NepaChem

There’s no Eureka Moment Indeed: Nobel Prize in Physics 2018

2018-10-04T06:55:00.000-07:00

There’s no Eureka Moment Indeed: Nobel Prize in Physics 2018

‘When I described catching living things with light people said: Don’t exaggerate’ – Arthur Ashkin said during a telephone interview to Nobel committee after he was awarded half of the Nobel prize in Physics this year. Really, it seems a kind of science fiction to use light to move objects, but it is true. In his 1970’s famous paper – Acceleration and trapping of particles by radiation pressure – published in Physical Review Letters, Ashkin demonstrated, for the first time, the movement of freely suspended microparticles using optical force generated from a continuous wave visible laser light. This was a breakthrough experiment which opened doors for atoms, molecules and even living cells which can be selectively trapped and manipulated by optical force. Later, in 1987, he came up with another report of optical trapping and manipulation of viruses and bacteria using an argon laser, which he published in Science. Tobacco mosaic viruses and Escherichia coli bacteria were trapped in aqueous solution without any damage. This work was further extended to single cells of yeasts. With time, this innovative approach of manipulating objects and microorganisms, popularly known as ‘optical tweezers’, was modified and used by physicist, chemists and biologists, making it the most versatile tool for microfabrication. Nowadays, multiple laser beams are used for the three-dimensional optical trapping of materials. Recently, Biju lab in Hokkaido University (http://bijulab.main.jp/en/) demonstrated for the first time the use of optical tweezers in trapping the solvated ion complex of salts inducing crystallization and growth of lead halide perovskites. Interesting! isn’t it? So, what makes light to levitate and move objects? Let’s have a look.

Principle of laser trapping

Optical force, usually in the range of 1 to 100 pN, arises by a net momentum change of light when a tightly focused laser beam interacts with a particle whose diameter is larger than the wavelength of the laser. The change in momentum of light corresponds to the change in refractive index (between the medium and the particle) when light is refracted from the surface of a particle. When the refractive index of the particle is greater than the surrounding medium, an equal and opposite momentum change is exerted on the particle satisfying the law of conservation of momentum. When we augment all the momentum change at each point of the particle we get the optical force. This force is resolved into two components: axial force (F_axial) and transaxial force (F_trans). When F_axial> F_trans, the net optical force (F) is directed towards the high intensity region of the laser beam, thus pulling the particles and trapping them at the focal spot of the laser. On the other hand, When F_trans> F_axial, the particle is accelerated in the direction of propagation of the beam. However, when the laser beam is turned off, the effect vanishes, and the particles again move randomly.

Now, perhaps, the question arises in everyone’s mind: What’s the use of this tool? Answer is many!! A few is elaborated here. Optical tweezers can be used to trap atoms or molecules and

Applications of laser trapping technique or optical tweezer

bring them together so that selective chemical reactions can take place. It can be used for the microfabrication of microbeads in desired structure which can have many applications. For example, such directed assembly of microcrystals of semiconductors can be utilized in solar cells and LEDs. However, it is necessary to glue these structures together before the laser light is turned off. For this, we can utilize click chemistry, for instance, biotin-avidin linkage or photodimerization of surface ligands. However, the story behind the Nobel prize for optical tweezers is a bit different than only catching microparticles. It was mainly awarded for the non-destructive application of laser trapping in biology. Ashkin gave an idea about just what can be done with this simple technique of manipulating objects without touching them and provided scientists with bounty of hopes. Nowadays, optical tweezers are used to study single proteins and enzymes such as tracking the activity of individual enzymes, measuring the force needed to unfold a single protein molecule, or determine strength of binding between individual protein molecules, movement of molecular motors, and DNA studies. It is also used to sort healthy cells from the infected ones such as from cancer cells. Kudos to such a magnificent work for the betterment of mankind and hope for more in this area.

This is one half of the story. Moving on to next is Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA) which shared half of the Nobel prize with optical tweezers. This half of Nobel prize is more special because it was after more than 50 years that a woman was awarded in physics, and third in the list after Marie Curie (1903) and Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1963). The prize is shared between Gérard Mourou, a male French physicist and his former graduate student Donna Strickland, a female Canadian physicist. It won’t be over exaggerating if we say their work was groundbreaking that revolutionized the laser technology, since all the latest high-intensity laser application foots on CPA which has opened a high hope in the field of physics, chemistry and medicine. Previously, laser pulses could not be amplified much, and the output pulse energy had to be kept much below the saturation point, which is in the range of few millijoules to tens of Joule per square centimeter, to avoid any damages to the amplifier and the lasing/amplifying crystal by laser self-focusing. This limit was broken by the introduction of CPA in 1985 by Mourou and Strickland.

Principle of Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA)

The technique is based on the stretching, amplifying and compressing of ultra-short laser pulses. When a laser pulse is stretched in time, its peak power decreases. As a result, it can be magnificently amplified without any damage to the amplifier or the lasing crystal. The pulse can then be squeezed again in time within a small area such that the output is a laser pulse with ultra-high intensity or peak power. This technique has made possible to create the most intense pulse ever in a laboratory. Some applications of this technique are photonic-assisted time-stretched analog-to-digital conversion, serial time-encoded amplified microscope, time lens processing and microwave signal analyzer, frequency domain reflectometry, chirped pulse lidar, and time domain pulse shaping. For general understanding, these applications seem to be quite difficult, isn’t it? No worries! There is one simple application of CPA technique in the field of medicine, that is eye surgery. Such ultra-short laser beams with high intensity can be used to drill through the delicate living membranes making eye operations efficient. Also, CPA technique can be used to study ultrafast processes that happens in the time scale of hundreds of attoseconds, such as those involving electron motions in atoms and molecules.

As said by Gérard Mourou that nobody is prepared for that moment, science is full of surprises and so is time. Still there are many more to come; the only thing is we should keep on doing and advancing step-by-step. Let’s do science for the betterment of our earth, for our present and for our future; and leave the fate of prizes and awards to time.

