Hi, Welcome to my web page. I’m Thilani Samarakoon a graduate student at Kansas State University, USA pursuing a PhD in Chemistry.

 

I conduct research on anti cancer drugs. I work on DNA binding studies of derivatives of 2,3-Dihydro -1H-Benzo[D] Imidazole and their Zinc(II) complexes
Several derivatives of 2,3-dihydro-1H-benzo[d] imidazole were synthesized. The binding nature of these derivatives to double helical calf thymus DNA was studied using NMR, UV-visible, fluorescence and time resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. The data obtained [...]

 

My undergraduate research was on snynthesising biodegradable polymers using Cowpea flour as the primary ingrediant.
This polymer synthesizing process involves formation of intermolecular disulfide and hydrophobic bonds between amino acids found in cowpea flour. During the process heating is essential, since it alters the 3-D structure of proteins by exposing sulfhydryl groups & hydrophobic side chains. [...]