Assistant Professor of Chemistry Kelly Neiles, Visiting Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Amanda Schech, and Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Pamela Mertz from St. Mary’s College, as well Craig N. Streu, assistant professor of biochemistry, Albion College; and Randall Reif, assistant professor of chemistry, University of Mary Washington; had an article published in the Journal of Chemical Education in September 2016: “Drug Synthesis and Analysis on a Dime: A Capstone Medicinal Chemistry Experience for the Undergraduate Biochemistry Laboratory.”
The article focused on pharmaceutical development that draws on organic chemistry and biochemistry techniques and how biochemistry students synthesize azo-stilbenoid compounds and test the biological activity of those compounds as well as a known inhibitor on mushroom tyrosinase using UV/vis-based kinetic assays. In the article, three successful azo-stilbenoid inhibitors of tyrosinase, representative student generated data, technical aspects of the experiments, and an interpretation of student feedback on the project as a whole are presented.