SKI 25 Programme Book

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

25th INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY SEMINAR (SKI-XXV)

CONTENTS Page
Contents 1
2
Message from the Vice-Chancellor, UPM 3
Message from the Dean, Faculty of Science 4
Message from the Head, Department of Chemistry 5
6
Message from the Chairman of SKI-XXV 7
SKI-XXV Organising Committee 13
Invited Speaker Profiles 16
Panelist Profiles 18
Special Appearance Profiles 21
Career Talk Speakers Profiles 24
Programme Itinerary 26
29
List of 3 Minute Thesis Competition (3MTC) participants 64
List of Video Posters

Student Poster Abstracts
Acknowledgements

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

Message from the Vice Chancellor, UPM

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh and warm greetings to all.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate the Department of Chemistry for their dedication and
commitment in organizing the 25th Industrial Chemistry Seminar (SKI-XXV) for their final
year students as a preparation for their future career, despite the endemic situation we are
currently facing. This event provides good exposure and added value to these students
before they enter into the real working environment or postgraduate studies. I am extending
my gratitude to the organizing committee, sponsors, invited speakers and everyone else
who have helped in making this seminar a success.

On the occasion of the Silver Jubilee celebration, the theme “Chemistry and Beyond:
Exploring New Opportunities” is relevant to this unprecedented time. Now more than ever,
students are required to apply their knowledge in new and changing situations. They must
be prepared to be proactive and innovative, and be equipped with communication and
problem-solving skills due to the rise of a fast-paced industrial era that spans a wide range
of areas including robotics, nanotechnology, computer technology, artificial intelligence and
the Internet of Things (IoT). In addition, with the increase in the usage of technology, we
are also required to equip the next generation with a deep sense of humanity in their quest
in sustaining a better life and environment for the future.

I believe this event will provide the best platform for the undergraduates to share their
research, listen to experts in the field, and be prepared for their future endeavours.

Finally, congratulations to all of you on your upcoming graduation in post-Covid era and
may you find your rightful place in the job market. Your persistence, determination, and
resilience will take you far in your next chapter of life.

Thank you.

“Shared Prosperity Vision 2030”
“With Knowledge We Serve”

PROF. DR. MOHD ROSLAN SULAIMAN
Vice Chancellor,
Universiti Putra Malaysia

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

Message from the Dean, Faculty of Science

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh and warm greetings to all.

Firstly, let me welcome all the final year Chemistry students, lecturers, invited speakers and
sponsors to the 25th Industrial Chemistry Seminar (SKI-XXV) organized by the Department
of Chemistry, Faculty of Science. In its 25th installment, the seminar continues a tradition
with the theme “Chemistry and Beyond: Exploring New Opportunities, providing the final
year students with the opportunity to share their research along with experience sharing by
the alumni and experts in the field.

Congratulations on successfully holding the second virtual seminar for this year. The
success of this seminar depends very much on the efforts of the organizing committee. Our
goal is to ensure that the seminar provides the students with networking opportunities as
well as a supportive virtual environment for their next chapter of life.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given a global impact on recent and upcoming graduate
employability. With rising retrenchment and unemployment rates, students should be more
creative and use the challenges as motivation to achieve work-life balance. This is the
starting point for students to rebalance their expectations in the hope of striking a balance
between interest and reality on the ground. Take advantage of traineeship opportunities to
develop industry-relevant skills and build professional networks, which will help you stand
out to potential employers.

Finally, I would like to say thank you and congratulations to the organizing SKI-XXV,
speakers and sponsors for their unfailing support for this seminar. I am truly pleased to say
that the committee has indeed proven that, with or without COVID-19, the show must go
on. I would like also to wish all the final year students the best in your future endeavors.

Thank you.

“Shared Prosperity Vision 2030”
“With Knowledge We Serve”

PROF. ChM DR. MOHD BASYARUDDIN ABDUL RAHMAN, FASc, FMIC, FRSC, IAAM
Dean,
Faculty of Science
Universiti Putra Malaysia

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

Message from the Head, Department of Chemistry

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh and Salam Sejahtera.

Time flies and a year has gone by, Alhamdulillah, with His grace, we are bestowed a chance
to once again have our annual Industrial Chemistry Seminar (SKI). This year is the SKI 25th
(SKI-XXV) anniversary and the second time of having it virtually. On behalf of the
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, I would like to express my gratitude to the
committee for taking up this challenge in conducting this online seminar.

SKI has been a traditional event caters especially for the final year students. The theme
“Chemistry and Beyond: Exploring New Opportunities” is set to provide the students the
know-how in utilizing their acquired knowledge and skills in different areas of chemistry field
in their future undertakings. The world technology is evolving fast, and the current
generation of chemists should be equipped to face the many new practices. The gig
economy is now a common way in career prospect. The changes are challenges to be
grabbed as opportunities in career exploration. SKI is a small window for the students to
peek in the life after graduation. My hope is through presentation and discussion during
SKI, lights are shed on issues, trends, concerns from which the students would gain
insights. I am glad to see that a platform is also provided to let students be exposed to oral
presentation via 3MTC. This is a method to harness some of the students’ intelligence and
confidence in public speaking.

I appreciate all the speakers, sponsors, and participants who have put efforts in making
this seminar a success. To the students, you have been the ‘children’ of the Chemistry
Department’s home, soon most of you will be leaving this sanctuary, please take away with
you not only the knowledge but also the virtues. May each of you be making us proud, and
do remember ‘knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand’.

Thank you.

“With Knowledge We Serve”

ASSOC. PROF. ChM. DR. INTAN SAFINAR ISMAIL
Head,
Department of Chemistry
Universiti Putra Malaysia

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
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Message from the Chairman of SKI-XXV

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh and warm greetings to all.

