetic activity was monitored, and a detailed structure activity relationship (SAR) was established. The in vitro anti-oxidant activity of compounds further revealed the importance of hydroxyl (-OH) groups in coumarins for their antioxidant activity. The alkylation or acylation of coumarins significantly reduced their antioxidant activity. On the other hand, the attachment of nitro (-NO2) group to aromatic ring of coumarin, impressively increased the antioxidant activity. Molecular docking simulations were finally conducted to predict the binding propensities of the compounds in the binding site of α-glucosidase, an enzyme that regulates the sugar level in the body. Since, the X-ray data for this protein is not available in protein data bank its 3D model was generated using homology modeling technique. The predicted free binding energies exhibit these compounds as good inhibitors for the protein. The docking data suggested the importance of both hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic forces in their host-guest relationship.

Inga Ermanova is a master-student who combined studies in National University of Science and Technology (NUST MISIS) in the Electronics and Nanoelectronics direction with working in Laboratory of Energy Efficiency. Her scientific employment is devoted to research optoelectrical characteristics and morphology of organometal halide perovskite solar cells.

Perovskite solar cell with semitransparent top electrode composed of layers of SWCNT+MWCNT (single-wall carbon nanotubes and multi-wall carbon nanotubes) soaked with transport layer (PCBM or Spiro-MeOTAD) is found to be more stable than the standard aluminum (Al) or gold (Au) electrodes. The improved performance was observed both for a cathode, made by the combination of both types of CNTs and through the PC61BM added, attributed to the enhanced contact between CNTs and the perovskite solar cell films. Similarly the anode, (made of MWCNT soaked by spiro-MeOTAD) shows good performance, as compared to traditional Au anode. An improvement in the stability under illumination was studied for both cathode and anode with the semitransparent CNT/transport layer composite electrode and improved stability is related with the chemically inactive nature of carbon material, which is non-reactive with iodine of the MAPbI3 perovskite. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) both single-wall (SWCNT) and multi-wall (MWCNT) have been used in the past as transparent flexible electrodes in OPV and in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) as substitute for brittle indium tin oxide (ITO). We have shown that dry drawn CNT sheets can be easily obtained in free standing films state and can be laminated either on glass as usual as anodes of OPV and OLED or if laminated on top, as cathodes collecting electrons. For cathodes in OPV, the CNT should be properly doped in order to lower the work function or raise the Fermi level. Recently, fast progress of hybrid perovskite solar cells in planar configuration is available. Although several approaches to solve task of top transparent electrode have been reported by using graphene or these carbon nanosheets, the top laminated perovskite solar cells with a CNT cathode has not been demonstrated. In present paper we show that using a combination of SWCNT and MWCNT both laminated on top of the ETL (electron transport layer) of the perovskite solar cells can solve a problem of top cathode and can be used instead of Al or Ag in perovskite.

Gámez-Montaño Rocío has got her PhD under guidance of Professor Raymundo Cruz-Almanza in UNAM, CDMX, México. After a Post-doctoral fellow under guidance of Professor Jieping Zhu at Gif-Sur-Yvette, France, she was incorporated to University of Guanajuato, México, where she is actually full-time Research-Professor (Class B). Her scientific interest includes design and developement of efficient synthesis of heterocycles and poly-heterocycles via MCR, in vitro and in silico studies of biological properties, applications in optics, as well as study of reaction mechanisms.

Isoindolin-1-one (oxoisoindoline) is the core of various natural and synthetic drugs, for example, pagoclone (antianxiolytic) and lenalidomide (anticancer). Additionally, 1,5 disubstituted tetrazoles (1,5-DS-T) are bioisosteres of the cis-amide bond of peptides, which are present in various drugs, such as latamoxeb (antibiotic). Moreover, 1,5-DST’s have been used as MOF precursors, ligands, and chelating agents. We have recently reported MCR one-pot methods for the synthesis of a series of novel 1,5-DT’s linked with a variety of heterocyclic moieties. There are no reports describing the synthesis of unsymmetrical bis-heterocycles containing an isoindolin-1-one core N-linked with 1,5-DS-T’s using MCR one-pot methodologies or multistep methods. Thus, we now describe, for the first time, MCR one-pot synthesis of 2-tetrazolylmethyl isoindolin-1-ones N-linked with a 1,5-DS-T moiety (Fig 1). A series of 15 2-tetrazolylmethyl-isoindolin-1-one linked-type bis-heterocycles were synthesized in 10−76% yields under mild conditions via a one-pot Ugi-azide/(N-acylation/exo-Diels−Alder)/dehydration process from furan-2-ylmethanamine, aldehydes, isocyanides, azidotrimethylsilane, and maleic anhydride. Density functional theory calculations were performed using the polarizable continuum model (toluene)-M06-2X-D3/6-311+G(d)//M06-2X-D3/6-31G(d) level of theory to obtain the full energy profile when investigating over eight possible pathways. An anthracene containing analogue displayed a distribution of its highest occupied molecular orbital−lowest unoccupied molecular orbital throughout both cyclic moieties. The sustainable methodology described herein is the first MCR one-pot synthesis of bis-heterocycles containing isoindolin-1-one and 1,5-DS- moieties in a linked manner. This work is a contribution to the synthesis of linked-type unsymmetrical bis-heterocycles using Ugi-azide one-pot processes. DFT-based computational calculations gave us enough elements to propose the most plausible reaction mechanism among eight possible ones, which involves an Ugi-azide/(N-acylation/exo-DA)/dehydration sequence as the most thermodynamic and kinetically favored pathway. An anthracene-containing analogue displayed a very interesting distribution of HOMO−LUMO frontier orbitals throughout both of its cyclic moieties, which probably can be attributed to effective electron transfer.