The blog is based on following references:

a) https://www.nobelprize.org/

b) Ashkin, A. Acceleration and Trapping of Particles by Radiation Pressure. Phy. Rev. Lett. 1970, 24, 156-159.

c) Ashkin, A.; Dziedzic, J. M. Optical Trapping and Manipulation of Viruses and Bacteria. Science 1987, 235, 1517-1520.

d) Ashkin, A.; Dziedzic, J. M.; Yamane, T. Optical Trapping and Manipulation of Single Cells using Infrared Laser Beams. Nature 1987, 330, 769-771.

e) Yuyama et al. Crystallization of Methylammonium Lead Halide Perovskites by Optical Trapping. Angew. Chem. 2018, 130, 13612-13616.

f) Misawa et al. Laser Manipulation and Assembling of Polymer Latex Particles in Solution. Macromol. 1993, 26, 282-286.

g) Ghadiri, R.; Weigel, T.; Esen, C.; Ostendorf, A. Microfabrication by Optical Tweezers. Proc. of SPIE 2011, 7921, 792102.

h) Strickland, D.; Mourou, G. Compression of Amplified Chirped Optical Pulses. Opt. Commun. 1985, 55, 447-449.

i) Delfyett et al. Chirped Pulse Laser Sources and Applications. Prog. Quantum Electron. 2012, 36, 475-540.

Post-doctoral fellowship in microfluidics in France

2018-07-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

A biotechnology company specializing in innovative research in microfluidics is looking for post-doctoral fellow. The Individual Fellowship under the prestigious Marie Curie grant program is a prestigious, EU-funded fellowship that aims to recruit experienced researchers willing to perform research in an European innovative biotech.

This funding will result in a two year post doctoral appointment (~ 53k€/year gross salary depending on the candidate's family situation) in our headquarters in Paris, where the selected candidate will conduct cutting-edge research related to organ-on-chip and receive training in business and entrepreneurship. To be eligible to the grant, applicants need to hold a PhD or have at least 4 years of full-time research experience and meeting the mobility criteria of this programme (not having lived in France more than 36 months in the last 5 years).

Contact:

Sasha Cai Lesher-Perez, PhD
contact@microfluidics-valley.com

PhD scholarship in Theoretical Chemistry/Physics in New Zealand

2018-07-01T19:54:00.001-07:00

The Institute for Advanced Study at Massey University in Auckland, New Zealand, is looking for an excellent student with a Master of Science in Computational/Theoretical Physics or Chemistry to work on a Marsden funded research project (17-MAU-021) on superheavy element chemistry and physics. The person is required to have excellent knowledge in either theoretical chemistry or physics. The project is in collaboration with Prof. Witek Nazarewicz from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University, USA. The scholarship remains open until filled and comes with a scholarship to support for living expenses ($27,500 per annum) and tuition fees. Candidates are given the opportunity to obtain a PhD degree from Massey University. The duration of this scholarship is three years with the possibility of an extension.To be eligible for this scholarship you must fulfill the entry requirements for a PhD at Massey University.

Expressions of interest should contain the following information:

A one-page summary justifying the applicant’s suitability for the role
An academic CV
Two letters of reference
Transcript of qualifying degree

You can send expressions of interest and enquiries to Distinguished Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger at p.a.schwerdtfeger@massey.ac.nz

For more information about our research center or Massey University see the websites at http://ctcp.massey.ac.nz/and http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/home.cfm.

For more information about nuclear physics group of Prof. Nazarewicz, see https://people.nscl.msu.edu/~witek/www/Nazarewicz.htm.

My daughter can recite the whole periodic table: is she prodigious?

2017-08-26T10:56:00.002-07:00

By Dr. Harish Subedi

My daughter Riju says she loves chemistry and the periodic table. I got a copy of a colorful Periodic table from a Chemistry conference last August and put on the wall in her bedroom as she liked the colors and pictures on it. One day in early January this year, Riju copied the names, symbols and atomic numbers of first few elements on a piece of paper ‘for fun’. Later on the same day, we were surprised to see her memorizing the names and atomic numbers of a bunch of elements. I never expected that my daughter, a kindergartner at that time, would have that much of interest in chemistry. She was never introduced "any" chemistry concepts before.

After a few days, I decided to record a video on Riju talking about chemistry. She memorized the first 20 elements of the periodic table at that time. I posted the video on YouTube and shared among friends and family via Facebook. That was cool. Obviously I was so happy and so was her mom. In the video, she counted the elements with correct order of atomic numbers, symbols, and their applications/uses.

She kept learning more elements and asked me to record the video again when she was ready with more than 100 elements and got her favorite Periodic Table T–shirt. At that time, after a few months of the first video, the same girl recited all 118 elements in correct order of atomic number and symbol. In the later part of the video, as you can see, she took some time to give the correct answer but, interestingly, did not give the incorrect answer. It was so amazing to see my own daughter reciting so many elements that I never could memorize.

It felt like she was following a certain pattern and ‘looking for pictures’ in her mind to match the atomic number to its name and symbol. I was quite surprised to see this because the high school chemistry students usually have to memorize the atomic numbers and symbols of only first twenty or thirty elements. In most of the cases, a copy of Periodic table is provided in every single test, quiz, or assignment.

I wanted to get a deeper understanding on how the brains of children with exceptional abilities, known as prodigies, work and did a quick Google search. I ended up getting great examples of child prodigies in various fields. Few years ago, Arden Hayes, then 5–year–old boy, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and amazed the audience with his knowledge on the facts about all countries around the world. He is also an expert on names and facts about all US presidents. Similarly, a cute three-year-old girl Brielle astonished the audience in the Ellen Show by reciting the Periodic table. She is also a “human anatomy expert”. There are many other examples of child prodigies. Tiger Woods, an American professional golfer and one of the highest–paid athletes in the world, started playing golf at the age of two, Samuel Reshevsky, a Polish chess prodigy, gave simultaneous exhibitions at the age of eight, Wolfgang Mozart started composing music and performing in venues at the age of five, and Shakuntala Devi, popularly known as “human computer”, could calculate cube roots using mental math at the age of five.

Macmillan Dictionary defines child prodigy as “a child who is extremely skillful at something that usually only adults can do”. Whether the inherent ability (nature) or extreme training (nurture) is responsible for making a child “a child prodigy” has been a subject of debate. Some psychologists, including late Michael Howe, think that it is not that difficult to produce child prodigies given that the children get the right environment. Examples of Wolfgang Mozart and Tiger Woods could possibly justify this argument as both were introduced to their fields (music and golf, respectively) at their very early ages. On the other end of the spectrum, some researchers including Joanne Ruthsatz and her colleagues attribute the prodigious abilities to “exceptional working memory” and “attention to detail”. Analogous to the central processing unit of a computer, working memory is a cognitive system with a limited capacity that is responsible for temporarily holding information available for processing. A study conducted by Ruthsatz and colleagues showed that all the participating prodigies had incredibly high working memory scores (at or above 99^th percentile). In addition, according to the psychologist Jonathan Wai, “Experts are born, then made” meaning the prodigies are not simply the products of their environments and what predominantly matters is their exceptional inborn cognitive abilities. It is too early to say what my daughter's future would look like but at present she is doing quite well.

