Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Creative research in the chemical industry – Four decades in retrospect

  • Published:
Journal of Chemical Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

My professional research career spanning more than four decades has been largely devoted to synthetic medicinal chemistry (Ciba, Bombay — now Mumbai — 21 years) followed by an equal number of years in process development of drugs, crop protection chemicals (Searle, Bombay) and drugs and speciality chemicals (Recon and Hikal, Bangalore). These efforts have involved several collaborators including many from other institutions and offered multitudinous challenges calling for continuous creativity in industrial setups. I was fortunate to have had a conducive environment to be able to respond to these challenges. I attempt to offer the readers in the ensuing pages a flavour of the excitement that has marked these years

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Nagarajan K, Weissman Ch and Schmid H 1963Helv. Chim. Acta 46 1212

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Guggisberg A, Govindachari T R, Nagarajan K and Schmid H 1963Helv. Chim. Acta 46 679

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Guggisberg A, Hesse M, von Philipsborn W, Nagarajan K and Schmid H 1966Helv. Chim. Acta 49 2321

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Govindachari T R, Lakshmikantham M V, Nagarajan K and Pai B R 1957Chem. Ind. 1484

  5. Govindachari T R, Nagarajan K and Rajappa S 1957J. Chem. Soc. 2725

  6. Govindachari T R, Nagarajan K and Parthasarathy P C 1957J. Chem. Soc. 548

  7. Govindachari T R and Nagarajan K 1954J. Chem. Soc. 2537

  8. Govindachari T R, Nagarajan K and Ramadas C V 1958J. Chem. Soc. 983; Arumugam N, Govindachari T R, Nagarajan K and Rao U R 1958Chem. Ber. 91 40

    Google Scholar 

  9. Govindachari T R and Nagarajan K 1954J. Chem. Soc. 3785

  10. Gopinath K W, Govindachari T R, Nagarajan K and Purushothaman K K 1958J. Chem. Soc. 504

  11. Stevens C L, Nagarajan K and Haskell T 1962J. Org. Chem. 27 2991

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Stevens C L and Nagarajan K 1962J. Med. Pharm. Chem. 5 1124

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Nagarajan K, Caserio M C and Roberts J D 1964J. Am. Chem. Soc. 86 449

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Whitesides G M, Kaplan F, Nagarajan K and Roberts J D 1962Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 48 1112

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Spassov S L, Griffith D L, Glaser E S, Nagarajan K and Roberts J D 1967J. Am. Chem. Soc. 89 88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Lombardino J G and Lowe III J A 2004Nature Rev. 3 853

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Nagarajan K, Venkateswarlu A, Kulkarni C L, Nagana Goud A and Shah R K 1974Indian J. Chem. 12 236; Nagarajan K, David J, Grewal R S and Govindachari T R 1974Indian J. Exp. Biol. 12 217

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Nagarajan K 1975Indian J. Phys. Pharmacol. 19 39

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Maller R K and Nagarajan K 1983J. Labelled Compounds Radiopharmaceut. 20 1339

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Nagarajan K 1972 Sintamil-Profile of an antidepressant, CIBA of India, p. 14

  21. Nagarajan K 1979New trends in heterocyclic chemistry (eds) R B Mitraet al (Amsterdam: Elsevier) p. 317

    Google Scholar 

  22. Nagarajan K 1997J. Indian Chem. Soc. 74 831

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Usha R, Bhadbhade M M, Venkatesan K, Nagarajan K and David J 1982Acta Crystallogr. B38 1854

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Govil G, Srivastava S and Nagarajan K 1987J. Org. Mag. Reson. 25 905

    Google Scholar 

  25. Nagarajan K and Shah R K 1974Indian J. Chem. 12 263

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Nagarajan K and Kulkarni C L 1968Tetrahedron Lett. 2717

  27. Nagarajan K, Arya V P, Parthasarathy T N, Shenoy S J, Shah R K and Kulkarni Y S 1981Indian J. Chem. B20 672

    Google Scholar 

  28. Nagarajan K, Arya V P, Kaul C L, David J and Grewal R S 1981Indian J. Exp. Biol. 19 1150

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Nagarajan K, Arya V P, George T, Sudarsanam V, Shah R K, Nagana Goud A, Shenoy S J, Honkan V, Kulkarni Y S and Rao M K 1982Indian J. Chem. 21B 928

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Nagarajan K, Arya V P, George T, Nair M D, Sudarasanam V, Ray D K and Srivastava V B 1984Indian J. Chem. B23 342

    Google Scholar 

  31. Nair M D and Nagarajan K 1983Progress in drug research (ed.) E Jucker27 163

  32. Ray D Ket al 1983Ann. Trop. Med. Parasitol. 77 287

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Ray D K, Chatterjee D K, Srivastava V B, Tendulkar J S, Datta A K and Nagarajan K 1984J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 14 423