Pengcheng Xu received his BS degree from Zhengzhou Institute of Light Industry, MS degree from Shanghai University and PhD degree from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Now he is an Associate Professor at the State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His present research covers advanced sensing materials (like nanowires, hyperbranched polymers and nanoporous materials), micro/nanofluidic chips and MEMS/NEMS-based chemical sensors. Since 2016, he has been appointed as a Member of Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS.

For most of biochemical sensing applications, the ideal material are claimed to have multifunction such as the capability of molecular recognition, enrichment of analytes and anti-interference ability. To meet the multiple requirements, herein a novel nano-architecture with multi-dimension and highly favorable properties is hierarchical constructed from three nanoscale building blocks of graphene oxide (GO), ZnO nanowires and meal-organic frameworks (MOFs). To assemble the hierarchical nanostructure, one dimensional (1D) ZnO nanowires are firstly well-aligned grown on 2D GO nano-substrate to form a fuzzy-blanket-like nanostructure. The nanoporous ZIF-8 crystals (a subclass of MOFs) are subsequently grown on ZnO surface via a simple chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. In the obtained nanoarchitectures, GO and ZnO components are two typical active nanomaterials for electrochemical-based biochemical sensors, while nanoporous ZIF-8 crystals material is suitable for biochemical molecules capturing/enriching. Having been tuned into electrochemical sensors, the nano-architectures constructed from GO, ZnO nanowires and ZIF-8 crystals exhibit ultra-high response to dopamine (DA), an important neurotransmitters in the mammalian central nervous system. The limit of detection (LOD) of obtained sensor is estimated as 0.5 nM which is the desired concentration limit for current applications. Furthermore, the integration of different active components shows considerable anti-interference ability towards four typical electroactive coexisting molecules of cysteine, glutathione, ascorbic acid and uric acid which indicates a good selectivity of the developed sensing material.

Nan Qin is an Assistant Professor of State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He obtained his PhD in Condensed Matter Physics from Shanghai University in 2014. After this, he joined SIMIT. His research activities focus on eco-friendly nanofabrication, near-filed infrared nano-characterization of biomaterials (such as natural silkworm protein and genetic engineering synthesized spider silk protein) and applications of protein based micro/nano devices in bio-sensing and biomedical fields. He joined the Shanghai Sailing Program in 2017.

Silk protein fibers produced by silkworms and spiders are renowned for their unparalleled mechanical strength and extensibility arising from their high-β-sheet crystal contents as natural materials. Recently, exciting opportunities for silks in photonics, implantable bioelectronics and nanostructured scaffolds have been reported, revealing the need for innovative approaches to multi-scale fabrication with precision and manufacturing scalability. Silk was reported to be used either as a positive or negative EBL resist through interactions with electron beams given its polymorphic crystalline structure. The water-soluble film can be rendered insoluble by inducing crystallization (that is, beta sheet formation) of the silk protein. The inelastic collision of electrons with crystalline silk results in the formation of short polypeptides which are water-soluble. While in negative EBL using silk proteins where water radiolysis dominates, high electron beam doses are usually needed to form the intermolecular crosslinks to make the proteins water-insoluble. Either amorphous or crystalline silk can be used in both positive and negative tones by tuning the applied electron dosage. Furthermore, we report here for the first time, for crystalline silk exposed to the electron beam, scission of the crosslinked β-sheets tends to occur from top to bottom, resulting in the removal of materials after a water-based development, which is referred to as electron-nano-sculpturing (subtractive manufacturing). In contrast, for the amorphous silk exposed to the electron beam, crosslinking of unordered random coils (either intrinsic or deformed from crystalline proteins upon electron irradiations) proceeds from bottom to top, which is referred to as electron-nanosintering (additive manufacturing). Spider silk protein synthesized through genetic engineering with well-defined molecular structure (i.e., average molecular weight and molecular weight distribution) shows better performances (e.g., resolution, contrast and mechanical property) than silk fibroin extracted from natural silk cocoons. These new findings offer new rules to design protein-based architectures of unprecedented resolution and flexibility.

Neha Manhas has received her Master’s degree in Chemistry from the Durban University of Technology (South Africa), and currently, she is pursuing her Doctorate in the School of Chemistry and Physics at University of Kwazulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa. Her PhD research focuses on the synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular modeling of novel quinazoline based heterocycles. Thus far, she has co-authored three research publications in the peer-reviewed journals colleges.

