ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I express my deep sense of gratitude and sincere thanks to my

respected Supervisor cum Teacher, Dr. Dipak Chetia, Professor, Dept. of

Pharmaceutical sciences, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh for his invaluable guidance,

constructive suggestions, constant support, help and co-operation throughout the

tenure of Ph. D. work. He has guided me in the profound manner with continuous

encouragement, inspiration and sincere affection during the entire course of work ,and

also enlightened me through his scientific insights, knowledge and experiences which

certainly played a vital role to inculcate my research career. His good guidance,

enthusiasm and freedom to work undoubtedly claim the successful presentation of this

thesis entitled “Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of 1,2,4-Trioxane Derivatives for

Antimalarial Activity”. I sincerely appreciate all his valuable contributions of time,

ideas, advice and constructive comments to make my research experience fruitful and

stimulating.

I am highly indebted to the Head, Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dibrugarh

University, Dibrugarh for his diligent help and co-operation, and also for providing

necessary facilities to carry out my research work. I express my sincere thanks to the

faculty members of the Department, namely, Prof. S. K. Ghosh, Prof. L. K. Nath, Dr.

B. Mazumder, Dr. M. K. Das, Dr. B. B. Kakoti, Dr. H. K. Sharma, Dr. Md. K. Zaman,

Dr. A. Das, Dr. H. R. Bhat, Mr. B. Bhuyan, Mr. A. Shakya and Mr. P. Rajak for their

kind co-operation and encouragement during the research work.

i
 I am very much thankful to the Director, Bioinformatics Infrastructure Facility,

Centre for Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (CBB), Dibrugarh University for

providing me laboratory facilities to carry out in silico studies related to virtual

screening and docking of compounds. I acknowledge with thanks Dr. Rahul Kar, Asst.

Professor, Dept. of Chemistry, Dibrugarh University for his kind help in carrying out

DFT studies of some compounds in his computational laboratory. I extend my sincere

thanks to the Head, SAIF, NEHU, Shillong, and the Head, SAIF, Panjab University,

Chandigarh for carrying out IR, NMR and Mass spectral, and Elemental analyses of

synthesized compounds. My special thanks remain to Dr. Debashish Dey, Scientific

officer, SAIF, NEHU, Shillong for his generous help and valuable suggestions for the

interpretation of NMR spectra.

I am deeply indebted to the Director, NIMR, ICMR, New Delhi for giving me

permission and to provide me laboratory facilities to carry out in vitro antimalarial

activity screening of synthesized compounds along with a short-term practical training

programme on ‘In vitro cultivation of Plasmodium falciparum and sensitivity testing of

antimalarial compounds’. I am also indebted to the Director, CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow

for his kind permission and for providing laboratory facilities to carry out in vivo

antimalarial testing of compounds along with a short-term practical training

programme on ‘Maintenance of rodent malaria parasites, in vivo antimalarial activity

screening techniques, laboratory animal handling, their care and management

including common laboratory techniques’. I am particularly thankful to Dr. Vineeta

Singh (Scientist D, Malaria Parasite Bank, NIMR (ICMR), New Delhi) for her kind

help, co-operation and suggestions during the in vitro antimalarial screening as well as

ii
training programme at NIMR, New Delhi. I am also thankful to Dr. Renu Tripathi

(Chief Scientist and Head, Parasitology Division, CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow) and Dr. D.

S. Upadhyay (Chief Scientist and Head, Division of Laboratory Animals, CSIR-CDRI,

Lucknow) for their valuable help, co-operation and suggestions during the in vivo

antimalarial testing of compounds as well as training programme at CDRI, Lucknow.

I wish to render my heartfelt thank to all non-teaching staff, laboratory assistants,

laboratory attendants, the office staff, workshop staff of the Dept. of Pharmaceutical

Sciences, Dibrugarh University for their kind help, co-operation and support during

the research work. I am particularly thankful to Mr. Bhaben Gogoi, Mr. Rajib Gogoi,

Mr. Ritchieraj Sarma for their needful help and co-operation during the experimental

work. I extend my thanks to administrative and library staff of the University for their

kind Help and co-operation during the Ph. D. work.

