Guanajuato, Gto., August 19, 2019.- In Mexico, the Laboratory of Organic Synthesis of the University of Guanajuato (UG) where graduate students in chemistry develop their research projects under the direction of Dr. Maria del Rocío Gámez Montaño has become a benchmark in the area of green chemistry, in which the main line of research is the green synthesis of polyheterocycles through strategies based on multicomponent reactions (RMCs) and biological, optical and computational activity studies.
The molecules are synthesized under environmentally friendly reaction conditions and contain in their structure privileged nuclei of interest in different areas such as: pharmaceutical, optics, agrochemistry, etc. For her results in this line of research in 2015, Dr. Gámez Montaño was a guest speaker at the 25th International Heterocyclic Chemistry Congress.
Sustainable scientific development is a necessity of today's society, which has great benefits for the care of the planet, the design and development of environmentally friendly strategies and/or methodologies, that allow the synthesis of molecules has aroused a growing interest in both academia and industry globally.
Dr. Gámez Montaño explains that, unlike other strategies used in green chemistry, RMC-based strategies have several advantages: they allow access to target molecules at a reaction stage; as well as reducing the number of by-products, reagents, solvents and costs; overall yields are good to excellent, and avoid the use of drastic reaction conditions.
So MRIrs are highly synthetically and ecologically efficient synthesis tools because, unlike other reactions used in conventional multi-step synthesis, it allows access to molecules of interest in one or two stage reaction in environmentally friendly conditions, and allow to form several bonds, "in this context we recently published the synthesis of molecules, in which three heterocyclic rings form in a reaction stage", explains the researcher.
Dr. Gámez Montaño is responsible for 12 research projects that include RMC-based strategies developed in the organic synthesis laboratory of which the basic science continuation project "Synthesis of Heterocycles of interest in medicinal chemistry via an RMC/Post-condensation process" was selected in November 2018 by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) as a success story in all areas of chemistry. Another relevant fact was the publication in the high-impact journal Green Chemistry in 2017 of the results of one of his projects developed at the UG by Dr. Shirikant Pharande, who obtained the degree on August 24 with the Cum Laude recognition.
The results of these projects have allowed the training of 10 doctors in chemistry graduated during the period 2008-2018, (of which 4 have obtained the award Laureate, 2 cum laude and 1 summa cum laude), 4 teachers in Chemical Sciences, and 15 graduates in Mica and QFB, as well as the participation of 2 postdoctoral. In addition, they have been presented at 102 national and 50 international congresses.
Dr. María del Rocío Gámez's graduate students are the first authors of most of her publications as an independent researcher. In this regard, the researcher emphasizes that in Mexico it is rare for PhD students to graduate with the level of productivity of Dr. Angel Rentería, who graduated with 12 indexed publications and obtained summa cum laude recognition.
Since 2007, Dr. María del Rocío Gámez began a network of international collaboration with consolidated researchers in the multi-component area of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées de Paris (France) and with the Universitat de Barcelona (Spain), which has allowed its students to conduct research stays, strengthen their academic training and be first authors in high-impact journals such as Angewandte Chimie. In order to complement and/or enrich the results of his projects he collaborates with researchers from his Academic Corps, the Department of Biology of DCNE as well as the CIO. She is currently a researcher responsible for his sabbatical at Dr. David Vorsburg at Harvey Mudd College, California, an interest in green chemistry, the central objective of the collaboration that will complement the international network. with the neighboring US country.
On par with human resources training in the area of green chemistry via multi-component reactions, Dr. Ma. of the Rocío Gámez has developed an important work in the field of scientific dissemination, through the provision of workshops, conferences, advice to undergraduate students in regional and national competitions of expo-sciences, young people in research, summers of scientific research, science fairs that have benefited around 1,000 children and/or young people of the state with the aim of awakening and/or fostering their interest in science.
After completing her doctorate at UNAM (Institute of Chemistry), in 2002 Dr. Gámez Montaño completed a postdoctoral stay at the Institut de Chemie des Substances Naturelles (France) under the direction of Dr. Jieping Zhu, world leader in the area of multi-component; Later he joined the Department of Chemistry of the University of Guanajuato and is part of the Academic Corps of Theoretical chemistry and computational and physiochemistry of Polymers, is a member of the National System of Researchers, level 2.
Photo gallery
