Research Projects

Nitrogen and oxygen-containing heterocyclic scaffolds have gained significant interest in synthetic and medicinal chemistry due to their potential as pharmaceutical agents. Indole-fused polycyclic compounds, including seven-membered heterocycles like hexahydroazepino[4,5-b]indole, tetrahydro-2H-oxepino[4,5-b]indole, tetrahydro-1H-[1,4]diazepino[1,7-a]indole, and tetrahydro-[1,4]oxazepino[4,5-a]indole, are an important class of indole-based heterocycles with intriguing pharmacological activities. These scaffolds are found in numerous bioactive natural products, such as Subincanadine, Ibogamine, and Arboflorine. Various synthetic methods have been developed for the synthesis of these structures due to their structural complexity and biological relevance. Three-membered heterocycles like aziridines and epoxides also serve as building blocks for numerous aza- and oxa-heterocyclic scaffolds. The group led by Prof. M. K. Ghorai has been involved in the synthesis of various heterocyclic compounds, such as oxadiazinane, dioxazinanes, hexahydropyrroloindole, tetrahydro-beta-carbolines, indolines, tetrahydropyrroloindoles, pyrazinoindoles, oxazinoindoles tetrahydrocarbazoles, and tetrahydrocycloheptadiindoles, using ring-opening transformations of aziridines and epoxides. A mild and highly efficient synthetic strategy for the synthesis of indole-fused polycyclics is highly desirable due to their structural complexity and pharmacological importance. The research program aims to develop new synthetic strategies to access these privileged scaffolds via ring-opening cyclization of activated aziridines and epoxides with indole-based nucleophiles in an expeditious domino fashion.