I am indebted to my senior research colleagues, Dr. Mukesh Kumar Kumawat

(Asst. Professor, Anand College of Pharmacy, Agra), Dr. Khumendra Kumar Sarwa

(Asst. Professor, Govt. Girls’ Polytechnic, Raipur), my fellow researchers (Dr. Julfikar

Ali Junejo, Dr. Kumanthem Deepak Singh, Mr. Ranjan Kumar Sahoo, Mr. Chandrajit

Dohutia, Mr. Tapash Chakraborty, Mr. Anupam Sarma, Mr. Neelutpal Gogoi, Mr.

Ashis Kumar Goswami, Ms. Paulami Paul, Ms. Ratna Jyoti Das, Ms. Kalyani Pathak,

Mr. Ejiofor Innocentmary, Ms. Ankita Kashyap, Mr. Monowar Hussain) and junior

co-workers (Ms. Zartaj Washmin Banu, Ms. Arundhati Medhi, Ms. Pooja Patowary,

Ms. Nayana Adhikari, Ms. Jahnabi Kalita) for their friendly support and co-operation,

valuable suggestions and encouragement during my research work. I wish to convey

my special thanks to one of my fellow researchers, Mr. Dhrubajyoti Gogoi, Research

iii
Scholar, CBB, Dibrugarh University for his valuable help and co-operation in carrying

out in silico studies at the initial stages of my research work. I am very much thankful

to Ms. Rakiba Rohman and Mr. Abhijit Boruah, Research Scholars, Dept. of

Chemistry, Dibrugarh University for their generous help and suggestions to carry out

DFT studies.

I wish to express my gratitude to my respected teachers Dr. Biplab De and Mr.

Subrata Chakraborty for their inspiration and motivation to do research work and also

for their whole hearted wishes and encouragements. I am also thankful to my ex-

colleagues and ex-students at Aditya Pharmacy College, Surampalem, Andhra

Pradesh, and Koringa College of Pharmacy, Korangi, Andhra Pradesh for their

encouragements and motivation. I express my sincere gratitude to Dr. David. M.

Rubush. Dept. of Chemistry, Colorado state University, Colorado, US for fruitful

discussions over e-mail about the experimental work at the early stage of my research

work.

I remain indebted to the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi for

providing financial assistance (National Fellowship for Students of Other backward

Classes (OBC), Ref. No. F/2015-16/NFO-17-OBC-TRI-33908/(SA-III/Website) 2015-

16) to do my Ph. D work.

I would like to express my love and appreciation to my near and dear ones, friends

and well wishers, for their continuous inspiration, moral support and encouragement

throughout the research work. I also express my heartfelt gratitude to the elders and

superiors for their wholehearted blessings. I am thankful to all my family members

and relatives for their moral support and sincere affection. I express my highest

iv
gratitude to my beloved parents, Sri Hiralal Rudrapal and Smt. Bhajana Rudrapal to

whom this thesis is dedicated, for their years of sacrifices and lots of prayers. Their

unconditional love and unlimited blessings enable me to reach at this stage of my life.

I wish to express my sincere love to my beloved younger brother, Mr. Mihir Rudrapal

for his moral support and encouragement. My special hearty gratitude to my fiancé,

Ms. Sagarika Chandra for her true love, inspiration and motivation which culminates

my research work more fascinating and fruitful.

Lastly but not the least, I owe my heartfelt gratitude to the Almighty God, Sri Sri

Thakur Anukula Chandra’ for ‘His’ abundant blessings and providence towards

successful completion of my Ph. D. work. I submit my pranams to ‘Him’, and also

pray to ‘Him’ to give me more strength and courage in my future endeavours.

Date: .................... (Mithun Rudrapal)

Place: Dibrugarh University