Welcome to the homepage of the Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry Research Group (SMCRG). Our group was established in 2013 by Dr. Rajshekhar Karpoormath and is one of the fastest emerging groups in the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa, providing unique expedient environment for graduate, postgraduate, Ph.D. and Post-doctoral research. SMCRG has expertise in a wide range of disciplines that includes medicinal, organic, computational and electroanalytical chemistry. For more information on our research group, please use the links on the left of the page.
SMCRG has expertise in a wide range of disciplines that includes medicinal, organic, computational and electroanalytical chemistry. Our strengths lie in structure-based drug design, synthetic medicinal and organic chemistry focussing on discovery and development of anti-HIV, anti-cancer, anti-tubercular and anti-microbial compounds. The objective of the group is to optimise the potency, selectivity and bioavailability of a pharmacologically active compound, while minimising its side-effects. We also investigate the optimization of existing drugs, identify and synthesise the metabolic products of these drugs and related compounds. We pursue small molecule hits from high throughput screens (HTS), perform lead optimization studies to develop structure-activity-relationships (SAR) and ultimately deliver small molecules with acceptable properties to validate novel targets/mechanisms in vivo and in vitro. Some of our projects involves some targeted synthesis involving modern synthesis methodology such as organocatalysis and metal-based catalysis. We collaborate closely with other national and international research groups, both in academia and pharmaceutical industry.
Currently, our research programs are supported by College of Health Sciences, UKZN and National Research Foundation (NRF) South Africa.
Collaborations are crucial to the growth and development of new knowledge, both for the group and our collaborators. SMCRG has a broad base of national and international collaborators in the field of electrochemistry and drug-related research.
Aadarsh Innovations, Pune, India.
Unique Med Chem, Maharashtra, India.
https://pharmacy.ukzn.ac.za/Homepage.aspx
Organic synthesis:
Crystallography website:
http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/pages/Home.aspx
Drug Design and Discovery website-softwares:
1) TBrowse :Largest integrative genomic resource on Mtb H37Rv
2) CRDD : Comprehensive resource for drug discovery
3) OSDDChem : Database of molecules with anti-TBdrug like properties
4) MetaPred: Predict cytochrome P450 isoform responsible for drug metabolism
5) KetoDrug : binding affinity prediction of ketoxazole derivatives against FAAH
6) KiDoq: Docking energy score based prediction of antibacterials
7) ccPDB : Compilation and creation of datasets from PDB
8) GiDoQ : QSAR and docking prediction of Mtb inhibitors
http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/home/home.do
http://159.149.85.2/cms/index.php?Software_projects:VEGA_ZZ
Docking Studies Free Softwares:
http://www.eyesopen.com/oedocking
Database Screening:
http://zinc.docking.org/search/structure
Ligand-based drug-design softwares:
http://www.simulations-plus.com/Products.aspx?grpID=1&cID=13&pID=12
http://www.certara.com/products/molmod/sybyl-x/qsar/
http://www.clcbio.com/products/clc-drug-discovery-workbench/
Pharmacological screening website:
General Literature Search:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed
Chemical Structure drawing softwares:
https://www.cambridgesoft.com/software/overview.aspx
http://accelrys.com/products/informatics/cheminformatics/draw/index.html
In silico activity screening website:
http://www.pharmaexpert.ru/passonline/
Toxicity Prediction website:
http://www.tox-portal.net/index.html
Analytical Instrumentation softwares:
http://www.thermoscientific.com/en/home.html
http://www.geinstruments.com/products-and-services/software
https://www.bruker.com/products/mr/nmr.html
Free Reference Manager Servers:
Plagiarism Identification Tool:
1. R. A. Rane, S. Karunanidhi, K. Jain, M. Shaikh, G. Hampannavar and R. Karpoormath, Curr. Top. Med. Chem. (Sharjah, United Arab Emirates), 2016, 16, 1262-1289.W. S. Alwan, A. A.
2. N. Thapliyal, T. E. Chiwunze, R. Karpoormath, R. N. Goyal, H. Patel and S. Cherukupalli, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 57580-57602.
3. G. A. Hampannavar, R. Karpoormath, M. B. Palkar and M. S. Shaikh, Bioorg. Med. Chem., 2016, 24, 501-520.
4. G. A. Hampannavar, R. Karpoormath, M. B. Palkar, M. S. Shaikh and B. Chandrasekaran, ACS Med. Chem. Lett., 2016, 7, 686-691.
5. Mahajan, R. A. Rane, A. A. Amritkar, S. S. Naphade, M. C. Yerigiri and R. Karpoormath, Anti-Cancer Agents Med. Chem., 2015, 15, 1012-1025.