Thiohydantoin-based heterocycles represent an interesting class of compounds in medicinal and agricultural chemistry with a wide array of biological properties with applications as cardioprotective agents for the prevention of atherosclerosis, gelatinase inhibitors, desmutagens and herbicides. In particular, 2-thiohydantoins have found extensive applications as hypolipidemic, anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic, antiviral (e.g., against herpes simplex virus HSV8 and human immunodeficiency virus), antituberculosis, antimicrobial, antiulcer and anti-inflammatory agents. Great efforts have been devoted to introduce thiohydantoin derivatives into pharmacophores and synthetic intermediates such as leucettamine B, the tetracyclic core of styloguanidine, (Z)-hymenialdisine, (Z)-2-debromohymenialdisine, bioactive heterocycles possessing a glycociamidine ring and aplysinopsin analogues. The classical method for thiohydantoin synthesis involves the reaction of isothiocyanates with N-substituted α-amino acids or their esters, while other approaches include one-pot three-component reaction of an α-amino acid ester, aromatic aldehyde, and isothiocyanate in the presence of sodium triacetoxyborohydride, solid-phase synthesis of novel thiohydantoin-containing heterocycles and a potassium carbonate supported solvent-less approach via cyclization of diarylthioureas with chloroacetyl chloride under microwave irradiation. However, current synthetic protocols often suffer from synthetic limitations such as lack of versatility, use of expensive and corrosive starting materials and reagents, long reaction times, poor yields and tedious workup procedures. A recent report from our laboratory has described the synthesis of hydantoins and their dimers via methoxide-promoted intramolecular amidolysis of C-3 functionalized azetidin-2-ones. In an extension to the above protocol and continuation with our recent exposure to the prospect of a β-lactam synthon approach for the diastereoselective synthesis of functionally decorated novel heterocyclic compounds, the present work details a facile and convenient synthesis of functionalized 2-thiohydantoins via amidolysis of C-3 functionalized 2-azetidinones. Thus, the treatment of racemic cis-2-isothiocyanateazetidin-2-ones 1, prepared via staudinger reaction of racemic cis-3-azidoazetidin-2-ones with triphenylphosphine followed by treatment with CS2, with different amines resulted in the isolation of the corresponding racemic cis-thioureas in quantitative yields. Subsequent room temperature stirring of 2 with sodium methoxide in anhydrous methanol for 50–55 minutes led to the formation of 3-alkyl/aryl-5-(3-phenylallylidene)-2-thioxoimidazolidin-4- ones in good to excellent yields.

Raji Iyabode has completed her undergraduate studies from Ladoke Akintola University in Oyo State, Nigeria and she is currently a Master’s student at Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos State, Nigeria. She is the Director of studies at Megastrides Model College, Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria, a premier educational provider in Nigeria.

This study assessed the physico-chemical quality of Yewa river, Ogun state, Nigeria. Four locations were chosen spatially along the water course to reflect a consideration of all possible human activities that can influence the quality of river. Water samples were collected monthly for seven months (December 2011 – June 2012). pH, air temperature (℃), water temperature (℃), conductivity (μs/cm) and total dissolved solids (mg/L) were conducted in-situ while dissolved oxygen (mg/L), nitrate (mg/L), phosphate (mg/L), alkalinity (mg/L) and hardness (mg/L) were determined ex-situ using standard methods. Results showed that dissolved oxygen, hydrogen ion concentration, total hardness and nitrate were above the maximum permissible limit of National administration for food, drugs and control, standard organization of Nigeria (SON), other National and International standards for drinking water during certain months of the study. Results also showed that water temperature and conductivity were within the permissible limits of all the standards excluding FEPA; however, total dissolved solids and alkalinity were within the permissible limits of all the standards. Since most of the parameters measured were above the maximum permissible limits of the national and international standards, it was concluded that the water is unfit for domestic uses and needs to be treated if to be used. The very low dissolved oxygen values for the first four months i.e. <5 mg/L is most likely caused by the amount of effluents discharged into the river. To prevent mass extinction of aquatic organisms, proper regulations should be implemented to reduce the organic load the river receives.

Serap Kizilkaya completed her Master's degree from Yuzuncu Yil University in 2011. She is currently continuing her PhD studies at Ataturk University.

Synthetic organic and pharmaceutical chemistry are grown very rapidly the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds, development of synthetic methods and investigation of the bioactive properties. Pyrazole derivatives which have some biological features like antimicrobial, anti-piratic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory are important heterocyclic compounds which scientists have focused on. Thus, far many pyrazole derivatives which have been yielded by using 4-benzoyl-5-phenyl- 2, 3-furandiones have been a topic for researching because of their biological activities. In this study, 4-benzoyl-5-phenyl- 2, 3-furandione which is a new bicyclic compound of N-nucleophiles and various carbonyl oksalil, nucleophilic and cycloaddition reactions were investigated. As a result, synthesis of 4-benzoyl-1-(3,4-dimethylphenyl)-5-phenyl 1H-pyrazole-3-carboxylic acid’s (SE-1), 4-benzoyl-1-(3,4-dimethylphenyl)-5-phenyl-1H-pyrazole-3-carbonyl chloride’s (SE-2), methyl 4-benzoyl-1-(3,4-dimethylphenyl)-5-phenyl-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxylate’s (SE-3), ethyl 4-benzoyl-1-(3,4-dimethylphenyl)-5-phenyl-1H-pyrazole-3-carboxylate’s (SE-4), (1-(3,4-dimethylphenyl)-5-phenyl-1H-pyrazole-4-il)(phenyl)methanone’s (SE-5), were placed. The synthesized compounds were characterized by TLC, melting point, IR, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The results obtained from this study confirmed that the product has formed.

