Indian Chemist Research Articles

Name Reactions and Catalysts Developed by Indian Chemists

Name Reactions and Catalysts Developed by Indian Chemists

Pakistan’s Opioid Squeeze: Impacts of Taliban Edicts, Indian Synthetics and Chinese Regulations

This study examines how the Taliban’s opium poppy eradication edict and the westward shift in illicit fentanyl production from China to India potentiates an opioid squeeze on Pakistan from its east-west flanks, influencing Pakistan’s opioid production, distribution and use. As opioid output sputters in Afghanistan, while Indian chemists increasingly normalise illicit fentanyl production in South Asia, opportunistic Pakistani chemists will be incentivised to supply synthetic opioids to high-demand international markets, just as Pakistani farmers supply opium and heroin to international clients. This convergence has ramifications for Pakistani law, drug enforcement and public health, as domestic production increases domestic access to synthetic opioids. The article conducts an empirical examination of current trends in South Asian opioid production, distribution and use, along with an exegesis of the legal and regulatory systems in Pakistan, Afghanistan and China. This study also details how the Pakistani government should respond to this challenge legislatively, foremost through blanket ban of fentanyl and its precursors. Pakistan can reduce domestic use through evidence-based treatment programmes, including discrete and confidential treatment administered by females to female users, opioid substitution therapy, safe needle exchange programmes, culturally sensitive drug awareness campaigns, and increased data collection to detect geographic hotspot locations of opioid use and overdoses.

The Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI)

Chemistry is a broad discipline that overlaps extensively with Biology, Medicine, Materials science, Physics, and many other areas. There has often been a view expressed and shared among Indian chemists that the discipline has not been properly represented, and its vitality and vigor were not adequately recognized in India.

The Indian Chemical Society:A Century of Performance and Promise in the Service of the Nation

The Indian Chemical Society (ICS), a premier Scientific Society of India, was founded in 1924 as a National Forum for the community of chemists and members of allied disciplines. It will enter the centennial year of its foundation on May 9, 2023. The driving force behind its establishment was the nationalistic spirit prevailing in India under the British rule. J. N. Mukherjee, J.C. Ghosh, and S.S. Bhatnagar while carrying out their research work in the University College, London, in 1919 for their D.Sc. Degree decided that after returning to India, they would endeavor to establish a Chemical Society like the Chemical Society of London, now the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). They dreamed of transforming it into a reality with the active cooperation of many of the country’s leading personalities. The Indian Chemical Society was founded on May 9, 1924, as a registered Society, with Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray, the doyen of Indian Chemists, as the founding President.Many of the distinguished personalities in Chemical Sciences at that time in India took an active interest in nurturing the newborn Society.

Some Asian Women Pioneers of Chemistry and Pharmacy

At present, several countries on the Asian continent are still very closed off to the idea of allowing not only the work of women, but also even the fact that they can study university degrees and, after finishing them, go on to practice their professions. In addition, if we go back to the beginning of the 20th century, this situation was even more serious. However, this was not an impediment for some women from these countries to achieve their goals of pursuing higher education and then serving society with their work. This article is dedicated to showing the biographies of three of them, the Indian chemist Asima Chatterjee and Philippine pharmacists Matilde S. Arquiza and Filomena Francisco. The most relevant features of their personal and professional lives are presented and previous biographies about them are completed. The main objective of this work is to show these figures to society and hold them up as references to other people, and the methodology followed has been the search for data about their lives and work that would allow us to complete the previous existing biographies about them. A brief biography on Janaki Ammal, the first Indian woman to obtain a doctorate, is also included.

К истокам науковедения в Индии: Профуллочондро Рай о проблемах развития науки в модернизирующемся обществе. Профуллочондро Рай. Бенгальский мозг и его неправильное примене­ние. Пер. и комм. Т.Г. Скороходовой

Modern Indian intellectual history has rich sources for research of non-Western studies of science. Genesis of Indian studies of science belongs to the colonial epoch, when the scientists attempted to study a history of indigenous scientific knowledge as well as to think the circumstances of decline and further Modern development of sciences in India. The thoughtful example of work in studies of science area is an essay ‘The Bengali Brain and Its Misuse’ (1910) by Indian chemist Prafullachandra Ray (1861–1944). The article’s aim is to present the so­cial and philosophical meanings of the essay in broad context of intellectual and cultural development of the Bengal Renaissance. Externally presenting an at­tempt to comprehend social causes of impossibility of ‘scientific revolution’ in India in comparison with Europe and ones of retardation of Bengal sociocul­tural community in the most important spheres of activity, P. Ray forms practi­cally the first approach to Indian philosophy of science. Science is interpreted as the derivative from human ‘spirit of inquiry’, and the foundation for cognitive effort is rationalism, which encourages to raise bold questions and to doubt any authority. From sociology of science point of view, a decline of science knowl­edge and misuse of intellectual efforts P. Ray treats as consequence of Brahmins’ monopoly of the knowledge, of the caste system and misunderstanding of high education value in modernizing society’s circumstances.

