Wednesday, November 2, 2011

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Seminar of Visiting Professor Dr. Meledath Govindan















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Use of NMR inStructure Elucidation of Natural Products: A Novel Polyacetylene from Centellaasiatica
Structure elucidationis an important part of natural products chemistry. Very often chemists isolate a pure compoundfrom a natural source – e.g., crude extract from plants, marine organisms orbacterial broth, and it would be necessary to know the structure of thecompound. For the past 3-4 decades NMR(nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy has become the primary tool toachieve this. In this presentation, Professor Govindan will illustrate theprocess through the example of determining the structure of a unique, highlyoxygenated polyacetylene isolated from the Malaysian medicinal herb, Centella asiatica. He will illustrate the use of various NMRspectra, such as proton and carbon NMR, COSY, TOCSY, HMQC and HMBC inestablishing the carbon connectivities and functional group placements. The role of IR (infrared) spectroscopy and MS(mass spectrometry) will also be illustrated.


BriefBiographical Sketch – Dr. Meledath Govindan
Meledath Govindan iscurrently a Professor of Chemistry at FitchburgState Universityin Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USwhere his primary responsibility has been for teaching Organic Chemistry at theundergraduate level. His researchinterest is in natural products chemistry and he has been collaborating withthe Biomaterial Sciences and Engineering Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MAwhere he holds the position of Visiting Professor. Prior to his current position at FSU he wasProfessor of Chemistry and Physical Sciences Coordinator at the University ofthe Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, USA, where he conducted extensive research onmarine natural products with funding from the National Institutes of Health,USA.
Dr. Govindan received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Georgia,Athens, USAand the M.S. in organic chemistry from the University of Kentucky. His undergraduate degree is from the University of Calicut,Kerala, India. Dr. Govindan has published over 15 papers inpeer-reviewed journals and made over 25 scientific presentations. He has been active in developing andimplementing new student-centered teaching methodologies and has made extensiveuse of techniques, such as POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) andCPR (Calibrated Peer Review). He iscurrently involved in developing ways to measure learning outcomes in chemistrycourses and the chemistry program at FSU. Dr. Govindan also serves as the pre-medical advisor for his universityand is involved in guiding students in getting admission to medical, dental,veterinary, pharmacy, optometry and other post-graduate health professionalprograms. He served six years on theNashoba Regional School Committee as a member elected from his hometown of Lancaster, MAand also served on the Board of Directors of Nashoba Robotics, a non-profitorganization that supports the robotics program in the Nashoba schools.