Dr. Subedi is a chemistry faculty at Western Nebraska Community College, Scottsbluff, NE, USA.

Congratulation Dr. Ramesh Giri !!

2016-03-11T15:47:00.000-08:00

for NSF CAREER award from National Science Foundation (NSF)

Sustainable chemistry is one of the fascinating sciences meant for the development of the environmentally benign processes, products and the chemicals. As a part of the developing the sustainable processes, Dr. Ramesh Giri, an assistant professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of New Mexico (UNM) has been working for the development of the transition metal-catalyzed organic transformations and investigating their reaction mechanisms. These research interests set by Dr. Giri and his team has been supposed to overcome the existing chemical problems of broader applicability. For instances, energy, materials, health, environment, etc.

Recently, his project on the development of a new technique for the cross-coupling reactions was selected for the CAREER award from National Science Foundation (NSF). NSF CAREER award is the prestigious awards in support of junior faculty that comes with a federal grant for research and education activities for five consecutive years. The award worthy $ 675,000 for five years is definitely going to booster the research work led by Giri.

Giri supposes the development of tandem and multi-component couplings with base metals and organic electronic donors has a huge impact in the pharmaceutical industry and the chemical world as a whole. He explains the reactions are widely used in the pharmaceutical industry for the production of marketed drugs, where palladium is used widely. But, for the development of the cost-effective processes, copper is used as catalyst, he explains.

Giri Research Lab (Photo: University of New Mexico)

Copper and Palladium belong to the transition metal (d-block) of the periodic table, however, they behave the different ways in the synthesis reactions. Indulging copper in the synthetic reactions and investigating the reaction mechanism is a difficult task. This is where a challenge lies, says Giri.

The NepaChem team wishes Dr. Giri and his team, all the success in the forthcoming days.

This post is based on the news report from University of New Mexico. Click here.

Refer to the publications by Dr. Giri research group here.

NSF encourages submission of CAREER proposals from junior faculty members at all CAREER-eligible organizations. NSF Career award is the prestigious award given to early career scientists by United States National Science Foundation. Click here for details.

Dr. Sushila Maharjan wins Elsevier Foundation award

2016-02-10T18:47:00.000-08:00

Photo taken from Dr. Maharjan's Facebook profile.

Dr. Sushila Maharjan from Nepal is one of the five women biologists from developing countries to win prestigious Elsevier 2016 Awards for early career researchers. This award was given for her work in biochemistry and biotechnology category. Her research seeks to identify bacterial strains from the soil of high-altitude regions of Nepal for possible new drugs such as antibiotics.

Dr. Maharjan completed her MSc in chemistry from Tribhuvan University and PhD from Sun Moon University, South Korea. She is a research director of industrial microbiology at the Research Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology RIBB, Nepal and according to her LinkedIn profile she is working at Seoul National University, South Korea as postdoctoral fellow.

As published in TWAS news release she said “ "The most rewarding part of my research is to find novel drugs and antibiotics from Streptomyces bacteria of Nepal that have great potential to combat the emerging drug and antibiotic resistant diseases worldwide," .

Other winners are from Indonesia, Peru, Uganda and Yemen.

According to the news released today- The Elsevier Foundation Awards are given to early career women scientists in the developing world in recognition of research that has strong potential health and economic benefits. The Elsevier Foundation awards are given in partnership with the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for the advancement of science in developing countries. The five winners will receive their awards on February 13th during a ceremony at the Gender & Minorities Networking Breakfast at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. The prize includes USD $5,000 and all-expenses-paid attendance at the 2016 AAAS Annual Meeting.

Periodic table: are you better than a 3-year-old?

2015-11-24T12:08:00.000-08:00

In our school, we had to memorize the first 20 elements in periodic table: name, symbol, and atomic number. Now, may be I can not name these 20 elements!

But this adorable 3-year-old girl, Brielle, has become an expert on the periodic table.

She can recite the entire periodic table of elements.
She appeared in Ellen Show and surprised everyone. When Ellen showed her the symbol of some random elements, Brielle said the correct name and little bit of explanation/application of the elements.

That was extraordinary for a 3-year-old kid.

Enjoy the YouTube video of the show below.

Postdoctoral Position in Organic/Polymers Chemistry in Vermont USA

2015-11-18T08:32:00.001-08:00

The research group of Professor Severin Schneebeli at the University of Vermont (UVM) Chemistry Department is looking for a postdoctoral researcher with a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or related fields, with a strong background inorganic/polymers synthesis. Expertise in nanoscale characterization and molecular modeling will be a plus.

She or he will be working on research projects to develop new, innovative methods of nanostructure/polymer synthesis (e.g. via chirality-assisted synthesis (CAS) and self-replication), in collaboration with scientists from the UVM Materials Science Program, and the Vermont Advanced Computing Core (VACC).

Qualified applicants should send a CV with a publication list as well as the names and contact information of three references to severin.schneebeli@uvm.edu. Applications will be considered until the position is filled.

More information about the Schneebeli group and the Department of Chemistry can be found at
www.uvm.edu/mesosynthesis/ and www.uvm.edu/~chem/

Public attitudes to chemistry: RSC science communication competition 2015 and win £500

2015-10-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

If you are passionate about writing science and making video, you may win £500 from Royal Society of Chemistry.

What to write?

An 800 word long essay about public attitudes to chemistry. May cover topics like:

- Chemistry is something you do at school, not something you do in your everyday life
- How chemistry relates to energy, environment, food & water
- Emotional responses to chemistry
- Unpicking the confusion between pharmacists and chemists
- Why chemists think the public are more negative about chemistry than they actually are

A less than 2 min video.

Deadline

8 January 2016 11.59 pm GMT

Prizes

- Receive £500

- Be published in Chemistry World

- Have the opportunity to take part in a special assignment with Chemistry World

- The four remaining finalists will receive £250.

For details click here

Congratulations to Dr. Surya Adhikari for completing PhD

2015-07-28T00:23:00.000-07:00

Surya Adhikari recently completed his PhD in organic chemistry from University of Toledo. His research was focused towards gold catalyzed glycosylation and synthesis of digitoxin analogs.

Congratulations Dr. Adhikari and best wishes to your future career. He has published several research articles and is moving to IUPUI-Indianapolis from August.

You can visit his google scholar profile here.

Below is a brief description of his research work while he was in Toledo.

Oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates are one of the important classes of compound in biological chemistry. Carbohydrates play important roles not only in several biological processes but also are important constituent of many natural products and drugs. Oligosaccharides, a class of biopolymers unlike nucleotides, which are linear polymers, contain several positions linked to another sugars or any other molecules. This type of combination would increase the possible number of unique polymers. For instance, three different nucleotides or amino acids can only generate six trimers, while three different hexoses could generate up to 27,648 unique tri-saccharides. To unveil the biological roles of oligosaccharides, large amounts of fairly pure oligosaccharides are required; however, carbohydrates are notoriously difficult to isolate from natural sources and often times only available in very small quantities. Despite numerous glycosylation protocols have been developed, synthesis of complex oligosaccharide remains very challenging. Building structurally defined oligosaccharides is the most important duty to study the function and structure of complex glycans. The inherent nature of the leaving group at anomeric carbon principally determines the mode of action in the glycosylation.

Most of these glycosylations involve activation of leaving group with stoichiometric amount of the promoter for the departure of the leaving group. Dr. Adhikari's approach involved catalytic amount of activator to access the desired disaccharides. In the second part of his research, he synthesized different analogs of digitoxin. The bioactivity of those analogs will be disclosed in due course from our research group.

Why did you become a chemist?

2015-04-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

#IAmAChemistBecause I can get a job easily-to be honest.
— Basant Giri (@girib71) April 18, 2015

Why not you choose physics or biology or mathematics or engineering?

There are hundreds of thousand of people in this profession. Chemistry is not an easy subject though. Many people I met have said they found chemistry as the most difficult subject. Some may have come to this field because of personal interest but I think many came because of job availability.

In twitter, people are expressing their views on why they became chemist with a hashtag #IAmAChemistBecause. Similar hashtags are becoming popular in twitter recently.

#IAmAScientistBecause was trending in twitter last week.

If you have not done so, go to twitter and express your opinion.

#IAmAChemistBecause I found physics too boring and dropped out of uni after just one week of it (sorry physics chums)
— Stuart Cantrill (@stuartcantrill) April 14, 2015

Below are some more tweets from chemists I found interesting.

#IAmAChemistBecause Quarks are too small. Organisms are too large. Molecules are just the right size to make the universe intelligible to me
— Janet D. Stemwedel (@docfreeride) April 13, 2015

#IAmAChemistBecause Tweets

Nepalese Chemists at 249th ACS National Meeting in Denver

2015-03-30T07:45:00.000-07:00

By Arjun Acharya

Nepalese Chemists at ACS-Denver

American Chemical Society organized 249th ACS National Meeting in Denver, Colorado from March 22-26, 2015. Thousands of chemists around the world attended the meeting and presented their research findings. Following Nepalese Chemists from different Universities in USA and South Korea presented their research in the meeting.

Arjun Acharya, University of Nevada, Reno, NV

Dearomative (3+2) cycloadditions of aza-oxyallyl cation intermediates and indoles

Ganesh Bista, Yeungnam University, South Korea

Design, synthesis, topoisomerase I and II inhibitory activity, cytotoxicity, and structure-activity relationship study of novel 2-phenyl-4-aryl indenopyridines

Surendra Dawadi, University of Minnesota, MN

Synthesis, conformational analysis, and pharmacokinetics of fluorinated antitubercular nucleosides

Tara Kadayat, Yeungnam University, South Korea

Development of a novel class of hydroxylated 2, 4-diphenyl indenopyridines as a selective non-intercalative topoisomerase IIα catalytic inhibitor

Rishi Ram Sapkota, New Mexico State University, NM

Fluorescent triazaborolopyridinium dyes for cross metathesis labeling

Til Bahadur Thapa Magar,Yeungnam University, South Korea

2,4-Diaryl-indenopyridine derivatives: Design, synthesis, topoisomerase I and II inhibition, cytotoxicity, and structure-activity relationship study

More conference photos

Rishi Sapkota from New Mexico State University, NM, USA

Arjun Acharya from University of Nevada-Reno, NV, USA

Poster presented in the meeting

Photos from Facebook

Congratulations to Dr. Khem Joshi

2015-02-28T19:55:00.003-08:00

Lets congratulate Dr. Khem Joshi for completing his PhD from the graduate school of pharmaceutical sciences, Kumamoto University, Japan.

Title of his research was "Isolation of Chemical Compounds and their Biological Activity Analysis from Nepalese Medicinal Plants" and it involved the exploration of six Nepali medicinal plants for their possible bio-activities.

Dr. Joshi (center) with his Professors and Friends

As noted in his dissertation medicinal plants are one of the major sources of drugs all over the world. People have been using medicinal plants as traditional medicine, rationale herbal drug or as a source of therapeutically pure compounds. From these Nepali plants, Dr. Joshi was able to isolate 100 compounds grouped in flavonoids, xanthones, coumarins, iridoids, lignans, chalcones, phenolic acids, terpenoids, etc. among them 6 were new compounds.

He has published more than 8 peer-reviewed journal articles. Check out his ResearchGate profile. Dr. Joshi will continue his position at Pokhara University. Congratulations Dr. Joshi!

Below is the abstract of his dissertation, if you want to read more.

On the basis of traditional uses, availability, ethnomedicinal uses and chemical and biological virginity, six Nepalese medicinal plants: Aconogonon molle, Bombax ceiba, Pterocarpus marsupium, Swertia angustifolia, Begonia picta and Leea aspera have been selected and studied. Chemical isolation and biological activity analysis of these plants has been performed. From these plants total 100 compounds were isolated with 6 new compounds with different classes like; flavonoids, xanthones, coumarins, iridoids, lignans, chalcones, phenolic acids, terpenoids, etc.

Three new glycosides: thotneoside A, thotneoside B and thotneoside C together with 16 known compounds were isolated from the leaves of Aconogonon molle. Similarly, 16 known compounds from the flowers and 11 known compounds from the stem were also isolated. Two new aromatic compounds: simalin A and simalin B along with 5 known compounds were isolated from the stem bark of Bombax ceiba and 24 known compounds were also isolated from the flowers. A new chalcone: bijayasaline and 6 known compounds were isolated from the heartwood of Pterocarpus marsupium. Four known compounds were isolated from the whole plant of Swertia angustifolia. Five known compounds were isolated from the whole plant of Begonia picta. Seven known compounds were isolated from the aerial parts of Leea aspera.