Kerru Nagaraju is a Postdoctoral Fellow of Dept. of Chemistry, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. He completed his PhD (2015), SV University, Tirupati, India, has been awarded with CSIR-Senior Research Fellow-New Delhi, India. He did his MSc Chemistry from Andhra University, Vishakhapatnam in 2008. He is working on synthetic organic and medicinal research project and mainly focus on the antibacterial, anticancer related biological important molecules. He has 16 publications and two oral presentations towards the university colleges.

Synthesis of novel fused heterocycles is an imperative task for heterocyclic chemists from various points of view for the development of compounds of pharmacological and industrial importance. Consequently, the thienopyrimidine ring system constitutes an attractive target for the design of new antioxidant drugs through wide structure variations. This class of compounds has also found wide applications in the design and discovery of novel bioactive molecules and drugs. Recently, thienopyrimidine derivatives play an essential role in several biological processes and have considerable chemical and pharmacological activities. Many of thienopyrimidine derivatives were found to possess a variety of pronounced activities such as antiviral as well as antidiabetic activities. Moreover, some of triazolo thienopyrimidines show significant antifungal and antibacterial activities whereas some exhibited anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities. However, the click chemistry is an excellent approach for regioselective synthesis of 1, 2, 3-triazole ring system in presence of various functional groups. 1, 2, 3-triazole has been extensively studied owing to its importance in industrially interesting materials, such as dyes, anticorrosive agents, photo stabilizers, photographic materials and agrochemicals. Although, 1, 2, 3-triazole compounds showing various biological activities including anti-HIV, anti-bacterial, antiallergic, anticonvulsant, β-lactamase inhibitory and anti-tuberculosis activities. We therefore found it interesting to design new molecules within the scope of synthetic procedure using thienopyrimidine scaffold followed by suitable modification to generate diversified compounds for antioxidant activity. In this study, we oppressed click chemistry for the synthesis of diversified thienopyrimidine derivatives. In view of these observations and in continuation to our work on thienopyrimidine chemistry we synthesized some new compounds containing 1, 2, 3-triazolo thienopyrimidine moieties by copper catalyzed cyclo addition of alkynyl thienopyrimidinone with various substituted aryl azides in the presence of CuSO4 and sodium ascorbate in THF/H2O (1:1), and tested for their antioxidant activity.

Sanaâ Saoiabi has her expertise in researches of photocatalyse and medical (biomaterials), focused on the development of porous organoapatite using a novel method of the preparation for biotechnological and environmental applications. During her PhD program in Physical Chemistry and Nanotechnology at Harvard Medical School and MGH as a recipient of a Fulbright scholarship in USA she prepared a novel material based on hydroxyapatite in order to obtain improved metal immobilization properties and she has conducted high resolution solid state NMR spectroscopy measurements on the apatite nanoparticles. Some of her research has been carried out at Pierre et Marie Curie University (UPMC) - Sorbonne Université and Collège de France in Paris.

Porous hydroxyapatite materials have received much attention because of their wide applications as biomaterials, absorbents and catalysts. The high biologic reactivity of hydroxyapatite resides in the easy exchange of the HPO42- surface groups by CO32- ions or organic species such as RPO42-, RSO42- and RCOO- is considered. Several sites of P-OH groups on the hydroxyapatite surface are responsible for the adsorption of mineral and organic species. Therefore, there were several reports on the preparation of porous apatite’s for medical and environmental applications. In this work, we describe a novel alternative sol-gel-based approach relying on the in-situ formation of a metal oxide gel from a metal alkoxide, in the presence of preformed apatite nanoparticles. We have selected Zirconia and Titania, as additives, to improve the chemical and mechanical stability of hydroxyapatite as biomaterials. Zirconia and titania-hydroxyapatite nano-composites were prepared by sol-gel deposition from Zirconium and Titanium alkoxide solutions, respectively, in the presence of apatite colloidal suspension under ultra-sonication. The material porosity evolves mainly from microporous Zirconia and Titania to mesoporous hydroxyapatite, with decreasing surface area and increasing pore volume. XRD studies indicate that the apatite phase is well-preserved within the composite materials. These materials are micro and mesoporous over a wide range of composition, which make them promising materials for biomedical and environmental applications. In terms of surface properties, the nano-composites which are prepared constitute an attractive adsorbent and a photoactive supports with low-cost materials. Two approaches were explored in this study: The first relies on the preparation of hydroxyapatite from Moroccan natural phosphate. In this study we have described a new synthetic route leading to homogeneous mesoporous materials for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous solution. The second relies on the formation of hydroxyapatite in the presence of TiO2 and ZrO2 as photoactive for degradation of toxic organic moieties. Based on XRD, solid state NMR, N2-sorption and electronic microscopy, the extensive characterization provides basis for the understanding of the sorption and degradation behaviors.