The FRS nomination of Sir Prafulla C. Ray and the correspondence of N. R. Dhar

Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944) was the first Indian chemist to achieve high international reputation. Originally trained at the University of Edinburgh, he worked for many years at Presidency College in Calcutta and then at Calcutta University. He built up a remarkable school of chemical research by attracting many outstanding students to work with him and published about 150 papers-many of them in leading British and German journals. Ray was highly respected by his British peers and was the first Indian of that era to be nominated for FRS, in 1913. At the time when his nomination was being considered by the Royal Society, Ray's favourite student, Nil Ratan Dhar (1892-1986), who was to become the second Indian chemist to achieve high international reputation, worked in London and Paris for a few years. Even when Dhar was merely a 24-year-old student, he lobbied with several leading British chemists for the election of Ray and kept Ray informed in a series of fascinating letters-giving us a rare glimpse of what election to the Royal Society meant for Indian scientists of that era. During this time, Ray received a knighthood for his contributions to chemistry, and Nature published a front-page article on Ray's 'life-work'. Many British chemists felt strongly that Ray should be elected FRS and were willing to discuss Ray's case with the young Dhar quite openly. But, rather mysteriously, Ray never got elected.

India Lacks Scientific Leadership

P. Bagla's interview of C. N. R. Rao (“Top Indian chemist helps make the case for science windfall,” Newsmakers interview, 13 January, p. [157][1]) lacks some important context. In my experience, the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister (SAC-PM) of India, which Rao chairs, has shown neither social responsibility nor genuine commitment to science. For example, in 2001, then-Education Minister Murali Manohar Joshi proposed that astrology be included along with subjects such as chemistry and economics among the first degree courses in India's universities. A colleague and I filed a petition with the Supreme Court of India against the proposal. Our petition was admitted and heard but eventually dismissed. The support of our science academies and credible scientists such as Rao could have helped our case by countering the judges' unscientific beliefs about astrology. Rao says, “We have been short of high-level talent for some time.” He lays the blame for this on our bureaucracy. I believe that the true blame lies with India's scientific leaders. The scientific leadership in the country, with notable exceptions, rewards sycophancy and punishes independence, integrity, courage, effective communication, scientific competence, and credibility. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.335.6065.157

The tale of Rauwolfia Serpentina and the contributions of Asian Psychiatry

The historical significance of this herbal medicine for the Asian context cannot be overemphasized. A colorful, well researched history of this medicine was provided by Jain and Murthy (2009), a paper well worth a read. Rauwolfia has been used for centuries in Ayurveda for insanity, insomnia and snakebite. The earliest report of this herb in Ayurveda appears to be in Sushruta Samhita (5th century BC–2nd century AD). Rauwolfia had been sold as ‘‘paglon ki dawa’’ (medicine for insanity) in folk medicine for centuries. This herb had been used as an aid to meditation, reportedly even by Mahatma Gandhi. The first report in the medical literature of the use of rauwolfia was published in 1931 in an Indian Medical Journal by Gananath Sen and Karthick Chander Bose. They reported that this drug reduced blood pressure, and also improved ‘‘violent maniac symptoms’’. That same year, 1931, two Indian chemists, Siddiqui, and Siddiqui, first extracted several alkaloids including ajmaline and serpentine from Rauwolfia in 1931. In an extensive study published in the prestigious British Heart Journal (1949),

Jeewanu, or the ‘particles of life’

Starting in the 1960s, the Indian chemist Krishna Bahadur, from the University of Allahabad, published on organic and inorganic particles that he had synthesized and baptized 'Jeewanu', or 'particle of life'. Bahadur conceived of the Jeewanu as a simple form of the living. These studies are presented in a historical perspective and positioned within mid-20th century research on the origin of life, notably the so-called 'coacervate theory' of the Soviet biochemist Aleksandr I Oparin. The concepts of life proposed by Bahadur, Oparin and others are discussed from a historical standpoint.