The structures of these compounds were elucidated on the basis of UV, IR, NMR, MS and CD spectral data, chemical methods and comparison with literatures data. The antioxidant activities of the isolated phenolic compounds were analyzed by DPPH scavenging activity analysis. The IC₅₀ values of potent compounds were compared with Trolox as positive control. Compounds like: thotneoside (1), thotneoside B (2) quercetin (4), quercetin 3-O-b-D-galactopyranoside (5), quercetin 3-O-(6’’-O-galloyl)-b-D-galactopyranoside (6), quercetin 3-O-b-D-galacturonopyranoside (7), quercetin 3-O-b-D-glucuronopyranoside (8), quercetin 3-O-a-L-rhamnopyranoside (9), rutin (10), quercetin 3-O-a-L-arabinopyranoside (11), epicatechin-3-O-gallate (14), 1,3,6-tri-O-galloyl glucopyranoside (15), gallic acid (16), quercetin-3-O-(6’’-O-caffeoyl)-b-D-galactopyranoside (20), quercetin-3-O-b-D-glucopyranoside (21), quercetin-3-O-a-L-arabinofuranoside (22), isomangiferin (44), mangiferin (45), bijayasaline (61), pterostilbene (62), orientin (63) and isoorientin (64) have shown potent antioxidant activity as shown in figure given below.

The extract of B. ceiba flowers, A. molle flowers and L. aspera aerial parts showed the potent anti-inflammatory activity towards inhibition of TNF-α secretion in the presence of LPS in a murine RAW264.7 macrophage cell line and b-hexosaminidase activity (%) inhibition in a RBL-2H3 cell line.

Global workshop on research techniques in Biratnagar, Nepal

2015-01-10T22:15:00.001-08:00

Department of chemistry, Mahendra Morang Adarsh Multiple Campus (MMAMC) and Brainycube research organization organized a Global Workshop on Recent Research Techniques (GWRRT) in Nepal. GWRRT 2014 was a two day international workshop held at MMAMC, Biratnagar, Nepal on 26- 27 December.

Inauguration of global workshop

The main theme of GWRRT2014 was to inspire and train new generation of scientists and engineers focusing on research techniques such as choosing appropriate research ideas, proposal writing, publishing in peer reviewed journals, presentation skills, research methodology etc. Around two hundred fifty students, scholars and faculties participated in the workshop including 18 scientists and professors from physics, chemistry, biology, medical science, engineering, and mathematics. Experts were from reputed universities and research centers from Nepal and India.

Participants of workshop

The GWRRT2014 was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Chet Raj Bhattathe, Assistant Dean of Institute of Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University.

Scientists were honored during the program

During GWRRT2014 inauguration ceremony Department of Chemistry, MMAMC, Biratnagar honored Dr. Rameshwor Adhikari, Dr. Hemu Kharel Kafle, Dr. Ajaya Bhattarai, Mr. Sujit Kumar Shah and Mr. Akash Deo for their contribution to science and technology in Nepal.

With inputs from Dr. Ajaya Bhattarai

Congratulation Dr. Jay K. Bhattarai

2015-01-04T13:56:00.001-08:00

Lets congratulate Dr. Jay Bhattarai for completing his PhD in chemistry.

Dr. Bhattarai worked on developing nano-structured biosensors in the laboratory of Prof. Keith J. Stine at the University of Missouri-Saint Louis, USA.

His dissertation topic was “Electrochemical Synthesis of Nanostructured Noble Metal Films for Biosensing”.

He has electrochemically synthesized stable and sensitive plasmonic nanostructured films of gold and silver and used them as a transducer for biosensing. Besides biosensing, plasmonic nanostructures have shown promising applications in photovoltaic solar cells, optics, cloaking, and molecular sensing. His work has significantly contributed to the advancement of plasmonic-based research.

Publications of Dr. Bhattarai can be found in his GoogleScholar Profile.

He will work as a postdoctoral research fellow and an instructor for quantitative chemistry in the same university from winter semester.

Abstract of Dr. Bhattarai's PhD dissertation is given below.

Nanostructures of noble metals (Au and Ag) are of interest because of their important intrinsic properties. Noble metals by themselves are conductive, physically robust, chemically inert, and strongly bind to thiols. However, when the nanostructures are formed, they in addition possess high surface area and unique optical properties tunable by adjusting the shape and size. All of these properties make nanostructures of noble metals suitable candidates to be used as a transducer for biosensing. Individual nanostructures might be easier to prepare but difficult to handle to be used as a transducer. Therefore, we prepared and analyzed nanostructured films/coating of noble metals and used them as a transducer for optical and electrochemical biosensing.

We have electrochemically prepared nanoporous gold (NPG) on gold wire by varying different dependable parameters to obtain optimal structure in term of stability, morphology, and surface area. NPG prepared using a deposition potential of −1.0 V for 10 min from 30:70% 50 mM K[Au(CN)2] and 50 mM K[Ag(CN)2] was used as an optimal surface for protein immobilization, and to perform square wave voltammetry (SWV) based enzyme-linked lectinsorbent assays. On a flat gold surface, adjacent protein molecules sterically block their active sites due to high-density packing, which can be reduced using NPG as a substrate. Unlike flat gold surfaces, NPG can also show significant peak current in SWV experiments. All these make NPG a suitable substrate, electrode, and transducer to be used in electrochemical biosensing.

We have also discovered a facile electrochemical method to synthesize plasmonic noble metal nanostructured films (NFs). As-prepared NFs are very sensitive for detecting biomolecules using localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) spectroscopy, and are regenerable. We compare the sensitivity of three different types of NFs and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the prepared structures. Finally, we report carbohydrate–lectin, lectin–protein, and layer-by-layer interactions of molecules using LSPR spectroscopy along with real-time interactions to find the equilibrium dissociation constant of the interactions. The results from these experiments could contribute to the development of cheap and sensitive biosensors that can be used for diagnostic purposes.

Congratulations to Dr. Durga Pokharel

2014-12-31T08:26:00.000-08:00

NepaChem would like to congratulate Dr. Durga Pokharel for completing his PhD from Michigan Technological University, USA.

Dr. Pokharel worked with Dr. Shiyue Fang on ‘non-chromatographic purification of synthetic bio-oligomers’ producing about half dozen peer reviewed publications and one patent.

He is going to work as a postdoctoral research fellow in the same university from next semester.

Some of his publications are:

Here is the summery of Dr. Pokharel’s dissertation.

