ACKNOWLEDGEMENT It is a moment of gratification and pride to look back with a sense of contentment at the long traveled path, to be able to recapture some of the fine moments, to be thankful to several people, some who were with me from the beginning, some who joined me at different stages during this journey, whose kindness, love and blessings, who in some way or the other have brought me to this day. I wish to thank each and every one of them from the very bottom of my heart. Therefore, first and foremost I bow my head with sheer respect and convey my pleasant regards to my most adorable Mummy-Pappa, Mrs. Panna U. Pandya and Dr. Upendra H. Pandya without whom I would have been absolutely nothing. Whatever I am today and whatever I am capable of is only because of their unfailing blessings, never ending hard work and endless love. Although one can never repay the debt towards their parents, I take this small and humble opportunity to say that I love you and thank you for all that you people have done for me. I respect you for nurturing us with such great love, patience, hard work and instilling the best of Sanskaras in us. Anshul, my little brother has always been a pillar of support whenever I needed him the most. Although younger to me he has taught me a lot of things which are important in life. I thank him immensely from the bottom of my heart. No word in the dictionary would be able to express my gratitude towards my very beloved wife Dr. Vijeta (Verma) Pandya. As aptly said Wives are always the better halves of the husbands she has actually been that better half of me. I am indebted by her unconditional love, never ending support and unfaltering faith that she has shown in me during these days of my work and career. I would also like to thank her for all the expert support as well as for burning the mid night oil during this thesis writing. I sincerely admit that I could not have found a better life partner than her.
I now bow my head with absolute respect and pleasantly convey my heartfelt thanks to my research guide and thesis supervisor, Prof. Anamik Shah, who has helped me at each and every stage of my tenure of research work with a lot of patience and enthusiasm. I am much indebted to him for his inspiring guidance, affection, generosity, love and everlasting supportive nature. The freedom he enjoys giving, made me think independently and efficiently in order to tackle multidisciplinary projects. If I could acquire 50% of his immense patience I would be a better person. I feel privileged to be closely associated with him and I sincerely thank him from the bottom of my heart for believing in me and my capabilities. Thank You very much Sir. At this juncture, I thank my whole family for encouraging me and providing emotional support at each and every stage to fulfill this task. I would also like to convey my pleasant regards and thankfulness to my Baa and Dadaji, Deepu kaka, Harsha Kaki, Kruti, Nikki, Mota Faiba, Shobha Faiba, Amit Bhai, Kinnar, Rakhee ben, Apurva Jijaji. It would have been a difficult task for me to settle in Rajkot if it were not for my maternal family. I bow my head with respect to my Naniji (Rajkot Baa), Asit mama, Meera mami, Bharat Mama, Chetna mami, Meet and Maitree. A very special mention and my heart full of gratitude and respect also goes towards my dearest Riddhi masi as well as the ever smiling and ever encouraging Ketan Masa, whose blessings have always been our strength and I thank GOD that I have another set of parents who love me, if not equally, but as much as my own parents. I would also like to thank my brother Karn for being there besides me always whenever I needed him and my small little Mauli whose smile has always been like a ray of sunshine amidst the clouds. I am truly lucky to have you guys around.
I am also indebted towards my Father in Law Mr. Raj Kumar Verma (Papa) for being so kind, helpful and patient with me during this tenure of my career. I would never be able to thank him enough for, he has put faith in me when no father would have dared to put faith in a situation like mine. Thank you Papa, may GOD give me the strength to fulfill your faith in me. I would also like to thank my Sister in law, Priyanka for providing me with reasons to smile and laugh and joke which I needed often. I also bow my head with respect and gratitude towards Babu (Grand father in law) as well as Choti Mummy (Grand mother in law) who have showered love, support and blessings all through out my tenure here. I also Thank my Chacha, Chachi and Preeti for being just like a family and supporting us all through. Sant Kabir had once aptly said if I have to choose between GURU and GOVIND I will undoubtedly choose my GURU by whose kind blessings I have attained the power of knowledge and freedom. At this occasion I very humbly bow my head with utter respect and gratitude to all my teachers who at every stage have shaped my life and given me the power of knowledge. Since I cannot write all the names of my teachers I very specially would like to mention a few teachers who have left an unfailing mark over me. With all due respect and gratitude I would humbly like to thank Dr. Urvish Pandya (my Urvish Bhai), as well as Dr. Shashi Pandya (Bhabhi) who apart from being my family members have also been excellent teachers and torch bearers of Chemistry. Hardly would one come across a teacher of the caliber of Prof. Deepak Rawal (Deepak mama), I was lucky that I got a chance to learn the ropes of this science from him, I am obliged to have him as my teacher. These three people have together laid a strong foundation on which I am going to build my career. I can never thank them enough. If they have laid the foundation Dr. Nishith Desai (Nishith Sir) as well as Ms. Ela Desai (Ela Miss) have put the
first bricks into that foundation of chemistry. I thank them both for being so kind to share their knowledge with me and helping me in shaping my future. I would also like to thank Miss Saroj for being such an excellent teacher. I am totally indebted to two Sisters from different cities. Firstly I would like to thank Sr. Fatima (Bhavnagar), who taught us so many important things in life that I still remember them. The power of prayer, the power of faith and the importance of smile are all gifts of this kind lady. Nonetheless, I am also indebted to Sr. Jancy (Rajkot), who has revealed me the power of selfless love and service. Her one single opinion was enough to change my whole life without which it would have been totally different. I will never be able to repay her debt and would take this opportunity to thank her for all her love, support, and blessings that she has been showering on me as well as Vijeta. Words are totally inadequate to thank my most beloved friends and colleagues Mr. Hardevsinh Vala and Mr. Amit Trivedi, who have always stood besides with me, helping me in any and every kind of situations. Their constant support, care and moral boost always kept me encouraged in all the difficult situations. I will never ever forget their kind concern, help, best wishes and all that they have done for me. I am really very much thankful to God for giving me such nice friends in deeds. I would like to express my deep sense of gratitude and lots of love towards my dearest senior friends Dr. Dhaval Joshipura, Dr. Anchal Kulashreshth and Dr. Jitender Bariwal all of whom were more like a family than friends. Their constant care and support made my transition to this place even more smooth.
Many many special thanks, lots of love and best of my wishes to all my dearest colleagues Shailesh Thakrar, Shrey Parekh, Manisha Parmar, Abhay Bavishi, Rakshit Thakkar, Mrunal Ambasana, Vaibhav Ramani, Deepak Vachaani, Dhairya Bhavsar, Jignesh Lunagariya, Harshad Kaila, Hitesh (Ronny) Saravaia, Bharat Savaliya, Ravi Chaniyara, Bhavin (Bunty) Marvania and Punit Rasadia for all their constant help and support throughout my research tenure. Without their kind help and constant encouragement the accomplishment of this work would not have been possible. My very special thanks go to Sachin Modha, as well as Mr. Amit N. Pandya for their time to time rapid literature support. I would also like to thank my other seniors as well as colleagues for all their help, and support during my research tenure. I heartily thank Dr. Priti Shah Adlakha, Dr. Fatema Bharmal, Dr. Nikhil Vekariya, Dr. Atul Manvar, Dr. Jalpa Bariwal, Dr. Vijay Virsodiya, Dr. Pranav Vachchrajani, Dr. Gaurang Dubal, and Dr. Rupesh Khunt for their co-operation. I am also thankful to Dr. V. H. Shah, Dr. Ranjan Khunt, Dr. Yogesh Naliapara, Dr. H. S. Joshi, Dr. M. K. Shah as well as Dr. Shipra Baluja. I was also blessed with some great colleagues whose presence has made this time a memorable time for me and my work in the laboratory was really enjoyable due to them. I thank Ram Vijay, Bipin, Ram Haresh, Chintan, Vipul Katariya, Kher Govind, Kapil Dubbal, Neimish, Rakesh, Minaxi, Dipti, Mahesh Sawant, and Chirag Bhuva. I would also like to thank Piyush, Anil, Vipul, Mehul, Pooja, Leena, Bharat Bhuva, Sandip, Jignesh and Suresh for all their kind support.
I am blessed with a lot of my friends since childhood who have been my actual strength. I would like to thank them all. I thank, Dhaval, Jigar, Bhaumik, Jay, Jinand, Bhavik, Tanmay, Vishal Dattani, Rajat, Paurav. I also thank all my closest friends from my Graduation as well as Post Garduation times in Vallabh vidyanagar. I was blessed to have Kaushal, Divyesh, Nilaesh, Apurva, Mehul, and my colleague at both the places my dear Pankaj Mer for their never ending support and encouragement. I would also like to express my deep sense of gratitude to Dr. Ranjanben A. Shah and Mr. Aditya A. Shah for their kind concern and moral support which made us feel at home. I specifically thank Ranjan madam for all her help and expertise that she gave me when I had met with a few accidents during this tenure. Thank you so much madame. I would like to express my feelings of gratitude to Prof. P. H. Parsania, Professor and Head, Department of Chemistry, Saurashtra University, Rajkot for providing adequate infrastructure facilities. I would also like to thank teaching and non-teaching staff members of Department of Chemistry, Saurashtra University, Rajkot. I am also grateful to Sophisticated Analytical Instrumentation Facility (SAIF), RSIC, Punjab University, Chandigarh for 1 H NMR, Department of Chemistry, Saurashtra University, Rajkot for IR, Mass and Elemental analysis. My sincere thanks go to Prof. Christophe Pannecouque, Rega Institute of Medical Research, Leuven, Belgium who have screened my compounds for Anti-HIV activity.
I would also like to thank High Authority Commands, University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi and Saurashtra University, Rajkot for providing state of the art laboratory facility and other infrastructure facilities and also to Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi, as well as Claris Life Sciences, Ahmedabad, for all the financial support given to me by selecting me as Senior Research fellow in a Major Research Project. I would like to thank each and every one of them who helped me directly or indirectly during this wonderful and lots of experience gaining journey. I apologize if in any case I am missing out any of the names as I am thankful to one and all. Last but not the least, I very sincerely and humbly bow my head before The Almighty who has been kind enough to shower me with all these blessings and who made me capable to carry out this humble work. All that I do or all that I have done so far is all due to HIS mercy and will. I surrender to HIM and seek HIS blessings for my Future. Nilay U. Pandya April, 2010