Emmanuel Oluwole Taiwo is a chemist with a major interest in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Synthesis. Emmanuel is disturbed by the prevalent menace of bacterial infections in Sub Sahara-Africa, hence, the synthesis of metal-drug complexes to combat the menace.

Fe2 and Cu2 complexes of mixed ligands, Riboflavin and 1,10-Phenantroline were synthesized and characterized by Infrared and electronic(solid reflectance)spectroscopy, room temperature magnetic moments, percentage metals, melting points, solubility and conductance measurement. The conductance measurement in DMSO indicated that all the metal(II)complexes were covalent and percentage metal analysis corroborated the formula mass as [M(HL)(HL1)X], where X=Cl2/SO4. Infrared spectra data confirmed that coordination was through the hydroxyl groups of riboflavin un-deprotonated and Nitrogen components of the 1,10-Phenantroline. Furthermore, the electronic spectra and the room temperature magnetic moment data indicated that paramagnetic and octahedral in geometry. Interestingly, Fe2 and Cu2 complexes were shown to have strong activities against the bacterial strains than the ligands.

Alka Sharma has completed her PhD from Thapar University, Patiala in 2015 and then joined the Panjab University, Chandigarh in 2016 as an Research Associate. She has published 6 papers in reputed journals. Her research areas include synthetic organic and medicinal Chemistry for the synthesis of biologically active anticancer heterocyclic molecules along with their applications.

In medicinal chemistry, purine motifs have attracted a great deal of research interest due to their preponderance in pharmaceutically indispensable compounds. Substituted purine especially, 2,6-disubstituted purine known to be very important medicinal and pharmaceutical intermediate. Benzimidazoles are categorized in the important pharmacophores and privileged sub-structures in medicinal chemistry owing to their involvement as a key component for various biological activities. Therefore, introduction of benzimidazole at C-6 position of 2,6-dichloropurine is supposed to improve its activity and thereby selectivity. Due to individual importance of purine and benzimidazole in living cells, we will present their synthesis as hybrids of benzimidazole at 6-position of purine and evaluated their in vitro anticancer activities. Thus, a series of purine/benzimidazole hybrids were prepared by introduction of aromatic, aliphatic and heterocyclic moieties at the 2-position of purine to improve its potency and selectivity. Specifically, these hybrids were substituted with different secondary amines to remarkably increase their activity beyond their normal scope. Synthesized compounds were well characterized by 1H and 13C NMR as well as mass spectroscopy. The newly synthesized compounds were screened for in vitro anticancer activities against 60 tumor cell lines panel assay. These results open up new opportunities for other biological activities.

Siphamandla Simelane is a PhD (Chemistry) student at the University of Johannesburg in the Department of Applied Chemistry. After completing his MSc (Chemistry) degree, he worked as a science teacher in Swaziland before starting his PhD in 2015. His project is focusing on the synthesis and biological evaluation of novel organophosphorus compounds.

The rapid development of drug resistance in pathogens is a growing concern globally; therefore there is a constant need for the development of new drugs to counter the problem. In this work, a series of substituted 1, 2-ethene-1, 1-bisphosphonic acids were synthesized and tested for antibacterial and antifungal activity. The compounds were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, infrared (IR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Inhibition zones and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were determined for each compound to measure their efficacy. Positive controls were set using commercially available antibiotics (vancomycin and ampicillin) and antifungal drugs (amphotericin B and griseofulvin). The biological activity for some of the ethene bisphosphonic acid esters was comparable to the activity of these commercial drugs.

Antonio J Zapata V is an Organic Chemist from Venezuela who obtained his PhD from Northeastern University, Boston, in 1981. He went on to work in the Chemistry Department of Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas where he worked from 1981 until 2014. He was a Visiting Professor in the Chemistry Department of University of South Carolina and also at the Chemistry Department of University of Massachusetts (Dartmouth). Currently, he is working as Chemical Engineering Faculty of the University of Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The palladium-catalyzed coupling of organostannanes with organic electrophile (Stille reaction) has become an important synthetic tool in organic chemistry (eq. 1). Several years ago, we became interested in applying the Stille reaction to α-stannyl-α, β-unsaturated carboxylic esters. We found that these esters reacted with acid chlorides to afford good yields of coupling products (eq. 2). However, the reaction failed when it was attempted with vinylic bromides or iodides. We hypothesized that this result could be changed by reversing the roles of the reactants in the coupling process. Thus, a study of the Stille coupling of a series of functionalized styryl bromides with 1-propenyltributyltin was undertaken (eq. 3). This reaction afforded low to moderate yields of 1, 3-dienes. Interestingly, the best yield of product was obtained using methyl α-bromocinnamate, the styryl bromide substituted with the more electron-withdrawing group (R=CO2Me). Consequently, we decided to examine the Stille reaction of ß-nitro and ß-tosyl (ß-(p-MeC6H4SO2)) substituted styryl bromides (eq. 4). The ß-bromo-ß-nitro-styrenes 1 and 2 reacted with a variety of organostannanes using bis (acetonitrile) dichloropalladium (II) as catalyst and n-methyl-pyrrolidinone (NMP) as solvent at room temperature. Good yields of 2-nitro-1, 3-dienes were obtained as a mixture of isomers. The Stille reaction of ß-bromo-ß-tosyl-styrenes 3 and 4 was also investigated. In this case, the best yields of coupling products were obtained using an excess of organotin compound (1.5 equivalents), a mixture of bis (acetonitrile) dichloropalladium (II) (5% molar) and copper iodide (10% molar) as catalysts and NMP as solvent at room temperature. Again, good yields of products, as a mixture of isomers, were obtained. The Stille reactions of -nitro and -tosyl substituted styryl bromides reported here constitute an useful synthetic tool towards the preparation of functionalized 1, 3-dienes. These unsaturated molecules are among the most versatile organic compounds which participate in a wide variety of applications, including fine chemical synthesis and polymer chemistry.

