Very recently, the research group of Professor In Su KIM, School of Pharmacy at Sungkyunkwan University has published a nice work on the October issue of 'Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis' (IF 6.453, JCR ranking 1.4%, in applied chemistry) and highlighted as a cover picture.

Professor In Su KIM’s group has developed a Rh(III)-catalyzed novel synthetic method for 7-azaindole compounds, which known as a key unit structure of drug molecules. In particular, by introducing a selective and efficient amination reaction of carbon-hydrogen bond, they have developed a new effective substance which shows stronger anticancer effect than existing anticancer drugs.

Professor In Su KIM is pursuing research to maximize the efficiency of new drug development under the theme of 'Late-Stage Drug Optimization laboratory'. In particular, it has been studying to produce new drug candidates that have anti-cancer, anti-diabetic and antimicrobial effects. The results of the study showed that the unit structure containing an amine group was introduced into an azaindole compounds, found in a variety of pharmaceutical molecules. Synthetic compounds have been shown to have superior anticancer activity than doxorubicin as a well-known anticancer drug.

Professor In Su KIM said, "As a new technology that is different from conventional methods, it is a new way to drastically improve the synthesis process of pharmaceuticals, especially anticancer drugs" and “as part of the development of new anticancer drugs, we plan to develop new anticancer drug molecules through our synthetic methodology. "

This research was carried out with the support of the Basic Research Support Program (BRL) initiated by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (Minister, Young Min YOU) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (President, Moo Je CHO).