Janak Singh

I come from Poonch, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), India. Post partition of India in 1947, our refugee family (I at age 5, father Harnam Singh and mother Vidhya Kour with a younger brother and sister) stayed for one year at Khana, a town in Punjab. Then we were moved briefly to a refugee camp in Chukrota, followed by three years in Yol camp, Dharamsala, Punjab. Finally the family was settled in Kathua/Jammu.

After graduation from Jammu (1960), completed M.Sc in Physical Chemistry and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry with Professor Gurbakhsh Singh in 1970, at Bananas Hindu University (BHU), in Varanasi.

I taught Chemistry for 6 years (2 in J&K and 4 at BHU) and then in 1973 joined Post Doctorate fellowship at Columbia University, NYC, USA with Professor Gilbert Stork a leading Organic Chemist of his time. The work of first paper with him was related to the methodology for the stereoselective synthesis of complex organic molecules (J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 1974, 96, 6181-6182). That work became part of the text books of Advanced Organic Chemistry. Later I worked on the stereospecific synthesis of Plant hormone Gibberellic acid . Four scientific papers were published out of that work. During this time at Columbia University, I also completed the process of immigration to USA.

I joined the Process Research and Development in the Pharmaceutical Research Institute (PRI) of E. R. Squibb (now Bristol-Myers Squibb) at Princeton, NJ in 1981 and retired from there in 2006. I have process patents that are used for the manufacture of two drugs (Reyataz, Protease inhibitor for AIDS) and (Farxiga, SGLT2 inhibitor for Diabetes type 2). These drugs are serving well in the area of human health throughout the world. In the field of Monobactam antibiotics a process patent (German collaboration) was obtained for Azactam for the treatment of infectious diseases caused by gram negative bacteria. That work was done post launch of the drug.

In the field of Heterocycles, one chemical reaction, is referred as “Barrish-Singh Oxidation” (J. Org. Chem., 1993, 58, 4494-4496.). Reaction was developed in collaboration with the Medicinal Discovery scientists at PRI Squibb, Princeton.

During scientific research career in the field of organic chemistry, I have authored and coauthored 60 patents and publications.

Post retirement in 2006, I did study of world religions and wrote a book; The World Religions and the New Era of Science that was published in US in 2010 and in India in 2011. That book was also published in Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu languages. I also wrote four poetry books in Punjabi and the fourth composite book in English "Flights of Reflection" was published in US in 1920. These two books in English are available on internet at the web address: www.janaksinghbooks.com

My wife Indar K. Singh helped me in reviewing the work. She passed away after 52 years of a lovely companionship. My daughter Kulvinder K. Singh , a specialist in medical writing, also provided editorial help during my post retirement literary endeavor.