Medicinal Chemistry
News and Events - 2006


August

The Graduate Program in Medicinal Chemistry would like to extend a warm welcome to the following incoming graduate students:

Ms. Julia Coppin, B.S. in Chemistry from the University of West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica
Mr. Barret Giese, B.S. in Chemistry from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA
Ms. Dishaben Patel, B.S. in Chemistry from Clarkson Institute of Technology in Potsdam, NY
Ms. Joyce Shuman, B.S. in Chemistry from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC
Mr. Ankush Verma, B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from University of Delhi in India
Ms. Yanping Xu, B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Southern Yangtse University in Wuxi, China and a M.S. in Applied Chemistry from East China University of Science in Shanghai, China

Professor Longqin Hu served on the 2006 Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics 4 (CET-4) Peer Review Panel for the DOD Breast Cancer Research Program, Restin, VA, August 6-8, 2006.

June

Minhas, Gurpreet S., Pilch, Donny S., Kerrigan, John E., LaVoie, Edmond J., and Rice, Joseph E., Synthesis and G-quadruplex stabilizing properties of a series of oxazole-containing macrocycles. Biorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 2006, 16, 3891-3895.

Prathima Surabhi, Xinghua Wu, and Longqin Hu, Improved solubility and stability of trialkylammonium selenocarboxylate in organic solvents for efficient amidation with azides. Tetrahedron Lett. 2006, 47(27), 4609-4613.

The Department of Medicinal Chemistry cosponsored, with the Tristate Chinese American Chemical Society (CACS), the 2006 CACS Annual Spring Symposium in Busch Campus Center on June 10, 2006. The theme of this year's symposium was "Cooperation and Collaboration in the Age of Competition," which attempted to capture the prevailing trend of increasing economic ties across the pacific in chemistry-related endeavors. The symposium was attended by around 150 people and featured talks by a group of distinguished speakers including the president-elect Dr. Catherine Hunt of the American Chemical Society, the Senior Vice President Dr. Mark Powell of Bristol-Myers Squibb and two distinguished Chinese American chemists, Dr. Margaret Wu, senior scientific advisor at ExxonMobil, and Prof. Jing Li of Rutgers University Chemistry Department.

April

Wei Feng, Satyanarayana Mavurapu, Liang Cheng, Yuan-chi Tsai, Angela Liu, Leroy F. Liu, and Edmond J. LaVoie presented a poster entitled "Synthesis and Evaluation of N-substituted 5-[2-(N-alkylamino)ethyl]dibenzo[c,h] [1,6]naphthyridines as novel topoisomerase I-targeting antitumor agents" at the American Chemical Society 231st National Meeting in Atlanta Georgia, March 25 through March 30, 2006.

Lisa Sharma, Sudhir K. Singh, Yuan-chi Tsai, Angela Liu, Leroy F. Liu, and Edmond J. LaVoie presented a poster entitled "Synthesis and Evaluation of Biological Activities of 8- and 9- Amino Derivatives of 5H-2,3-methylenedioxydibenzo[c,h][1,6]naphthridin-6-ones as TOP I-targeting Agents" at the American Chemical Society 231st National Meeting in Atlanta Georgia, March 25 through March 30, 2006.

Professor Edmond J. LaVoie has been issued a United States Patent #7,026,342, on April 11, 2006. The inventors are Wagle, Dillip; Gall, Martin; Bell, Stanley C.; and LaVoie, Edmond J. The patent title is "Method for treating fibrotic diseases or other indications utilizing thiazole, oxazole and imidazole compounds".

Professor Joseph E. Rice has been reelected as Director for the Graduate Program in Medicinal Chemistry. His new term will be effective July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2009.

March

Shejin Zhu, Alexander L. Ruchelman, Nai Zhou, Angela Liu, Leroy F. Liu, and Edmond J. LaVoie, 6-Susbstituted 6H-Dibenzo[c,h]naphthyridine-5-ones: Reversed Lactam Analogues of ARC-111 with Potent Topoisomerase I-targeting Activity and Cytotoxicity, Bioorg. Med. Chem., 14, 3131-3143, 2006

February

Professor Edmond LaVoie was recently issued four US patents. They are:

US Patent number 6,989,387 entitled "Nitro and amino substituted topoisomerase agents" on 01/24/2006
US Patent number 6,992,088 entitled "Nitro and amino substituted heterocycles as topoisomerase I targeting agents" on 01/31/2006
US Patent number 6,992,089 entitled "Nitro and amino substituted topoisomerase agents" on 01/31/2006
US Patent number 6,995,154 entitled "Heterocyclic Topoisomerase Poisons" on 02/07/2006.

January

Professor Edmond LaVoie was issued US Patent number 6,987,109 entitled "Solubilized Topoisomerase Poison Agents" on January 17, 2006.

Professor Edmond LaVoie served on the Cancer Drug Development Peer Review Committee for the American Cancer Society, Atlanta Georgia, January 16-18, 2006.