Muhammad Arshad has completed his PhD in 2011 from Bristol University, UK and carried out Post-doctoral studies from Durham University, UK (2013/2014). He is currently working as Assistant Professor at the Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. He has published 12 papers in reputed international journals. His research interests comprise synthesis and discovery of novel heterocyclic compounds having medicinal properties, total synthesis of medicinally interesting natural products and discovery of redox-active ligands and their transition metal complexes as catalysts for hydrogen production.

Isatin (1) also known as indoline-2,3-dione or 2,3-dioxindole is a multipurpose heterocyclic compound, which has been extensively employed for the synthesis of many pharmacologically attractive motifs. Different derivatives of isatin are reported to exhibit a range of bioactivities which include, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-tumor, anti-angiogenic, anxiolytic, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-tubercular and anticonvulsant activity. Isatin based drugs have already been pursued in the pharmaceutical industry, e.g. sunitinib and nintedanib are approved for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma and as anti-cancer agent, respectively. We carried out alkylation of isatin at nitrogen atom resulting intermediates (2,3) which were subjected to condensation reaction with various anilines, hydrazines and oxime to afford series of Schiff bases, hydrazones and oximes (4-19) in moderate to good yields (Scheme 1). Characterization of all the synthesized compounds was carried out using detailed spectroscopic techniques (UV/Vis., FTIR, NMR and MS). All the compounds were tested for in vitro cholinesterase inhibitory potential using eserine as standard. Out of 16 synthesized compounds, 5 compounds showed promising inhibition of the butryl cholinesterase enzyme (91–99.8% inhibition at 0.5 mM conc.) with IC50 values in the range of 4-18 μM. The most active compounds were also subjected to in silico molecular docking studies to propose structure-activity relationship (SAR).

Gámez-Montaño Rocío has got her PhD under guidance of Professor Raymundo Cruz-Almanza in UNAM, CDMX, México. After a Post-doctoral fellow under guidance of Professor Jieping Zhu at Gif-Sur-Yvette, France, she was incorporated to University of Guanajuato, México, where she is actually full-time Research-Professor (Class B). Her scientific interest includes design and development of efficient synthesis of heterocycles and poly-heterocycles via MCR, in vitro and in silico studies of biological properties, applications in optics, as well as study of reaction mechanisms.

1,5-disubstituted tetrazoles (1,5-DS Ts) are the bioisosteres of the cis amide bond in peptides due to their similar physicochemical properties in living systems. They are an important class of heterocycles with wide range of applications in the medicinal chemistry, for example, antifungal agents. Additionally, 1,5-DS-Ts are used as bidentate ligands, as a metal-organic frameworks precursor, an bioimaging agents, as a photoimaging agents and in high energy materials. The main routes for the synthesis of 1,5-DS-T’s are [3+2] intermolecular cycloadditions and Ugi-azide reaction UA). Anilines have received limited attention in isocyanide based multicomponent reactions (I-MCRs) like the UA reactions due to the low concentration of iminium ions in the reaction medium because of the low basicity of Schiff bases. There is one report by our group of catalyst assisted UA reaction using anilines, in which InCl3 played a key role to activate the weak basic Schiff base towards iminium ion formation and hence to continue the UA reaction in the forward direction. To the best of our knowledge, only the reports by Shahrisa and Safa describe the development of a solvent-free UA-reaction using Lewis acid catalysts towards 1,5-DS-T’s. However, both reports gave an undetailed reaction mechanism and little explanation for hydrazoic acid formation. The synthesis of 1,5-DS-T’s has not been reported under solvent and catalyst-free conditions neither via one-pot nor stepwise methods. As a part of our ongoing research programme towards sustainable strategies based on I-MCRs, we have recently reported the first synthesis of 1,5-DS-T’s via a USI assisted UA reaction with a short reaction time and a water triggered USI-assisted protocol towards 1,5-DS-T’s via the UA reaction under solvent-free and catalyst-free conditions with a wide substrate scope in moderate to excellent yields. This protocol is the first report of endogenous water-triggered formation of hydrazoic acid via single proton exchange with TMSN3 and the first solvent and catalyst free approach for the UA-reaction. The main features such as green conditions and environmental friendliness make this method a sustainable alternative towards the synthesis of 1,5-DS-T’s.

