Ph.D. Organic Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin: 1982
M.S. Chemistry, I. I.T. Kanpur, India: 1976
B.S. Chemistry, Calcutta University, India: 1974

Office: N205
Phone: (361) 593-2664
Mailing Address: 920 W. Santa Gertrudis
Kingsville, TX 78363
E-mail address: kfab002@tamuk.edu

Professional Experience

2008-Present   Associate Professor, Texas A&M Kingsville
2007-2008       Senior Vice President. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, India.
2006-2007       Vice President, Head of Global Research & Development; Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, India.
2004-2006       Tenured, Associate Professor
1999-2004       Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University, Kingsville.
1997-1999       Group Leader, Bristol Myers Squibb, Central Process Research
1995-1997       Lead Chemist; Innovator Group, Hoechst.
1994-1995       Staff Chemist, Hoechst-Celanese.
1990-1994       Senior Research Chemist, Hoechst-Celanese.
1988-1990       Research Fellow, Process Research and Development, Merck & Co., Inc.
1983-1988       Senior Research Chemist, Process Research and Development, Merck & Co., Inc.

Curriculum Vitae

Student Presentations

Research Group News Flash

10-02-2004     Pharm Tech - In the Field - Production Process Increases Productivity
07-06-2004     Bridges program offers students road to success
06-15-2004     Professor to speak at annual symposium ............................................................................................................ . .09-05-2003. . Texas A&M University-Kingsville paves way to Ph.D.s (Corpus Christi Caller Times)
09-03-2003     Chemistry Bridges to Doctoral Grant
10-14-2002     Professor Simplifies Tylenol Production (Corpus Christi Caller Times)
08-01-2002     A&M-Kingsville has partnership with drug industry (Corpus Christi Caller Times)
07-23-2001     Education Concentrates (Chemical & Engineering News)
06-21-2001     Graduate Students Intern at Bristol-Meyers Squibb (TAMUK Press Release)
11-01-1999     Renowned chemist sharing his vision (Corpus Christi Caller Times)

Dr. Bhattacharya's Organic and Environmental Research

Meet Dr. Bhattacharya's Research Group

Current Students Former Students

Course Syllabi:

Advanced Organic Synthesis Physical Organic Chemistry Asymmetric Synthesis Graduate Seminar Green Chemistry CHEM 3323 CHEM 3325

Consultant: 

A. Advisory Board for the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI)

B. Member of the National Academies’ Chemical Sciences Roundtable (CSR). This is a committee of advisors that reports its recommendation of the directions of US Science to the US Congress and the President.

C. Member: Panel of Drug Evaluators for Current Drugs (CD). Responsible for the evaluation of drugs, which are being launched worldwide under FDA guidelines.

C. Scientific Process Advisor:

1. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. Hyderabad, India.
2. PHARM-ECO A Johnson Matthey Company
3. Texas Bio Technology.
4. Bristol Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Co.
5. Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceutical.
6. Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development.
7. Ambion.
8. National Advisory Committee, Osmania University, India.

D. Consultant:

1. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s List of Designated Expert in Environmental Chemistry .
2. Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation

E. Advisory Board Member: Chembiotek, India.

F. Advisor: NIH: SSS-L study section, SBIR/STTR applications in Drug Discovery, Development and Delivery.

G. Director, NIH Texas Bridges to Doctorate Program.

Doctoral Work:
University of Texas at Austin. Asymmetric induction in carbon-carbon bond forming reactions. Kinetic resolutions. Chiral Diels Alder reaction. Asymmetric synthesis of natural product.

Current Research:
Green chemistry.
Designing environmentally benign/waste-free chemistry with special emphasis towards current industrial synthesis and processes utilizing homogeneous and heterogeneous catalyst systems.
Asymmetric synthesis.
Chiral Phase Transfer Catalysis.

Recent Patents:
1. “Process for azole antifungal intermediates” U.S. 6,326,509, Dec.4, 2001.
2. "Method of Producing Organic Compounds in the Presence of Oxyethylene Ether Catalyst and in a Solvent Minimized Environment" issued Nov. 29, 2005. US Patent No. 6,969,775.
3. “Preparation of 4-(2-Bromoethoxy)phenol”. Patent applied in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson (2003 pending).
4. “Method for preparing pyrrolotriazine compounds via amination of pyrroles with in situ generated chloramines” U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. (2006), 9pp. CODEN: USXXCO US 2006229449 A1 20061012 Patent written in English. Application: US 2006-396888 20060403. Priority: US 2005-668765 20050406. CAN 145:419185 AN 2006:1070156
5. “Process for preparation of 2-amino-5-bromo-4-methyl-3-nitropyridine”. U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. (2007), 6pp. CODEN: USXXCO US 2007032657 A1 20070208 Patent written in English. Application: US 2006-492730 20060725. Priority: US 2005-705261 20050803. CAN 146:229188 AN 2007:150772
6. "One Pot Reductive Acetaminidation of Aryl Nitro Compounds", issued Feb. 7, 2007. US Patent No. 7,173,152,
7. “Purification process using co-crystal approaches”-US provisional application 60/827,259 on 28 Sep 2006
8. “Preparation of Fosphenytoin sodium” - US 2007/0249563A1