6. R. Karpoormath, M. B. Palkar, H. M. Patel, R. A. Rane, M. S. Shaikh, A. Kajee and K. P. Mlisana, Eur. J. Med. Chem., 2015, 95, 514-525.
7. M. S. Shaikh, R. Karpoormath, N. Thapliyal, R. A. Rane, M. B. Palkar, A. M. Faya, H. M. Patel, W. S. Alwan, K. Jain and G. A. Hampannavar, Anti-Cancer Agents Med. Chem., 2015, 15, 1049-1065.
8. R. Rane and R. Karpoormath, Anticancer Agents Med Chem, 2015, 15, 932.
9. A. A. Mahajan, R. A. Rane, A. A. Amritkar, S. S. Naphade, P. B. Miniyar, P. K. Bangalore and R. Karpoormath, Anti-Cancer Agents Med. Chem., 2015, 15, 555-564.
10. N. S. E. Osman, N. Thapliyal, W. S. Alwan, R. Karpoormath and T. Moyo, J. Mater. Sci.: Mater. Electron., 2015, 26, 5097-5105.
11. M. B. Palkar, S. S. Jalalpure, R. A. Rane, H. M. Patel, M. S. Shaikh, G. A. Hampannavar, W. S. Alwan, G. S. Bolakatti and R. Karpoormath, Anti-Cancer Agents Med. Chem., 2015, 15, 970-979.
12. M. B. Palkar, D. M. Praveen, P. M. Ronad, A. H. M. Viswanathswamy, R. A. Rane, H. M. Patel, M. S. Shaikh, G. A. Hampannavar, K. S. Jain and R. Karpoormath, Med. Chem. Res., 2015, 24, 1988-2004.
13. R. A. Rane, R. Karpoormath, S. S. Naphade, P. Bangalore, M. Shaikh and G. Hampannavar, Bioorg. Chem., 2015, 61, 66-73.
14. H. Patel, K. Dhangar, Y. Sonawane, S. Surana, R. Karpoormath, N. Thapliyal, M. Shaikh, M. Noolvi and R. Jagtap, Arabian J. Chem., 2015, Ahead of Print.
15. H. Patel, Y. Sonawane, R. Jagtap, K. Dhangar, N. Thapliyal, S. Surana, M. Noolvi, M. S. Shaikh, R. A. Rane and R. Karpoormath, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 2015, 25, 1938-1946.
16. H. M. Patel, P. Bari, R. Karpoormath, M. Noolvi, N. Thapliyal, S. Surana and P. Jain, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 56724-56771.
17. H. M. Patel, R. Rane, N. Thapliyal, M. Palkar, M. Shaikh and R. Karpoormath, Anti-Cancer Agents Med. Chem., 2015, 15, 988-1011.
18. H. M. Patel, B. Sing, V. Bhardwaj, M. Palkar, M. S. Shaikh, R. Rane, W. S. Alwan, A. K. Gadad, M. N. Noolvi and R. Karpoormath, Eur. J. Med. Chem., 2015, 93, 599-613.
19. R. A. Rane, S. S. Naphade, P. K. Bangalore, M. B. Palkar, M. S. Shaikh and R. Karpoormath, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 2014, 24, 3079-3083.
20. R. Rane, N. Sahu, C. Shah and R. Karpoormath, Curr. Top. Med. Chem. (Sharjah, United Arab Emirates), 2014, 14, 253-273.
21. M. B. Palkar, A. S. Singhai, P. M. Ronad, A. H. M. Vishwanathswamy, T. S. Boreddy, V. P. Veerapur, M. S. Shaikh, R. A. Rane and R. Karpoormath, Bioorg. Med. Chem., 2014, 22, 2855-2866.
22. M. S. Shaikh, M. B. Palkar, H. M. Patel, R. A. Rane, W. S. Alwan, M. M. Shaikh, I. M. Shaikh, G. A. Hampannavar and R. Karpoormath, RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 62308-62320.
23. R. A. Rane, M. Nandave, S. Nayak, A. Naik, D. Shah, W. S. Alwan, N. U. Sahu, S. S. Naphade, M. B. Palkar, S. Karunanidhi, N. Thapliyal and R. Karpoormath, Arabian J. Chem., 2014, Ahead of Print.
24. R. Karpoormath, Y. Sayed, T. Govender, H. G. Kruger, M. E. S. Soliman and G. E. M. Maguire, Med. Chem. Res., 2013, 22, 3918-3933.
25. R. Karpoormath, F. Albericio, T. Govender, G. E. M. Maguire and H. G. Kruger, Struct. Chem., 2013, 24, 1461-1471.
26. R. Karpoormath, Y. Sayed, P. Govender, T. Govender, H. G. Kruger, M. E. S. Soliman and G. E. M. Maguire, Bioorg. Chem., 2012, 40, 19-29.