There are some limitations about quantity of heavy metals in food and drugs specially in mineral water. High concentrations of heavy metals in food, drugs and mineral water can cause peripheral neuropathy ,decrease in learning ability and memory ,nephritis, anemia and growth deficiency during a long time. So every body who drinks mineral water with lead content more than maximum contaminant level is high risk of lead cumulation and chronic toxicity by it. As there is not process control during mineral water production, we decided to assay lead quantity in products of 14 mineral water companies of IRAN, by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The maximum average of lead content (0.0935±0.0018 ppm) was found in crystal mineral water and the minimum average of lead content(0.0222±0.00099 ppm) in sepidan mineral water. Results showed that the mean lead content, in 14 types of mineral water were higher than approvable concentrations(≤0.0015 ppm) so none of these samples have a satisfactory lead concentration.

Qiuyun He has completed her Master degree in 2017 and now works as a Staff in South China University of Technology.

Polymer solar cells (PSCs) are promising solar energy conversion devices with the advantages of low cost, light weight and room-temperature solution processible. Though the power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of PSCs has been exceeding 11% recently, there are still some fundamental problems concerning the devices interfaces to be solved. In our works, we have been focusing on the working mechanism of water/alcohol soluble conjugating polymer (polyelectrolyte, PFN) interlayer and the D-A interfaces in PSCs. By combining the scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM) and electron absorption (EA), we visualized a surface potential jump upon the incorporation of the PFN interlayer, and thus proposed a interfacial dipole on the interface, which reinforced the actual built-in potential across the device as a result of the superposition. Simultaneous enhancement in the open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current density and fill factor can be achieved by simply incorporating a thin layer of alcohol/water-soluble polymer as the cathode interlayer. In our recent work , the fundamental losses in VOC of PSCs based on narrow band-gap polymers was studied. And a correlation between the D-A interface phase separation and the band tailing of the device was established. By combining the analysis on the electrical, photocurrent spectral response characteristics, the band tailing and the concomitant increase in the splitting of the electron and hole quasi-Fermi levels were found to be responsible for the VOC.

Zhicai He has completed his PhD from South China University of Technology and became an Associate Professor in South China University of Technology in 2013. His research interest is recently centered on high performance organic solar cells . He has published more than 30 SCI papers in reputed journals and has 3000 citations.

Using additive to control the morphology of active-layer is a widely used strategy currently in organic solar cells(OSCs). In our recent work, the relationship between the devices performance and ratio of additives is studied from several aspects. By using different kind of additives, the relationship between the molecular structure and the best ratio of the additives is clarified. Through the morphology control by 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) in the best ratio, the short-circuit current (JSC) and filling factor (FF) of the PTB7-based devices can be greatly improved, from 13mA/cm2 to 17mA/cm2 and from 55% increased to 72 %, respectively. The improvements were attributed to the improved charge carrier transport and collection efficiency in the device.

Fawzia has completed her PhD in 2009 from King Saud University. She works at Taibah University. She has published more than 11 papers in reputed journals.

Heterocyclic compounds have attracted considerable attention for decades, due to their widespread applications. In particular chromene moieties are well known as important components either in biologically active or natural compounds. Synthetic analogous of chromene have shown a diversity of interesting properties over the years. Some of these molecules exhibited significant effects as pharmaceuticals, including antimicrobial, anticancer, antifungal and antianaphylactic characteristics. Among chromene molecules, 2-amino-4H-chromene (or 2-amino-4H-benzopyrans) derivatives hold a special place due to their wide ranging of biological actions as well as their use in cosmetics and pigments. Functionalization of 2-amino-4H-benzopyran compounds led to new possibility of applications such as in treatment of human inflammatory diseases, central nervous systems and in cancer therapy. Herein we are presenting the synthesis and characterization of new series of 4H-chromromene derivatives using multi-component reactions and investigating their antimicrobial and antitumor activities. The study also involves the synthesis of first example of chromene azo chromophores. Acute toxicity of some selected derivatives of these molecules has been explored using lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release.

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Cis-nucleoside derivatives lamivudine (3TC) and emtricitabine (FTC) are useful in the treatment of retroviral infections caused by human immune deficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Human T-Lymotropoic virus (HTLV). Lamivudine and emtricitabine are potent nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitors (nRTI). These two drugs are synthesized by a four-stage process from the starting materials: Menthyl glyoxylate hydrate and 1,4-dithane-2,5-diol. All reagents and intermediates have been tested satisfactorily. Although there are several different methods reported for the synthesis of lamivudine and emtricitabine as a single enantiomer, we required an efficient route, which was suitable for large-scale synthesis to support the development of these compounds. In this process, we successfully prepared the intermediates of lamivudine and emtricitabine without using any solvents and catalyst, thus promoting the green synthesis.