Synthetic oligonucleotides and peptides have found wide applications in industry and academic research labs. There are ~60 peptide drugs on the market and over 500 under development. The global annual sale of peptide drugs in 2010 was estimated to be $13 billion. There are three oligonucleotide-based drugs on market; among them, the FDA newly approved Kynamro was predicted to have a $100 million annual sale. The annual sale of oligonucleotides to academic labs was estimated to be $700 million. Both bio-oligomers are mostly synthesized on automated synthesizers using solid phase synthesis technology, in which nucleoside or amino acid monomers are added sequentially until the desired full-length sequence is reached. The additions cannot be complete, which generates truncated undesired failure sequences. For almost all applications, these impurities must be removed. The most widely used method is HPLC. However, the method is slow, expensive, labor-intensive, not amendable for automation, difficult to scale up, and unsuitable for high throughput purification. It needs large capital investment, and consumes large volumes of harmful solvents. The purification costs are estimated to be more than 50% of total production costs. Other methods for bio-oligomer purification also have drawbacks, and are less favored than HPLC for most applications.

To overcome the problems of known biopolymer purification technologies, we have developed two non-chromatographic purification methods. They are (1) catching failure sequences by polymerization, and (2) catching full-length sequences by polymerization. In the first method, a polymerizable group is attached to the failure sequences of the bio-oligomers during automated synthesis; purification is achieved by simply polymerizing the failure sequences into an insoluble gel and extracting full-length sequences. In the second method, a polymerizable group is attached to the full-length sequences, which are then incorporated into a polymer; impurities are removed by washing, and pure product is cleaved from polymer. These methods do not need chromatography, and all drawbacks of HPLC no longer exist. Using them, purification is achieved by simple manipulations such as shaking and extraction. Therefore, they are suitable for large scale purification of oligonucleotide and peptide drugs, and also ideal for high throughput purification, which currently has a high demand for research projects involving total gene synthesis. The savings with the new techniques compared with HPLC are estimated to be 70% to 90% depending on purification scale and throughput. We expect these new oligonucleotide and peptide purification technologies to be widely used in academic research labs, biotechnology companies, and pharmaceutical companies in the near future.

Help our friend and chemist Goma recover her 4th stage cancer

2014-12-14T16:40:00.002-08:00

By Dr. Sailesh Malla

Everyone in the western world is preparing for upcoming festivals and happy holiday celebrations. In the same time, unfortunately, our friend and fellow chemist, Goma Yakami is struggling against her 4th stage acute gastric cancer in Canada.

Happy family: Goma with her husband and sons before undergoing chemotherapy. (photo: Umesh's Facebook)

I talked to her husband, our classmate and friend Umesh Krishna Shrestha today. According to him, Goma was diagnosed with the cancer two months ago right after she gave birth to their second baby. Although she had many complications during her pregnancy period, the gastric cancer was diagnosed only during caesarean section. Her baby is in good condition but since then she has been hospitalized and undergoing chemotherapy in Royal University Hospital, Saskatoon, Saskaton, Canada.

Goma did her MSc in chemistry (2002-2004 batch) from central department of chemistry, Tribhuvan University. The Shrestha family moved to Canada two years ago and are struggling to settle there. As we can imagine they are going through very difficult situation as they are away from family and friends. I also learnt that Umesh has left his job to take care of his wife Goma and two kids.

Please join me to pray for her speedy recovery. They need our love and support. It would be a great help from our side if we can contribute some money to them. You can directly donate to Umesh's Paypal account (shres58tha@yahoo.com).
Just click the donate botton below.

A Facebook page has been created to update family and friends with latest message. You may want to visit this page for more details on her medical condition.

You contact any one of the following persons if you have any questions and/or want to help.

In Nepal: Ashok Bajracharya (9841236047)
In US: Dr. Prati Bajracharya (pratistar@hotmail.com)
In Europe: Dr. Sailesh Malla (4524921798)

Lets help our friends!

Please forward this message to your friends who may be willing to help her family.

Ciprofloxacin counterfeited with zinc phosphide in India #fakedrug

2014-11-15T11:07:00.001-08:00

Recent death of about 15 women in Indian state of Chhattisgargh has been linked to counterfeited antibiotics called ciprofloxacin. The women who visited sterilization camp were given this drug as antibiotic drug after the operation. Media reports citing government officials have said that laboratory tests of the drug, which was mass distributed in that area, was found to contain a poisonous chemical known as zinc phosphide.

What is Ciprofloxacin?

Ciprofloxacin is 1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-1,4-dihydro-4-oxo-7-(1-piperazinyl)-3-quinolinecarboxylic acid with a faintly yellowish in color. It is a commonly used drug to kill both gram-negative and gram-positive pathogens (antibiotic) from a group of fluoroquinolone. This drug is used to treat problems including infections of bones and joints, endocarditis, gastroenteritis, malignant otitis, respiratory tract infection, cellulitis, urinary tract infection, prostatitis, etc. It was 35st most prescribed drug and 5th most commonly prescribed antibacterial in the USA in 2010. Thats why many counterfeiters have targeted this drug to make money illegally.

Chemical structure of Ciprofloxacin

What is counterfeit drug?

The contaminated suspect drug reported recently in India was produced by a local pharmaceutical company. India is known for producing fake or sub-standard or counterfeited drugs. There were several concerns about the drugs produced in India. According to WHO, fake medicines are a global problem and they mostly come from developing countries including India and mostly end up in Africa. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned at least 35 manufacturing plants from India. One WHO report tells that one in every five drugs sold by Indian manufacturers was spurious. In a recent survey, about 12% drugs sold in Delhi were found to be sub-standard.

According to FDA counterfeit drugs are fake drugs containing contamination or wrong or no active ingredient. They may contain wrong dose and illegal and harmful to health.

Zinc phosphide is a gray crystalline inorganic compound commonly used to kill rodents. It is is added ~1% in rat food to kill the rat. Acid hydrolysis of phosphide releases a toxic gas known as phosphine. There is no clear logic why the Indian counterfeiter added this poison to the antibiotic pills.

Chemistry behind leaves changing color

2014-10-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

You may have seen change in color of some trees from green to red, yellow or orange. This transition looks beautiful and we enjoy this change.

The color change is an indication that the trees are preparing for winter and it involves a complex chemistry.

Color in tree leaves is due to some chemical compounds-the pigments.

In general, trees are green in color. The green color comes from a compound known as chlorophyll present in the chloroplasts of leaf cells. From our high school science we know that this pigment is involved photosynthesis-plants cooking food.

Chlorophyll is a dominant pigment during growing season. This green pigment is not very stable. Therefore plants have to produce chlorophyll constantly. However, the production slows down in low sunlight and lower temperature as fall/autumn season progress.

At this stage, other pigment molecules come to front stage and play their dominant role. Some pigments are already present in the leaves that are just unmasked as chlorophyll gets away from the business. Whereas some pigments are produced in this condition unfavorable for chlorophyll.