Recent Publications:
1.“Environmentally Friendly Solvent-Free Processes: Application of a Novel Surfactant Induced Dual Catalysis in Henry Reaction” Organic  Process Research Development” 7, 3, 254-258, 2003.
2.“Temperature Selective Diastereo-Recognition (TSD): Enantiomeric Ibuprofen via Environmentally Benign Selective Crystallization”. Organic Process Research Development” 7, 5, 717, 2003.
3. “Benzoin Condensation: Monitoring a Chemical Reaction by High Pressure Liquid Chromatography”. Journal of Chemical Education, 81, 7 1020-2, 2004.
4. “An Efficient Conversion of Nitriles to Amides: Application in the Synthesis of N,N-Diethyl-p-toluamide (DEET™). Tetrahedron Letters 47, 505, 2006.
5.“Surfactant-Mediated Solvent-Free Dealkylative Cleavage of Ethers and Esters and Trans-Alkylations under Neutral Conditions” Tetrahedron Letters 47, 565, 2006.
6.“One-Step Reductive Amidation of Nitro-Arenes: Application in the Synthesis of Aceaminophen™)” Tetrahedron Letters 47, 1861, 2006.
7.“Eco-friendly reductive acetamidation of arylnitro compounds by thioacetate anion through in situ catalytic re-generation: application in the synthesis of acetaminophenTM”
Tetrahedron Letters 47, 3221, 2006.
8.“Remarkable Solvent Effect in Barton-Zard Pyrrole Synthesis: Application in an Efficient One-Step Synthesis of Pyrrole Derivatives”. Tetrahedron Letters, 47, 31, 5421, 2006.
9.“Pseudo-Enzymatic Catalyst-Substrate Interactions in Ion-Pair Mediated Chiral Phase Transfer Catalysis”. Tetrahedron Letters 47, 31, 5581, 2006.
10.“An Efficient Electrophilic N-Amination Utilizing in situ Generated Chloramine Under Phase Transfer Conditions”. Tetrahedron Letters 47, 30, 5341, 2006.
11.“Preparing the Next Generation of Research Scientists” American Chemical Society: Petroleum Research Fund Publication, 2006.
12.“Substrate Modification Approach to Achieve Efficient Resolution: Didesmethylcitalopram-A Key Intermediate for Escitalopram" Organic Process Research Development 11(2), 289-292, 2007.
13.“An Efficient and Impurity-Free Process for Telmisartan: An Antihypertensive Drug”. Organic Process Research & Development, 11(1), 81-85, 2007.
14.“Efficient synthesis of (1R)-[3,5-bis (trifluoromethyl) phenyl] ethanol; a key intermediate for aprepitant, an NK-1 receptor antagonist”. Synthetic Communications. 37: 3439–3446, 2007.
15.“An Alternative Approach to Achieve Enantiopure (3S)-4-Benzyl-3- (4-fluorophenyl)morpholin-2-one: A Key Intermediate of Aprepitant, an NK1 Receptor Antagonist” Organic Process Research & Development. 11(3), 455-457, 2007.
16.“Effect of Solvent on Stereoselectivity in Pd-C (Type-39K) Catalyzed Hydrogena-tion of Methyl 3-oxo-4-aza-5-a-androstene-17-carboxylate- A Key Intermediate for Finasteride and Dutasteride”. Organic Process Research & Development, 11(5); 889-891, 2007.
17."An Alternate Route to 2-Amino-3-Nitro-5-Bromo Picoline: Regioselective Pyridine Synthesis via 2-Nitramino Picoline Intermediate". Organic Process Research & Development, 11(5); 885-888. 2007. [Top ten most downloaded paper in 2007]
18.“An Improved Synthesis of Rimonabant: Anti-obesity Drug” Organic Process Research & Development, 2007. [Top ten most downloaded paper in 2007]
19.“Synthesis of Quinoline Analogs: Search for Anti-malarial Agents” Monatshefte fur Chemie - Chemical Monthly, 2008 (in press).
20.“A Convergent Approach to Synthesis of Aprepitant: A Potent Human NK-1 Receptor Antagonist” Tetrahedron Letters. 48, 8001–8004, 2007.
21."Boric Acid: An Efficient and Environmentally Benign Catalyst for Transesterification of _-Keto Esters” Tetrahedron Letters. 2008 (in press).
22.“Boric Acid Cataylyzed Amidation in the synthesis of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients” Organic Process Research & Development, 11(6); 1065-1068, 2007.
23.“An Expeditious Synthesis of Ramipril: an Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) Inhibitor#” Synthetic Communications 2008 (in press).
24.“An Investigation on Key Parameters That Influence the Resolution of Omeprazole Sodium†” Organic Process Research & Development, 2007 (in press).
25.“An alternative total synthesis of (-)-galanthamine hydrobromide” Synthetic Communications 38: 2138–2149, 2008.
26.“Synthesis of Rimonabant Regioisomer” Monatshefte fur Chemie - Chemical Monthly, 2008 (in press).
27.“A Novel Synthesis of Fosphenytoin: Anti-convulsant Prodrug” Synthetic Communications 2008 (in press).
28.“A Non-infringing Synthesis of Simvastatin: HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor” Synthetic Communications 2008 (in press).
29.“An Alternative Synthesis of Tadalafil: PDE5 Inhibitor” Synthetic Communications 2008 (in press).
30.“Ab-initio structure determination of anhydrous sodium allendronate from laboratory X-ray diffraction data” Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 2008 (accepted).

Past Research:
Industrial experience includes Merck (7.5 yrs).
Hoechst (7.5 yrs).
Bristol Myers Squibb (2 yrs.).
Developed the synthesis of Propecia™ (hair growth drug) / Proscar™ for BPH (benign prostatic hypertrophy).
Chiral Robinson Annulation.
Synthesis of S-ibuprofen, D-p-hydroxyphenyl glycine, Cromolyn sodium, Alkyl indanones, Quinazolinones, Amphoteric copolymer, MRI imaging agents.

Hobbies:
 Watching Football (Especially DALLAS COWBOYS)