Sureshraju Vegiraju has his expertise in synthetic organic chemistry. He develops conjugated organic materials for the applications in organic electronics and studies the opto electronic properties.

The conjugated organic materials have attracted much attention for the potential applications of organic field effect transistors (OFETs) in memory devices, smart cards, radio frequency identification tags, electronic papers, flexible displays and sensors due to their low cost process ability and high flexibility. Currently solution processible small molecular organic semiconductors are of great interest to develop high performance and ambient stable organic materials for OFETs. A versatile π-building blocks with efficient solubility is important in developing solution processible organic semiconductors in which alkyl chains are a fundamental units. The alkyl chain modifications such as changing in length, installing branched alkyl side chains and position of branching are important features in achieving better device performances, molecular packing, and intermolecular interactions. Dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]thiophene (DTT) unit has shown as one of promising building block of conjugated materials with p and n channel charge carrier nobilities. We have designed and synthesized a series of dialkyldithieno [3, 2-b:2', 3'-d]- thiophene based dicyanomethylene end capped quinoidal n-channel organic semiconductors with various alkyl chains (DTTQ-3, DTTQ-6, DTTQ-11 DTTQ-15). We have applied one pot synthetic route for the preparation of dialkyldithieno [3, 2-b:2', 3'-d]- thiophene. Among the synthesized quinoidal compounds DTTQ-11 has exhibited the electron mobility of 0.45 cm2 V-1 s-1. The single crystal x-ray diffraction of DTTQ-6 was determined and the charge transport in this packing structures can be achieved either through face-to-face parallel molecules in the same stack or through the well zip-zap connected neighboring molecules.

Samia A Kosa has completed her PhD in Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, 2004, from University of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. Presently, she is working as Associate Professor at the Chemistry Department, King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah Saudi Arabia. Her research is focused on materials chemistry, nanochemistry and nanotechnology, synthesis of catalyst and designed photocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic systems for the destruction of aqueous pollutants and water disinfection, measurement of photo-degradation of organic dyes, paints and polymers.

In this study LTA, zeolite was prepared from Saudi white silica as a main source of silica. The effect of ultrasonic irradiation on the crystal structure and ability to ion exchange of some heavy metals were studied. Many techniques was used to characterize the prepared zeolite includes XRD with crystal lattice analysis, EPR and finally ion exchange isotherm of some heavy metal ions. The results showed that the ultra-sonicated zeolite exhibits different behavior towards ion exchange with increasing its capacity. The ultra-sonicated zeolite showed little increase in the lattice parameters with increasing in the crystal size. Fitting adsorption isotherms on the metal adsorbed showed an observable change in the behavior of ultra-sonicated zeolite towards the metals exchanged.

Daria Boiko has experience in the field of Organic Synthesis. The idea of her work is based on the ability of chalcones to cyclisation. This work is the subject of her dissertation.

Chalcones are an important group of secondary metabolites, which are widely distributed in the plant and possess bioactive properties. It has the primary structure including two phenyl rings connected by α, β-unsaturated ketone bridge which is a key component that contributes to the biological activity and is the reaction center in the synthesis of various heterocyclic compounds including flavonoids, auron, pyrazolines, pyrimidines, benzodiazepine and others. This class of compound has a broad spectrum of pharmacological activity: Antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-malarial, anti-tumor, anti-viral and anti-TB. Chalcone derivatives containing nitrogen heterocycles have attracted increased interest in recent years because they are readily available and have a wide spectrum of biological activity, including antifungal and antibacterial activity. We think that the introduction in the structure chalcones fragments of heterogeneous amine may lead to new changes in the biological activity of the final products of synthesis. The aim of the work was the synthesis of new derivatives of chalcones as potential amplifiers of antimicrobial properties, containing fragments of a number of biologically active amines such as isoxazole, piperazine, imidazole, piperidine, and the establishment of their structure. The methods of synthesis of novel derivatives of chalcones including the reactions of chloromethylation, N-alkylation and Claisen-Schmidt condensation are developed. Chalcones (3 a,b,c,d) were prepared by reaction of 4-aminoacetophenone (1) with substituted 4-chlorobenzaldehydes (2 a,b,c,d) by Claisen-Schmidt condensation (Figure 1). The reaction was conducted at room temperature. Chalcones (E)-1-(4-aminophenyl)-3-(4-chloro-3-((5-methylisoxazol-3-ylamino)methyl)phenyl)prop-2-en-1-one (3a); (E)-1-(4-aminophenyl)-3-(4-chloro-3-(2-(piperazin-1-yl)ethyl)phenyl)prop-2-en-1-one (3b); (E)-3-(3-((1H-imidazol-1-yl)methyl)-4-chlorophenyl)-1-(4-aminophenyl)prop-2-en-1-one (3c) and (E)-1-(4-aminophenyl)-3-(4-chloro-3-(piperidin-1-ylmethyl)phenyl)prop-2-en-1-one (3d) were obtained for the first time. The structures of the synthesized compounds were established by 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy.