faculty portrait if available
Siva Murru
Associate Professor
School of Sciences
CNSB 226
318-342-7966
ULM logo

Siva Murru, PhD
Associate Professor, Chemistry

Education

Ph D

2010, Organic Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati

MS

2005, Organic Chemistry
Acharya Nagarjuna University

BS

2003,
Andhra University

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Murru joined as an assistant professor of chemistry at ULM in the Fall of 2016. Earlier, he was working as a research scientist at University of Louisiana Lafayette and as a postdoctoral scientist at Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies, Florida. He also served as an adjunct faculty at University of Louisiana Lafayette where he taught Organic Chemistry Lectures and Labs. 

Dr. Murru has been working in the field of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry. He is a co-author of 33 publications and a co-inventor of two US patents. He served as a Principal Investigator on LBRN funded projects and as a Co-Principal Investigator on NSF funded project.

Research Interests

Dr. Murru's current research focuses on different aspects of synthetic organic chemistry, modern
catalysis and medicinal chemistry. His current research involves in the design and development of
novel base-metal catalytic systems for the C-C (carbon-carbon) and C-X (carbon-heteroatom) bond
forming processes via C-H functionalization. These new catalytic transformations will, in part, be
utilized to synthesize N-heterocycles and biologically relevant molecules. The ability to access new
types of nitrogen containing molecules can potentially lead to the discovery of new biological
entities. The new compounds synthesized in his laboratory are being evaluated for anti-cancer activity.

Major components of students' training: Students working in his group gains valuable experience in
synthetic chemistry, chromatographic separations, analytical instruments handling, data analysis, research philosophy and lab safety.

Recent Publications

Murru, S. (2021). Copper-Catalyzed Asymmetric Allylic C-H Amination of Alkenes using N-arylhydroxylamines (pp. 3228-37). Organic Chemistry Frontiers.
Boateng, S., Basnet, D., Owunna, U., Jean Christopher, C., Murru, S. (2023). Synthesis, In-Silico and In-Vitro Biological Evaluation of Substituted Pyrazole Derivatives as Potential Anti-Tyrosinase, Anti-Skin Cancer, and Antioxidant Agents (pp. 2205042). Journal of Enzyme Inhibition in Medicinal Chemistry.
Dahal, A., Lo, M., ElHage, D., Murru, S. (2022). 1,3-diarylpyrazolones as potential anticancer agents for non-small cell lung cancer: Synthesis and antiproliferative activity evaluation (pp. 620-633). Chemical Biology & Drug Design.
Roy, T., Botaeng, S., Basnet, P., Chauvin, I., Sharma, P., Sechi, M., Murru, S., Chamcheu, J. (2021). Identification of new fisetin analogs as kinase inhibitors: Data on synthesis and anti-skin cancer activities evaluation (pp. 106858). Data in Brief.
Basnet, P., MURRU, S., Chamcheu, J., Roy, T., Boteng, S., Singh, P., Sechi, M. (2021). Synthesis, inverse docking-assisted identification and in vitro biological characterization of Flavonol-based analogs of fisetin as c-Kit, CDK2 and mTOR inhibitors against melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers (pp. 104595). Bioorganic Chemistry.
Bess, E., MURRU, S., Miriyala, S. (2020). Effects of Pyrazoles on Hypoxia/Reoxygenation-Induced Oxidative Stress in Neonatal Cardiomyocytes (pp. 1). The FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) journal, EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY 2020.
MURRU, S., Nefzi, A. (2013). Parallel Synthesis of Bis-Oxazole Peptidomimetics (pp. 7062). Tetrahedron Letters / Elsevier.
MURRU, S., Dooley, C., Nefzi, A. (2013). Combinatorial Synthesis of Oxazol-Thiazole Bis-Heterocyclic Compounds (pp. 39). ACS Combinatorial Science.
MURRU, S. (2014). Iron-Catalyzed Allylic C-H Amination of Substituted 1,3-Dienes (pp. 2174). European Journal of Organic Chemistry / Wiley.
MURRU, S. (2014). Synthesis of Substituted Quinolines via Allylic Amination and Intramolecular Heck-Coupling (pp. 9133). Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry.
MURRU, S., Liu, Y., Liu, Y., Srivastava, R. (2015). Quantum Mechanics Study of Repulsive π-π Interaction and Flexibility of Phenyl Moiety in the Iron Azodioxide Complex (pp. 226). Journal of Molecular Structure.
MURRU, S., Lott, C., Fronczek, F., Srivastava, R. S. (2015). Fe-Catalyzed Direct α C–H Amination of Carbonyl Compounds (pp. 2122-2125). Organic Letters / American Chemical Society.
MURRU, S., Bista, R., Nefzi, A. Synthesis of Novel Oxazolyl Amino Acids and their Use in Diversity Oriented Synthesis of Small Molecules. Synthesis / Thieme Connect.
MURRU, S., Le, T., Depan, D., Subramaniam, R. (2017). Statistical modelling and simulation of nanohybrid shish-kebab architecture of PE-b-PEG copolymers and carbon nanotubes (pp. 13348-13360). Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics / Royal Society of Chemistry.
Murru, S. Catalytic Synthesis of N-Aryl Oxazolidines via Amination and Methylenation of Allyl Alcohols (pp. 3681-84). Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry.

Research Grants

Murru, S. (Principal), "Development of New Pyrazolone Molecular Hybrids as Anticancer Agents for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer" (Not Funded), Sponsored By NIH, External to The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $435,000. (June 01 2024 - Present).
Murru, S. (Principal), "Design and Synthesis of Pyrazolones and Their Analogs as Potential Anticancer Agents for Skin Cancers" (Not Funded), Sponsored By NIH, External to The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $580,000. (May 2024 - Present).
MURRU, S. (Co-Principal), "Acquisition of an Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography [UHPLC] Equipment to Complement and Strengthen the Instrumentation Facility in the School of Sciences at ULM" (Not Funded), Sponsored By LA-Board of Regents Support Fund, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $116,044. (June 1 2019 - Present).
MURRU, S. (Principal), "Development of Novel Catalytic Methods for the C-H Functionalization using Base Metal Catalysts" (Not Funded), Sponsored By Board of Regents, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $131,558. (2017 - Present).
Murru, S. (Co-Principal), Rakus, J. (Principal), "Use of State-of-the-Art Instrumentation to Enhance Undergraduate Chemistry Education at UL-Monroe" (Not Funded), Sponsored By Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund, External to The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $314,429. (June 01 2023 - 2026).
Murru, S. (Co-Principal), ElSayed, K. (Principal), "Enhancement of ULM chemical and pharmaceutical research by a 9.4T NMR spectrometer" (Funded), Sponsored By Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund, External to The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $200,000. (June 2023 - June 2024).
MURRU, S. (Principal), "Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of Pyrazole-Based Molecular Hybrids as Potential Anticancer Agents" (Funded), Sponsored By Louisiana Board of Regents, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $136330. (June 01 2021 - May 31 2024).
Murru, S. (Principal), "Development of Pyrazole and Related Heterocyclic Compounds as Potential Anticancer Agents" (Funded), Sponsored By NIH-INBRE, External to The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $423,000. (May 01 2021 - April 30 2024).
MURRU, S. (Principal), Jois, S. (Co-Principal), "Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation of Pyrazolone-Based Molecular Hybrids and Their Metal Complexes as Potential Anticancer Agents" (Not Funded), Sponsored By NIH, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $352,500. (2021 - 2024).
MURRU, S. (Principal), "Development of Novel Co-based Photocatalytic Systems" (Not Funded), Sponsored By ACS-PRF, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $70,000. (July 1 2020 - August 31 2023).
Murru, S. (Principal), Moghaddam, A. (Co-Principal), "Molecular Docking and Biological Evaluation of Azole Compounds as Potent TTK and AURK Dual Inhibitors" (Funded), Sponsored By INBRE-LBRN, External to The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $7,500. (June 2023 - August 2023).
MURRU, S. (Principal), "Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation of Anti-Cancer and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Pyrazole and Phthalazinone Derivatives" (Not Funded), Sponsored By Louisiana Board of Regents, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $135560. (June 1 2020 - May 31 2023).
MURRU, S. (Principal), "Development of Pyrazoles and Pyrazolones as Anti-Cancer Agents: Design, Synthesis and Anti-Cancer Activity Studies" (Pending Funding Decision), Sponsored By LBRN, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $413,980. (May 1 2020 - April 30 2023).
Murru, S. (Principal), Findley, A. (Principal), "Acquisition of Flash Chromatography and IR Spectroscopy Systems for Purification and Characterization of Bioactive Molecules" (Funded), Sponsored By INBRE-LBRN, External to The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $60,118. (May 2023 - April 2023).
MURRU, S. (Principal), Findley, G. (Co-Principal), El-Giar, E. (Co-Principal), Barnett, H. (Co-Principal), Findley, A. (Co-Principal), Matthaiolampakis, G. (Co-Principal), ElSayed, K. (Co-Principal), "Acquisition of a Bench Top NMR Spectrometer for the Enhancement of Chemistry Teaching and Research" (Funded), Sponsored By Louisiana Board of Regents, External to The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $109,620. (June 01 2021 - May 31 2022).
MURRU, S. (Principal), "Synthesis and Anti-Cancer Activity Evaluation of Heterocyclic Compounds and Their Metal-Complexes" (Not Funded), Sponsored By LA-Board of Regents Support Fund, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $129,560. (June 2019 - May 2022).
MURRU, S. (Principal), "Design, Synthesis and Anti-Cancer Activity Evaluation of Substituted Pyrazoles and Pyrazolones" (Pending Funding Decision), Sponsored By Louisiana Biomedical Research Network, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $70,500. (May 1 2020 - April 30 2021).
MURRU, S. (Principal), "Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of Nitrogen Heterocyclic Compounds for Anti-Cancer Activity" (Funded), Sponsored By LBRN, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $67,540. (May 1 2019 - April 30 2020).
MURRU, S. (Principal), "Design and Synthesis of Heterocyclic Compounds for Evaluation of Anti-Cancer and Anti-Microbial Activity" (Funded), Sponsored By Louisiana Biomedical Research Network, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $70,500. (May 1 2017 - April 30 2019).
MURRU, S. (Co-Principal), SRIVASTAVA, R. (Principal), "Studies on Catalytic Asymmetric C-H Amination of Alkenes" (Funded), Sponsored By NSF, External to The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $375,000. (August 20 2016 - 2019).
MURRU, S. (Principal), "Synthesis and Characterization of Pyrazole Compounds and their Metal-complexes for Anticancer Activity Studies" (Not Funded), Sponsored By Louisiana Biomedical Research Network, The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $16,918. (June 2018 - August 2018).
MURRU, S. (Co-Principal), Bellar, D. (Principal), Bodreaux, S. (Co-Principal), "Investigation of the Effects of Tart Cherry Concentrate on Oxygen Kinetics and Muscle Oxygenation" (Funded), Sponsored By Cherry Marketing Institute (CMI), External to The University of Louisiana at Monroe, $49,473. (January 1 2016 - December 31 2016).

Patents

Murru, S. (2017). Composition of matter: Catalytic Intermediate for Asymmetric Allylic Amination. US Patent No. US9394229; US9637503.

Murru, S. (2016). “Method of Producing Chiral N-Substituted Allylic Amine Compounds” . US Patent No. US9394229.

Awards & Honors

July 2023 Jan and Gary Luffey Endowed Professor.

March 2018 Undergraduate Best Poster Award at Louisiana Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting-2018.

January 2018 Faculty Sponsor Travel Award .

April 2017 Best Undergraduate Poster (2nd Place) .

December 2014 Faculty Travel Grant.

August 2013 Faculty Recharge Programme (UGC-FRP) Fellowship.

May 2010 Eli Lilly Asia Outstanding Thesis Award (1st Place).

November 2009 Senior Research Fellowship.

September 2008 Travel Grant Award.

January 2008 Indo-French Ph.D. Fellowship.

November 2005 National Eligibility Test (NET) for Lectureship.

January 2005 Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE).

Courses Taught

CHEM 2030ORGANIC CHEMISTRY I, 14 course(s)

CHEM 2031ORGANIC CHEMISTRY LAB I, 16 course(s)

CHEM 2032ORGANIC CHEMISTRY II, 9 course(s)

CHEM 2033ORGANIC CHEMISTRY LAB II, 12 course(s)

CHEM 3050BIOCHEMISTRY I, 1 course(s)

CHEM 3052BIOCHEMISTRY II, 1 course(s)

CHEM 4097RESEARCH: ORGANIC, 1 course(s)