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Fluoroorganic Chemistry
Fluoroorganic compounds are an integral part of our everyday life. The introduction of one or multiple fluorine atoms into organic molecules modulates their properties such as lipophilicity and hydrophobicity, bioavailability and molecular conformations. This, in general, makes fluorinated molecules as effective pharmaceutical agents, agrochemicals, polymers and important tools for biomedical applications. Regioselective fluorination of organic molecules is a challenging task and the Building Block Approach which utilizes fluorinated building blocks to achieve fluoroorganic targets is an attractive strategy.
The focus of our research is the development of methods for synthesis of regiospecifically fluorinated building blocks. These building blocks will be further utilized to access fluoro analogs of the bioactive molecules of interest in pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals.
Photocatalysis using Fullerenes
Visible light photoredox catalysis has emerged as an important tool for the greener and energy efficient organic synthesis. Reactive oxygen species (ROSs) such as singlet oxygen (1O2) and super oxide radical anion (O2·¬−) have been utilized as valuable reagents in a variety of organic transformations. Fullerenes (C60 and C70) are highly efficient photosensitizers that generate ROSs with very high quantum yields. Despite their high photo activity, there is only limited literature about their use in the organic transformation. The advantages of fullerenes as photocatalysts over the commonly used metal based catalysts include (a) biocompatibility and non-toxicity (b) low catalyst loading (c) clean reactions and (d) easy recovery and recycling of catalyst.
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Our research focus is to explore fullerenes as photocatalysts for diverse organic transformations. The major focus is on the oxidations reactions and cross-dehydrogenative coupling reactions using this photocatalyst under ambient conditions.
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