Despite the global disruption posed by COVID-19, the importance of chemical sciences – to bring about more efficient chemical processes and new compounds and materials – has not subsided, especially when the environment is still a big part of the picture. Our research interests involve the development of new chemical strategies to generate molecules and materials of interest through two main research programmes: (i) synthetic methodology to efficiently access bioactive peptidic compounds for application in drug discovery; and (ii) chemical processes to create alternative, biodegradable composite materials from agricultural waste, such as cassava bagasse, and from recycling important household waste of today, namely disposable masks and gloves.

1.Kumarn S, Churinthorn N, Nimpaiboon A, Sriring M, Ho C-C, Takahara A, et al. Investigating the Mechanistic and Structural Role of Lipid Hydrolysis in the Stabilization of Ammonia-Preserved Hevea Rubber Latex. Langmuir. 2018;34(43):12730-8.

2.Kumarn S, Chimnoi N, Ruchirawat S. Synthesis of integerrimide A by an on-resin tandem Fmoc-deprotection–macrocyclisation approach. Org Biomol Chem. 2013;11(44):7760-7.

3.Kumarn S, Oelke AJ, Shaw DM, Longbottom DA, Ley SV. A sequential enantioselective, organocatalytic route to chiral 1,2-oxazines and chiral pyridazines. Org Biomol Chem. 2007;5(16):2678-89.

4.Kumarn S, Shaw DM, Ley SV. A highly selective, organocatalytic route to chiral 1,2-oxazines from ketones. Chem Commun. 2006(30):3211-3.

5.Kumarn S, Shaw DM, Longbottom DA, Ley SV. A Highly Selective, Organocatalytic Route to Chiral Dihydro-1,2-oxazines. Org Lett. 2005;7(19):4189-91.