Chander Digwal

Lab Phone

646-888-2238

I received my Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Hyderabad, India. My doctoral research work majorly involved the exploration of Lewis-acid properties associated with vanadium-based catalysts for the synthesis of various medicinally important heterocycles and amide derivatives. I was the first to describe the utilization of C(CO)-C(CO) bond cleavage for C-N bond formation. As a part of my research, I have also described the design and synthesis of various organic molecules such as imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-thiazole/thiophene hybrids as NF-κB inhibitors, curcumin inspired indole analogues as tubulin polymerization inhibitors and curcumin inspired sulfonamide derivatives as carbonic anhydrase isoform I, II, IX and XII inhibitors.

I am currently working as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Chiosis group at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Here, we investigate the role of chaperones such HSP90 and HSP70 in various diseases including cancer and neurodegeneration. My prime focus is the preclinical development and translation of inhibitors of tumor specific variants of HSP70. In addition to the rational development of allosteric HSP70 inhibitors, we perform preclinical testing in xenograft mice models with the goal of optimizing the pharmacokinetic profile of our lead compounds in order to translate these into the clinic for cancer.

Publications

1. Digwal, C. S.; Yadav, U.; Ramya, P. V. S.; Swain, B.; Kamal, A. Vanadium-Catalyzed N-Benzoylation of 2-Aminopyridines Via Oxidative C(CO)−C(CO) Bond Cleavage of 1,2-Diketones,N→N′ Aroyl Migration and Hydrolysis of 2-(Diaroylamino)Pyridines. Asian J. Org. Chem. 2018, 7, 865−869.

2. Ramya, P.V.S.; Guntuku, L.; Angapelly, S.; Karri, S.; Digwal, C.S.; Babu, B.N.; Naidu, V.G.M.; Kamal, A. Curcumin inspired 2-chloro/phenoxy quinoline analogues: Synthesis and biological evaluation as potential anticancer agents. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2018, 28, 892-898.

3. Ramya, P.V.S.; Guntuku, L.; Angapelly, S.; Digwal, C.S.; Lakshmi, U.J.; Babu, B.N.; Naidu, V.G.M.; Kamal, A. Synthesis and biological evaluation of curcumin inspired imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine analogues as tubulin polymerization inhibitors. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2018, 143, 216-231.

4. Ramya, P.V.S.; Angapelly, S.; Angeli, A.; Digwal, C.S.; Arifuddin, M.; Babu, B.N.; Supuran, C.T.; Kamal, A. Discovery of curcumin inspired sulfonamide derivatives as a new class of potent carbonic anhydrase isoforms I, II, IX and XII inhibitors. J. Enzyme Inhib. Med. Chem. 2017, 32, 1274-1281.

5. Vasu, K.K.;^ɠ Digwal, C.S.;^ɠ Pandya, A.N,;^ɠ Pandya, D.H.; Sharma, J.A.; Patel, S.; Agarwal, M.^ɠImidazo[1,2-a]pyridines linked with thiazoles/thiophene motif through keto spacer as potential cytotoxic agents and NF-κB inhibitors. Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2017, 27, 5463‒5466. ^ɠEqual First Authors.

6. Digwal, C.S.; Yadav, U.; Ramya, P.V.S.; Sana, S.; Swain, B.; Kamal, A. Vanadium-catalyzed oxidative C(CO)–C(CO) bond cleavage for C–N Bond formation: one-pot domino transformation of 1,2-diketones and amidines into imides and amides. J. Org. Chem. 2017; 82, 7332–7345.

7. Ramya, P.V.S.; Angapelly, S.; Babu, B.N.; Digwal, C.S.; Nagarsenkar, A.; Gannoju, S.; Prasanth, B.; Arifuddin, M.; Kanneboina, K.; Rangan, K.; Kamal, A. Metal-free C–C bond cleavage: one-pot access to 1,4-benzoquinone-linked N-formyl amides/sulfonamides/carbamates using Oxone. Asian J. Org. Chem. 2017, 6, 1008-1013.

8. Ramya, P.V.S.; Angapelly, S.; Guntuku, L.; Digwal, C.S.; Babu, B.N.; Naidu, V.G.M.; Kamal, A. Synthesis and biological evaluation of curcumin inspired indole analogues as tubulin polymerization inhibitors. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2017, 127, 100–114.

9. Digwal, C.S.; Yadav, U.; Sakla, A.P.; Ramya, P.V.S.; Aaghaz, S.; Kamal A. VOSO₄-catalyzed highly efficient synthesis of benzimidazoles, benzothiazoles and quinoxalines. Tetrahedron Lett. 2016, 57, 4012‒4016.

Chander Digwal, PhD

Research Fellow - Medicinal Chemist

Lab Phone

Publications