Dr Bhaven Patel, a Reader in Organic Chemistry, and Margarita Damai, a Biomedical Science student won Royal Society of Chemistry Outstanding Student Paper Award.
Date: 26 September 2024
Dr Bhaven Patel, a Reader in Organic Chemistry, and Margarita Damai, an undergraduate student studying Biomedical Science at the School of Human Sciences, have been honoured with the RSC Advances Outstanding Student Paper Awards 2023 in the Organic Chemistry category. Their recent publication: Crafting mono- and novel bis-methylated pyrroloquinoxaline derivatives from a shared precursor and its application in the total synthesis of marinoquinoline A received this prestigious recognition, celebrating the hard work of students within the chemistry community.
The RSC Advances Outstanding Student Paper Awards highlight exceptional research where a substantial portion of the work is carried out by students. Dr Patel nominated Margarita for her significant contributions to the research and for drafting parts of the publication. After a thorough review of 700 nominations by the journal’s in-house editorial team, Editorial Board members, and Associate Editors, the paper was selected as the winner in the organic chemistry category.
The awarded research, initially part of a themed collection celebrating the accomplishments of RSC Fellows, presents a methodology for selectively synthesising methyl-substituted pyrroloquinoxalines. This work is significant because the methyl group is one of the most common functional groups in biologically active molecules and plays a crucial role in enhancing a drug's binding affinity and potency, making it highly relevant in the pharmaceutical industry. The methodology was successfully applied to the total synthesis of the natural product, marinoquinoline A. Margarita will present this research in October 2024 during a webinar series organised by the journal. Her presentation will include an introduction to the Outstanding Student Award programme, followed by a 10-minute summary of her research.