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Anjaneyulu B, Maller R K and Nagarajan K 1983J. Labelled Compounds Radiopharmaceut. 19 51

    Google Scholar 

  35. Anjaneyulu B and Nagarajan K 1987J. Labelled Compounds Radiopharmaceut. 24 423

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Nagarajan K 1983Recent advances in protozoan diseases (eds) D Subramanyam and V Radhakrishnan (Hindustan Ciba-Geigy Research Centre) p. 3

  37. Nagarajan K 2000Express Pharma Pulse Aug. 10, p. 8; Aug. 17, p. 8

  38. Sudarasanam V, Nagarajan K, Rama Rao K and Shenoy S J 1980Tetrahedron Lett. 21 4757

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Nagarajan K, Sudarsanam V, Shenoy S J and Rama Rao K 1982Indian J. Chem. B21 997

    Google Scholar 

  40. Nagarajan K, Gowri Shankar R, Rajappa S, Shenoy S J and Costa Pereira R 1989Eur. J. Med. 24 631

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Ashtekar D R, Costa Pereira R, Nagarajan K, Viswanathan N, Bhatt A D and Rittel W 1993Antimicrobial Agents Chemother. 37 183

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Nagarajan K, Talwalker P K, Kulkarni C L, Venkateswarlu A, Prabhu S S and Nayak G V 1984Indian J. Chem. B23 1243

    Google Scholar 

  43. Maller R K and Nagarajan K 1985J. Labelled Compounds Radiopharmaceut. 22 217

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Nagarajan K, David J, Rajappa S and Talwalker S 1985Indian J. Chem. B24 934

    Google Scholar 

  45. Nagarajan K, Talwalker P K, Kulkarni C L, Shah R K, Shenoy S J and Prabhu S S 1985Indian J. Chem. B24 83

    Google Scholar 

  46. Nagarajan K, Talwalker P K, Shah R K, Mehta S R and Nayak G V 1985Indian J. Chem. B24 98

    Google Scholar 

  47. Nagarajan K and Shenoy S J 1987Indian J. Chem. B26 594

    Google Scholar 

  48. Nagarajan K and Shah R K 1972Tetrahedron Lett. 1467

  49. Nagarajan K and Shah R K 1989J. Indian Chem. Soc. 66 681

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Nagarajan K, David J and Shah R K 1976J. Med. Chem. 19 508

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Nagarajan K and Shah R K 1973Chem. Commun. 926

  52. Nagarajan K, Shah R K and Shenoy S J 1986Indian J. Chem. B25 697

    Google Scholar 

  53. Nagarajan K, Talwalker P K, Nagana Goud A, Shah R K, Shenoy S J and Desai N D 1988Indian J. Chem. B27 1113

    Google Scholar 

  54. Nagarajan K, Talwalker P K, Nagana Goud A, Shah R K and Shenoy S J 1989Arzneimittel Forschung 39 548

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  55. Nagarajan K, Talwalker P K and Shenoy S J 1988Eur. J. Med. Chem. 23 189

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  56. Nagarajan K, Shenoy S J and Talwalker P K 1989Indian J. Chem. B28 326

    Google Scholar 

  57. Nagarajan K, Shenoy S J, Muller D R, Richter W J, Kozerski L and Pattabhi V 1992Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. (Chem. Sci.) 104 27

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  58. Nagarajan K, Ranga Rao V, Shah R K, Shenoy S J, Fritz H, Richter W J and Muller D 1988Helv. Chim. Acta 71 77

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  59. Nagarajan K, Rodriguess P J, Kuantee G and Parthasarathy R 1992Tetrahedron Lett. 33 6011

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  60. Nagarajan K, Rodrigues P J and Nethaji M 1992Tetrahedron Lett. 33 7229

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  61. Nagarajan K and Rodrigues P J 1994Indian J. Chem. B33 1115

    Google Scholar 

  62. Govindachari T R, Nagarajan K and Parthasarathy P C 1969Chem. Commun. 823

  63. Fuhrer H, Ganguly A K, Gopinath K W, Govindachari T R, Nagarajan K, Pai B R and Parthasarathy P C 1970Tetrahedron 26 2371

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  64. Govindachari T R, Nagarajan K, Parthasarathy P C, Rajagopalan T G, Desai H K, Kartha G, Chen S L and Nakanishi K 1974J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. I 1413

  65. Peter M G, Snatzke G, Snatzke F, Nagarajan K and Schmid H 1974Helv. Chim. Acta 57 32

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  66. Pai B R, Nagarajan K, Suguna H and Natarajan S 1977Heterocycles 6 1377

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  67. Govindachari T R, Pai B R, Rajeswari S, Natarjan S, Chandrasekharan S, Premila S, Charubala R, Venkatesan K, Bhadbhade M M, Nagarajan K and Richter W J 1981Heterocycles 15 1463