In some trees as chlorophyll fades away, a yellow pigment called carotene get unmasked. Carotenoids and another pigment, xanthophylls, are responsible for the yellow and orange color of leaves.

The vivid red and purple colors in some other trees come from anthocyanins which are produced in the fall from sugars in the leaf.

General structures of pigments found in leaves

As you see in these structures, one thing is common in all of them. The alternating double and single bonds: conjugation system. This conjugation system allows them to absorb light in the visible range. This leads to the appearance of color to us.

Enjoy the season.

Here is a nice explanation of the chemistry of color change in a video produced by American Chemical Society.

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry could mean a lot to all of us

2014-10-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

(from left: Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell, and
William E. Moerner; source)

Dr. Bhanu Neupane

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been announced today (on Oct 8^th 2014). The recipients are: William E. Moerner (Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA), Stefan W. Hell (Max Planck Institute, Göttingen and German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany), and Eric Betzig (Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, VA, USA) working in area of super-resolution far field fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy. The three scientists will share total prize money of $1.5 million. Special congratulation to these great minds from “NepaChem”!

Nobel Prize, established by a Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel in 1895 and announced by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, is awarded in recognition of someone whose work contributes significantly in the area of chemistry, physics, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine.

I have also been involved in super-resolution microscopy reasearch (see my publications here). In addition, we have assembled one of such kind of microscopes in North Carolina State University. With my experience in this field, let me describe this years Nobel prize to you.

The traditional form of optical microscopy, that needs some sort of light source for illumination and aberrations corrected lens for focusing the light in a specimen/sample, because diffraction cannot provide resolution better than ~λ/2 laterally (in –X and –Y directions) and ~ λ in axial (Z direction. It means if 500 nm light is used for illumination then one cannot resolve two objects that are spaced smaller than 250 nm (1 nm=10^-9 m) in lateral and 500 nm in axial directions. If we want two objects spaced closer than 250 nm to be resolved, then traditional microscope cannot do it. The above three scientist applied two types of concept to break the diffraction limited resolution which was never possible before 1990. Both concepts use the fluorescence property of molecule and provide super-resolution (resolution much better than diffraction limit); known as super-resolution fluorescence microscopy or nanoscopy. Super-rsolution has also been achieved in other forms of microscopy, for example near field microscopy and electron microscopic methods. Although these methods provide resolution in the range of 1-20 nm for dry and/or conductive sample, they find limited application in imaging biological specimen (a cell or tissue). Near field methods require very small distance (few 10^th of nanometers) between sample and probe which cannot image deep into the 3D specimen (almost all biological specimens are 3D objects). On the other hand, electron microscopy requires sample to be conductive and dried. Almost all biological specimens contain significant amount of water, so imaging in the intact (intact means fixed and wet, or live) form is impossible.

In 1994, Stefan Hell proposed the concept of stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy/nanoscopy that can provide super-resolution in a fluorescently labeled specimen down to 20 nm even in live specimen. This microscope needs two lasers one having intensity distribution of Gaussian (which looks like a circular in –XY plane) type and the other donut type (i.e. circle having no light in the center). If these two lasers are overlapped (in -XYZ directions) in focal plane of objective lens, signal comes only from the narrow center portion where stimulated emission depletion does not takes place (please see the schematic). The key publications that awarded S. Hell the Nobel prize are:

Breaking the diffraction resolution limit by stimulated emission: stimulated-emission-depletion fluorescence microscopy.

Ground-state-depletion fluorscence microscopy: A concept for breaking the diffraction resolution limit.

Fluorescence microscopy with diffraction resolution barrier broken by stimulated emission.

Eric Betzig and William E. Moerner proposed different version of super-resolution called super localization fluorescence microscopy. In their approach, the fluorescent dye molecules (that is used to label a biological specimen) are optically switched in on/off state one after another over the time, and the intensity profile of each molecule (which is like a illuminating Gaussian beam) is fitted by a model to find the center position. The localization precision (which is also a form of resolution), depends on the number of photons one can collect form each molecule. If the position of all dyes in the specimen are localized, that gives highly resolved (super-resolved) image. This approach gives resolution equal to or better than STED approach but is very slow; so has limited application for live specimen. STED is a direct imaging method (does not require and processing), but super localization is model based method. The key publications that awarded Nobel Prize to these scientists are:

Optical detection and spectroscopy of single molecules in a solid.

On/off blinking and switching behaviour of single molecules of green fluorescent protein.

Proposed method for molecular optical imaging.

Imaging intracellular fluorescent proteins at nanometer resolution

Recent imaging tools used in medicine have resolution in the range of few millimeter to hundredths of micrometer. This means wrongly functioning structures in tissue/organ of a patient cannot be identified on time or patient is diagnosed very late. Although tools developed by above scientist, in current forms, need lot of improvements before implementing in clinics, day will certainly come that these tools finding great application in medicine; for example looking a tissue of cancerous patient at much details then what can be done now. Having said that, let’s hope, these new methods of imaging will save thousands of lives.

Dr. Neupane is a postdoctoral scholar at Biomedical Engineering Department

(Joint Department of University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University)

He is also affiliated with Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal.

What exactly Mars Orbiter #MOM will do?

2014-09-29T09:42:00.001-07:00

Disassembled view of the spacecraft (Photo: ISRO)

India's first Mars spacecraft, the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan, lunched on November last year is now orbiting Mars since 24th this month. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) claims that most of the technologies associated with the design, planning, management, and operations were innovative and developed in India. Therefore the mission was way less expensive than NASA's MAVEN.

MOM spacecraft is equipped with four different instruments in addition to a camera. Scientists are hoping to get some scientific information (primarily chemical constituents) of Mars surface and atmosphere. The camera will send color photographs of Mars surface that will help to study the surface feature and composition of Mars.

Will this mission tell us about the signal of life in Mars? Well, that depends on the information these instruments will send us.

1. Infrared spectrometer: The MOM spacecraft is loaded with a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer (TIIS). Such thermal infrared spectrophotometers measure the emitted infrared radiation from Mars surface. It will help to identify the chemical composition of Mars surface by comparing the spectra it sends to already known materials.

Indian made TIIS (Photo: ISRO)

2. Photometer: MOM spacecraft has Lyman-Alpha Photometer (LAP) to measure the relative abundance of deuterium and hydrogen from Lyman-alpha emissions in the upper Mars atmosphere. As stated in MOM's website, measuring the ration of deuterium over hydrogen will allow an estimation of the amount of water loss to outer space.

