Hi Reddit, I’m Debasish Bandyopadhyay of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Ask me anything about natural products, organic medicinal chemistry, and drug discovery (synthetic and natural) following greener routes.

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Hello, Reddit. I’m Debasish Bandyopadhyay, a chemistry faculty and researcher at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. I earned my Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Calcutta. I also have a B.S. in Chemistry, B.Ed. in Science Education, and M.S. in Organic Chemistry from The University of Burdwan. My research areas of interest include Organic Medicinal Chemistry (Synthetic & Natural) and Green Chemistry.

Recently, along with my research team (Valerie Cano, Orlando Castillo, Thomas Eubanks and Daniel Villicana) at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, I investigated a common waste product, avocado seed husks, and found they contain numerous chemical compounds that could be used in medicine and industry. I presented our findings last month at the 254th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Washington, D.C. You can watch a press conference to learn more about this research.

Our team ground about 300 dried avocado seed husks into 21 ounces of powder. After additional processing, the powder yielded about three teaspoons of seed husk oil and slightly more than an ounce of seed husk wax. Using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis, we found 116 compounds in the oil and 16 in the wax. Many of these compounds do not appear to be found in the seeds themselves.

Among the constituents in the oil was behenic alcohol (also known as docosanol), an important ingredient used in anti-viral medications; heptacosane, which might inhibit the growth of tumor cells; and dodecanoic acid, which increases high density lipoprotein (known as HDL) and, as a result, could reduce the risk of atherosclerosis. In the wax, we detected benzyl butyl phthalate, a plasticizer used to promote flexibility in numerous synthetic products from shower curtains to medical devices; bis(2-butoxyethyl) phthalate, which is used in cosmetics; and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), which is a food additive.

Ask me anything about this research or other aspects of natural products, organic medicinal chemistry, and drug discovery (synthetic and natural) following greener routes.

I’ll be back at 1pm EDT (12pm CDT, 10am PDT, 5pm UTC) to start answering your questions. -ACS edit for timezones

">Hi Reddit, I’m Debasish Bandyopadhyay of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Ask me anything about natural products, organic medicinal chemistry, and drug discovery (synthetic and natural) following greener routes.