© 2015 Sarah E. Rich

Jean Dam

RISE Degree(s) 

PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of the Witwatersrand

RISE Network(s) 
SABINA
Nationality 
South African
Employment 

Chief Scientific Officer of Medicinal Chemistry at the Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3D), University of Cape Town, South Africa

Research 

Dr. Dam's postdoctoral research at Ohio State University spanned the synthetic, mechanistic and biological studies of novel metal-imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines and xanthones.

Her doctoral research was in two areas:
  • The first was into using multicomponent coupling reactions to generate novel compounds that show potent anticancer activity. This project was organic based, but branched into inorganic and physical chemistry.
  • The second was an investigation into the mechanism of a novel reaction that was discovered in her lab at Wits, where ceric ammonium sulphate (CAS) was used in the key step in the synthesis of Xanthones.
Special Accomplishments 
2011 Sasol Award: Best Honours Project, 2011
2011 Penny Huddle Award for Teaching Excellence in Undergraduate Laboratories
2012 South African NRF Innovation Bursary
Poster Presentation at Indaba 7 Crystallography Conference, Kruger Park, South Africa, 2012

Poster Presentation at the Bi-National Organic Chemistry Conference, Tutzing, Germany, 2013

Selected Publications 

South African Patent: SA 2016/02478

Dam J, Bode ML, de Koning CB. 2018. Ceric ammonium sulfate (CAS) mediated oxidations of benzophenones possessing a phenolic substituent for the synthesis of xanthones and related products. J. Org. Chem. 84(1):150–60

Dam J, Ismail Z, Kurebwa T, Gangat N, Harmse L, et al. 2017. Synthesis of copper and zinc 2-(pyridin-2-yl) imidazo [1, 2-a] pyridine complexes and their potential anticancer activity. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 126:353–68

Email Address(es) 
jean.dam@uct.ac.za
RISE Degree(s) Completed 
June 2016