LAP (Photo: ISRO)

3. Mass spectrometer: The quadruple mass spectrometer will measure the relative abundance of neutral constituents in the range of 1 to 300 atomic mass unit.

MENCA (Photo: ISRO)

4. Methan sensor: Methan sensor placed on the spacecraft will measure methane in the Mars atmosphere and its sources. Methane is the most widely present hydrocarbon in our solar system. It has four hydrogen atoms attached tetrahedrally to a carbon atom. Presence of methane could tell us about the possibility of biological source on Mars. However, previous research with NASA's curiosity rover didn't find even traces of methane in Mars unlike previous estimations.

Methan sensor (Photo: ISRO)

Schematic of Methane (CH4)

Congratulations Dr. Harishchandra Subedi

2014-09-16T16:13:00.001-07:00

Dr. Subedi

Join us to congratulate Dr. Harishchandra Subedi for completing his PhD from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, USA and joining a faculty position at Kent State University, Tuscarawas campus, New Philadelphia Ohio.

Dr. Subedi worked with Prof. Nicola E. Brasch on kinetic and mechanistic studies on the reactions of vitamin B₁₂ (cobalamin) complexes with the nitroxyl (HNO) donors for his PhD.

Check out Dr. Subedi's google scholar profile for his publications.

Here is a synopsis of his research work:

Nitric oxide (NO, ^·NO) is a gaseous messenger molecule produced in cells from L–arginine by nitric oxide synthases. The chemical and biological properties of NO have been extensively studied for well over a decade. However, recent studies have shown that nitroxyl (nitrosyl hydride, HNO), the one–electron–reduction product of NO, may also be formed in biological systems, from the oxidation of L–arginine by nitric oxide synthase, particularly in the absence of tetrahydrobiopterin cofactor. It has also been demonstrated that HNO has biological activity and chemical reactivity distinct from ^·NO. Much less is known about the reactivity of HNO, including its reactivity with transition metal complexes. A fundamental understanding of this is important, given that about one third of proteins are metalloproteins.

His dissertation work presented the first studies on the reaction between an HNO donor compound and vitamin B₁₂complexes. Detailed kinetic and mechanistic studies have been carried out on the reactions of two well characterized HNO donors, Angeli’s salt (AS) and Piloty’s acid (PA), with cobalamins (vitamin B₁₂ derivatives). Cobalamins have important role as cofactors in two B₁₂–dependent enzymatic reactions in humans. Furthermore cobalamins have three readily accessible oxidation states (Co³⁺, Co²⁺ and Co⁺).

Although it is well established that HNO reduces transition metals including transition metal centers of porphyrins and metalloproteins, oxidation of a transition metal center by HNO is, to our knowledge, unprecedented. Importantly, results from kinetic measurements suggest that HNO can oxidize Co(I) center of cob(I)alamin. Given the abundance of metals in biological systems in addition to about one–third of proteins being metalloproteins, these results may have important implications in regards to elucidating the potential roles and toxicity of HNO in biological systems.

Studies by others suggest that the reduced vitamin B₁₂ complex, cob(II)alamin, scavenges nitric oxide to form air–sensitive nitroxylcobalamin (NOCbl) in vivo. The fate of newly formed NOCbl is not known. A detailed mechanistic investigation of the oxidation of NOCbl by oxygen is presented. Only base–on NOCbl reacts with O₂, and the reaction proceeds via an associative mechanism involving a peroxynitritocob(III)alamin intermediate, Co(III)–N(O)OO⁻. The intermediate undergoes O−O bond homolysis and ligand isomerization to ultimately yield nitrocobalamin (NO₂Cbl) and aquacobalamin (H₂OCbl⁺/HOCbl), respectively. Ligand isomerization may potentially occur independent of O−O bond homolysis. Formation of ^●OH and ^●NO₂ intermediates from O−O bond homolysis is demonstrated using phenol and tyrosine radical traps and the characterization of small amounts of a corrinoid product with minor modifications to the corrin ring.

Regional Chemistry Seminar Organized at Biratnagar

2014-09-01T10:25:00.001-07:00

Chemists from eastern, Nepal organized a two day seminar in Biratnagar this weekend. The seminar was organized with the collaboration of Nepal Chemical Society (NCS) and Department of Chemistry, Mahendra Morang Adarsh Multiple Campus.

Thirty speakers presented their research findings in the seminar including invited lectures. Among the poster presenters (13 altogether), Shova Neupane secured first position whereas Nabin Basnet got second position. Two students, Arun Karna and Bihari Yadav were awarded with third position prize. Organizers said such competition among students encourages and motivates them for research work.

The vice chancellor of Purwanchal University, Nepal was the chief guest of the program and president of NCS Dr. Deba Bahadur Khadka was honorable guest. In addition Gita Didi regional director of Brahma Kumari spiritual university awardee of Pokharmal Rathi Dharma Sanskriti award was present in the seminar as a special guest. Dr. Ajaya Bhattarai coordinated the seminar.

Akash Deo, currently studying at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Kakinada, Andrapradesh, India, donated a chemical separation instrument to the chemistry lab of MMAMC, Biratnagar. A new scientific instrument (UV Visible Spectrometer) was introduced in the seminar. The spectrometer was purchased using funds collected from crowd funding that was coordinated by Dr. Basant Giri.

At the end of seminar, eastern regional chapter of Nepal Chemical Society was formed.

Committee consists of following chemists.

Coordinator: Prof. Sujit Kr. Chaterjee

Member secretory: Dr. Ajaya Bhattrai

Members: Tulasi P Niraula, Sujit Kr. Shah, Alina Shakya, Balaram Panta, Narendra K. Chaudhary, Rajesh Karki, Pramod K. Yadav, Chandradip P Yadav, Netra P Subedi, Tika P Upadhaya, Ratna B Thapa, Prem K. Shrestha, Chandreswor Yadav, Mukti Shah and Subodh K. Chaudhry.

With help from Akash Deo

NepaChem Travel Award announced

2014-08-21T08:43:00.004-07:00

Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences (KIAS) in collaboration with Nepal Polymer Institute announces NepaChem travel award for Nepali students presenting their research at KaSAM 2014 (4-10 September, 2014), Kathmandu, Nepal. Your application package should include followings in a single pdf file.

A short essay describing your research and why you need travel award (500 words maximum)
A letter from your advisor indicating you have not received any other financial help for KaSAM 2014.
Proof of symposia presentation.

The travel award will only the cover registration fee for the symposia. Winners will be notified on 3rd September.

Email your application to info@kias.org.np by ~~September 2~~ September 5, 2014

KIAS is a science based multidisiplinary research center in Nepal.