IIT Bombay researchers develop faster method to convert carbon compounds for drug discovery
Researchers at IIT Bombay have developed a novel and efficient method to convert simple, straight-chain carbon compounds into complex, ring-shaped molecules. The breakthrough, led by Prof Debabrata Maiti and published in the journal Nature, solves a long-standing problem in synthetic chemistry by eliminating a time-consuming and expensive multi-step process.
Straight-chain carbon compounds like fatty acids are highly abundant in nature, but many biologically-relevant organic compounds, including several drugs, have ring-shaped structures. Previously, converting straight chains into rings required a complex multi-step process because it was difficult to chemically target a specific carbon atom in the chain without affecting multiple other sites.
The research team at IIT Bombay made a breakthrough by developing a new chemical compound that selectively targets the desired carbon atom in the long chain. This new method achieves the conversion in fewer steps, with greater efficiency and significantly reduced chemical wastage.
The research team included Prof Maiti’s students Tanay Pal, Md Saimuddin Sk, Animesh Ghosh, and Yazhinimuthu CM. Somnath Kar from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre also collaborated on the project.
According to Prof Maiti, the significance of the breakthrough lies in the fact that it is a general process applicable to a wide array of organic compounds. The method acts as a platform that can quickly convert simple saturated fatty acids into many different bioactive molecules. This could help scientists study and improve compounds used in traditional medicine systems such as Ayurveda and speed up their development into modern drugs.
To demonstrate the method, the researchers synthesized more than ten biologically and industrially relevant molecules used in medicine, chemical biology, and the perfume and flavour industries. This included synthesizing muricatacin, an anti-cancer compound naturally found in Laxman phal (soursop).
Extracting muricatacin from natural substances is highly inefficient, yielding only about 15 milligrams from 15 kilograms of plant material. The IIT Bombay researchers synthesized muricatacin in the laboratory in an easier, more efficient manner and modified it to exhibit anti-cancer properties comparable to the natural compound. Prof Maiti stated that the new method could make drug discovery faster, cheaper, and more sustainable.
