Science of Synthesis Phenazines Update

Dr. Narendra Ambhaikar reviews recent synthetic routes to phenazine structures

Phenazines are an interesting class of nitrogen-containing heterocycle that are present in many natural products. The Science of Synthesis content has recently been supplemented with an account by Dr. Narendra Ambhaikar reviewing recent strategies for constructing phenazine cores. To access the chapter on Science of Synthesis, click here.

Dr. Ambhaikar grew up in Mumbai, India where he received his Master's in Chemical Technology from the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT). He later earned his PhD in Chemistry from Emory University (Atlanta, GA) with Prof. Dennis Liotta, and subsequently conducted postdoctoral work on the total syntheses of natural products at Scripps Research (La Jolla, CA) with Prof. Phil Baran. He has held a variety of scientific positions at pharmaceutical companies, including Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. in San Diego where he was a process chemist; and later on with many Indian Contract Research Organizations. He is currently Vice President at Neuland Laboratories Limited, in Hyderabad (India). His interests include scientific leadership and developing sustainable chemical processes.

On the important and relevance of phenazine-containing compounds, Dr. Ambhaikar comments: "Phenazines are an interesting and somewhat under-appreciated class of heterocyclic compounds. Given that this heterocycle is present in some pharmaceutically useful compounds such as clofazimine, as well as a variety of natural products known for their antimicrobial effects, it may offer exciting opportunities in drug discovery."

The acting Volume Editor for this contribution was Dr. Jie Jack Li, currently Vice President of Discovery Chemistry at Shanghai ChemPartner. It is an update to the 2004 Science of Synthesis review on phenazines, that was written by Prof. Uros Urleb and Prof. Stanislav Gobec (University of Ljubljana)