INDIAN SCIENCE RISING

EARLIER THIS MONTH, PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH traveled to India with an ambitious agenda, including expanding U.S.-Indian scientific cooperation. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the establishment of a new $30 million science and technology commission that will fund joint research in promising areas such as biotechnology. This bilateral push to promote ties between U.S. and Indian scientists comes at a time when India is vying to vault itself onto the world stage. Fueled by a highly trained workforce of synthetic chemists, India is seriously challenging the U.S. and Europe for supremacy in producing active pharmaceutical ingredients, advanced intermediates, and other fine chemicals. It now hopes to do the same in innovation-intensive sectors, including drug discovery, biotechnology, and materials science. The repatriation of Indian chemists from abroad is accelerating the new emphasis on innovation, as are increased links between academic and industrial scientists in the country. But...

Indian Chemist Receives a Visa and an Apology

SCIENCE AND DIPLOMACYNEW DELHI-- The United States last week home delivered a visa to Goverdhan Mehta, former director of the Indian Institute of Science, after holding up his application and questioning him about the potential use of his research in chemical weapons. ([Read more][1].) [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/311/5765/1229a

A.V. RAMA RAO'S 70TH BIRTHDAY BASH

WHEN HE MARRIED IN I962, Indian chemist and entrepreneur A. V. Rama Rao warned his Hymavathi, that chemistry would always be his passion. I am his second wife; chemistry is his first wife, she observes with a laugh. Rama Rao could not think of a better way to spend his 70th birthday than to organize a three-day chemistry symposium with world-class scientists as speakers and to invite his friends, relatives, former colleagues, and even business competitors. This year is also the 10th year of operation of Avra Laboratories, the company that Rama Rao launched in August 1995 when he reached mandatory retirement age at Hyderabad's Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), a major government lab that he had headed since 1985. Avra, which Rama Rao initially set up in a small shed with a corrugated roof, now employs 160 people and has become one of India's leading contract research ...

Availability and Acceptability of Medical Abortion in Nepal: Health Care Providers' Perspectives

Abortion was legalised in Nepal in September 2002 and manual vacuum aspiration is the main procedure used for safe abortion. Although medical abortion has not yet officially been introduced in Nepal, with the highly porous Indo-Nepal border and the easy availability of mifepristone and misoprostrol in Indian chemists' shops, it is possible the drugs are entering from Indian markets illegally. This study aimed to gauge current awareness of the availability of medical abortion drugs in Nepal and explore what health professionals and paramedics felt about the use of medical abortion to expand access to safe abortion in the country. Data were drawn from interviews with private obstetrician–gynaecologists, general physicians, paramedics, ayurvedic and homeopathic practitioners and chemists in 24 urban municipalities and peri-urban areas in Nepal. Various types of allopathic and indigenous forms of medicine for menstrual regulation in the Nepalese market were widely known whereas knowledge of the availability of mifepristone and misoprostrol was low. Almost all respondents had a positive view of the potential for providing mifepristone and misoprostol in Nepal and most thought that obstetrician–gynaecologists, general physicians and other certified abortion care providers should be able to provide the drugs. Many respondents were interested in doing so themselves. Registration of mifepristone and misoprostrol is the key to introducing medical abortion in Nepal and should happen as soon as possible.

The Young P.C. Ray and the Inauguration of the Social History of Science in India (1885-1907)

This paper discusses two projects in the early life of the Indian chemist, P. C. Ray, rightfully considered the founder of the 'school of chemistry' in modern India. Ray scholarship has often considered these years of his life as important from the point of view of an appreciation of the history of alchemy in India, but not in terms of his scientific contributions. It is only after 1907 that the Ray legend became the subject of serious scientific consideration. This paper discusses Ray's evolution till 1907, by examining the relationship between his project on the history of chemistry in India and his scientific researches on mercury. Further, it goes on to suggest that this effort was part of the larger programme of the cultural legitimation of modern science, and the two projects otherwise considered distinct, mutually informed each other during these years. While identifying the context of Ray's project, this exercise in social epistemology locates the factors that have clouded the recognition of the thematic unity of Ray's endeavour.

NEW FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY

The election of Sir Shanti Swarupa Bhatnagar to the fellowship of the Royal Society is a well-deserved recognition of his distinguished contributions to the advancement of science. The event is indeed a signal one, for he is the first Indian chemist to receive this high honour.