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  68. Natarajan S, Pai B R, Rajaraman R, Swaminathan C S, Nagarajan K, Sudarsanam V, Rogers D and Quick A 1975Tetrahedron Lett. 41 3573

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Natarajan S, Pai B R, Rajaraman R, Suguna H, Swaminathan C S, Nagarajan K and Sudarsanam V 1979J. Chem. Soc., Perkin I 283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  70. Govindachari T R, Nagarajan K, Rajeswari S, Suguna H and Pai B R 1977Helv. Chim. Acta 60 2138

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  71. Kametani T, Nakano T, Seino C, Shibuya S, Fukumoto K, Govindachari T R, Nagarajan K, Pai B R and Subramanian PS 1972Chem. Pharm. Bull. 20 1507; Kametani T, Fukumoto K, Ihara M, Takemuri M, Masumoto H, Pai B R, Nagarajan K, Premila M S and Suguna H 1975Heterocycles 3 811

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  72. Nagarajan K, Rodrigues P J, Nethaji M, Vohler M and Philipsborn W von 1994Helv. Chim. Acta 77 155

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  73. Nagarajan K and Rajappa S 1969Tetrahedron Lett. 2293

  74. Rajappa S and Nagarajan K 1978J. Chem. Soc. Perkin II 912

  75. Nagarajan K, Nair M D and Pillai P M 1967Tetrahedron 23 1683

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  76. Nagarajan K and Nair M DTetrahedron 23 4493

  77. Nagarajan K, Nair M D, Ranga Rao V, Venkateswarlu A and Kartha G 1973Tetrahedron 29 2571

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  78. Kartha G, Go K T, Lu C T and Nagarajan K 1977J. Cryst. Mol. Struct. 7 211

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  79. Nagarajan K, Shah R K, Fuhrer H, Puckett R T, Narasimhamurthy M R and Venkatesan K 1978Helv. Chim. Acta 61 1246

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  80. Vogeli H, von Philipsborn W, Nagarajan K and Nair M D 1978Helv. Chim. Acta 61 607

    Article  Google Scholar 

  81. Nagarajan K, Nair M D, Shenoy S J and Kartha G 1983Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. (Chem. Sci.) 92 99

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  82. Nagarajan K, Nair M D and Desai J A 1979Tetrahedron Lett. 53

  83. Nagarajan K, Sudarsanam V, Parthasarathy P C, Arya V P and Shenoy S J 1982Indian J. Chem. B21 1006

    Google Scholar 

  84. Nagarajan K, Arya V P and Shenoy S J 1986J. Chem. Res. (S) 166

  85. Chen B C, Nagarajan K and von Philipsborn W 1983Helv. Chim. Acta 66 1537

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  86. Rajalakshmi K, Deepthi S, Pattabhi V and Nagarajan K 2001Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. 357 281

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  87. Deepthi S, Pattabhi V and Nagarajan K 1999Acta Crystallogr. C55 100

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  88. Pattabhi V, Vasundhara S, Nagarajan K and Shenoy S J 1993Med. Chem. Res. 4 196

    Google Scholar 

  89. Damodharan L, Pattabhi V and Nagarajan K 2002Acta Crystallogr. E58 1136

    Google Scholar 

  90. Fabiola G F, Pattabhi V and Nagarajan K 1998Bioorg. Med. Chem. 6 2337

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  91. Fabiola G F, Pattabhi V, Manjunatha S J, Rao G V and Nagarajan K 1998Acta Crystallogr. C54 2001

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  92. Fabiola G F, Damodharan L, Pattabhi V and Nagarajan K 2001Curr. Sci. 80 26

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  93. Ananda K, Aravinda S, Vasudeva G P, Raja K M P, Sivaramakrishnan H, Nagarajan K, Shamala N and Balaram P 2003Curr. Sci. 85 1002

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  94. Choudhury A R, Urs U K, Guru Row T N and Nagarajan K 2002J. Mol. Struct. 605 71

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  95. Choudhury A R, Nagarajan K and Guru Row T N 2004Cryst. Eng. 6 43

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  96. Choudhury A R, Guru Row T N and Nagarajan K 2003Cryst. Eng. 6 145

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  97. Choudhury A R, Nagarajan K and Guru Row T N 2004Acta Crystallogr. C60 219

    Google Scholar 

  98. Chopra D, Nagarajan K and Guru Row T N 2005Cryst. Growth Design 5 1035

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  99. Fritchie C and Hughes E W 1962J. Am. Chem. Soc. 84 2257

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  100. Choudhury A R, Chopra D, Guru Row T N, Nagarajan K and Roberts J D 2006 (submitted)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hikal Research Centre, 560 078, Bangalore

    Kuppuswamy Nagarajan

Authors
  1. Kuppuswamy Nagarajan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nagarajan, K. Creative research in the chemical industry – Four decades in retrospect. J Chem Sci 118, 291–309 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02708523

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02708523

Keywords

Search

Navigation