Nitrogen Compounds in Pharmaceuticals

Presenter: Swapno Chaduhuri, Biochemistry , Global Public Health Scholars

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I was an undergraduate research assistant in an organic chemistry lab at the University of Maryland - College Park under Dr. Daniel Falvey. During my first semester, I helped the graduate students run reactions related to their projects. During this semester, I was put on my own project and I tried to prove that a nitrogen-containing compound, Benzotriazole, and whether it can form a very reactive ion called a nitreneum ion. The results of this research have not been reached yet and are currently in progress. Even though I have not concluded my project yet, I have still learned a lot about when it comes to lab techniques, how to think like a scientist treading on new ground, and how to sift through and interpret large volumes of scientific literature, When pharmaceutical companies develop new drugs, after synthesizing the possible drug candidate they do further research and tests on them and it is found out that some of these drugs will form nitrenium ions if introduced into the body and can cause more harm than good by causing things such as cancer. In our lab, we research many different nitrogen-containing compounds and if we prove that these compounds and structures can form a nitreneum ion, pharmaceutical companies in the future know not to include the structure of this compound in their bigger drug structure. This will help make developing new drugs more efficient and cost-effective.