Chirality ProgramEnantioselective AnalysisDirhodium CatalysisLipase CatalysisPolymer MonolithSilica MonolithMiniaturized systemsDr Ashraf GhanemPublicationsCollaborationsFundOpen positionsNewsGroup photosCommunity engagement

The importance of chirality (an object and its mirror image) has constantly increased in the last decades and it is nowadays a central issue in organic and pharmaceutical industry especially in the development of new drugs. In pharmaceutical industry, often only one  enantiomer of a racemic chiral drug is the effective agent and has a therapeutically useful action, while the second  enantiomer does not or may be less effective, totally ineffective, or in the worst case even toxic. Legislation now requires both enantiomers of a racemic drug to be pharmacologically investigated.

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Chirality: An object and its mirror image

Our group has interest in the development of new chemical production routes and products that consume less of the resources of nature and minimize risks on human health and our environment either during manufacturing or during or after functional use of the chemicals. Our routes include non-conventional flash chemistry process where the miniaturization of the catalytic reactions and chiral analysis are performed in integrated systems of micro-reactors for chiral drug development and combinatorial approaches. Our approaches to access enantiomerically pure compounds include enzyme and metal catalysis. This is followed by chiral analysis to assess the enantiomeric purity of the product using GC, HPLC and CE equipped with new chiral stationary phases consisting of polymer and silica monolith.

Want to get in touch? You can send me e-mail at:

ashraf.ghanem@canberra.edu.au