Welcome to the 25th Industrial Chemistry Seminar (SKI-XXV), a meaningful annual event
for our Department of Chemistry. This year it is more meaningful as we are celebrating the
Silver Jubilee of this seminar.

This fascinating seminar affords an inspiring and insightful talks on the career opportunities
as well as on the challenges in the career life. The alumni from the Department of Chemistry
are invited to broaden the students’ view on how industrial chemists utilise and apply their
skills and knowledge in a different area of the chemical industry.

Chemistry goes beyond mere observation and understanding of Nature. The theme for this
year’s seminar, “Chemistry and Beyond: Exploring New Opportunities” is relevant to the
current economic situation. Our rather conservative younger generation is required to
radically change their mindset through exposure to other disciplines and advanced
technologies, thereby exploring new possibilities. We must break by all means the
unnecessary, long-standing tenacious walls that divide scientific disciplines. This program
is not only a platform for knowledge generation but provides an excellent opportunity for
tremendous networking and cooperation among each other.

Finally, my heartfelt appreciation goes to the organising team for their dedication and
commitment in ensuring the success of this event. Once again, I would like to thank all the
speakers for the willingness to share their knowledge with all participants. I wish good luck
to all the participants in their future endeavours.

Thank you.

“Shared Prosperity Vision 2030”
“With Knowledge We Serve”

ASSOC. PROF. ChM. DR. HASLINA AHMAD
Chairman,
25th Industrial Chemistry Seminar (SKI-XXV)
Universiti Putra Malaysia

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

SKI-XXV ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Patron : YBhg. Prof. Dr. Mohd Roslan Sulaiman, Vice Chancellor, UPM
Advisors
: YBhg. Prof. ChM. Dr. Mohd Basyaruddin Abdul Rahman,
Dean, Faculty of Science, UPM

Chairman Assoc. Prof. ChM. Dr. Intan Safinar Ismail,
Head of Chemistry Department, UPM

: Assoc. Prof. ChM. Dr. Haslina Ahmad

Vice-Chairman : Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shahrul Ainliah Alang Ahmad

Treasurer : ChM. Dr. Ruzniza Mohd Zawawi
Dr. Siti Mariam Mohd Nor

Secretary : Assoc. Prof. ChM. Dr. Siti Nurul Ain Md. Jamil
Mrs. Noor Hanaliza Nandzori

Technical and : Assoc. Prof. ChM. Dr. Bimo Ario Tejo
Publicity Dr. Muhammad Alif Mohammad Latif
Dr. Mohd Haniff Wahid
Dr. Mohd Rashidi Abdull Manap

Scientific : Dr. Ili Syazana Johari
Reception ChM. Dr. Norizah Abdul Rahman
Dr. Nadiah Mad Nasir
Dr. Sazlinda Kamaruzaman (FYP)
Mr. Muhd Mustaqim Muhamad
Mr. Nor Azura Zulkafly

: Dr. Siti Efliza Ashari
Dr. Siti Munirah Mohd Faudzi
Miss Nurul Syazwani Ahmat Samsuri
Miss Naqibah Kamaruzzaman

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

INVITED SPEAKER PROFILES

Mr. Ezaideen A. Lokman
Process Safety Engineering Lead
Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd

Mr. Ezaideen Ahmad Lokman is currently the Process Safety Engineering Lead at Petron
Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd. Among the few in Malaysia being Certified as Major
Hazard Competent Person by DOSH Malaysia, he also holds accreditation for several
Certification Bodies from TÜV International as Functional Safety Engineer (Process Hazard
& Risk Assessment and Safety Instrumented System) including Certified Pressure Relief
Devices Inspector and American Petroleum Institute’s RBI Certified.

He holds 14 years of experience in the field of process safety which spans from Upstream
Offshore Oil & Gas Producing Facilities, Downstream Oil, Gas & Petrochemical Refining,
LNG & Gas Processing and Power Generation Business.

He graduated from Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Majoring in Petroleum
Chemistry in May 2008 and completed his Postgraduate Degree from Faculty of Chemical
Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Majoring in Process Safety Plant Management
in 2012. He has been appointed as Industry’s Expert Reviewer Panel for UPM’s Bachelor
of Science (Hons.) Petroleum Chemistry and UTP’s Master of Science Process Safety
since 2021.

Determined. Energetic. Dependable. Goal Oriented. He actively organizes Social
Responsibility Programs; appointed Residential Area’s Yang Di Pertua since the age of 30;
appointed Vice Chairman for Parents & Teachers Association for three consecutive years.
He believes in giving back to the society and community and actively being involved for
charity programs throughout the first phase of MCO.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
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ChM. Dr. Thiruventhan Karunakaran
Senior Lecturer
Centre for Drug Research,
Universiti Sains Malaysia,
11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia

ChM. Dr. Thiruventhan Karunakaran or better known as Dr. Thiru is a senior lecturer
(Natural Product Chemistry and Chemical Spectroscopy) at the Centre for Drug Research,
Universiti Sains Malaysia. He also teaches at the School of Chemical Sciences and the
School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Dr. Thiru joined USM in 2018 and his areas of expertise are in Natural Product Chemistry,
Analytical Chemistry, Pharmacognosy, Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry. His
research is focused on drug development and preclinical studies of potential compounds
from natural, semi-synthetic as well as botanical drug development and herbal
standardization for the treatment of addiction and pain. He is currently supervising 16 Ph.D
and MSc students. Thiru is a principal investigator of Fundamental Research Grant Scheme
(FRGS) and Short-term Grant Scheme. He is also a co-investigator in Technology
Development Fund (TeD1), Ministry of Science and Innovation Malaysia and Sarawak
Research Development Council (SRDC). To date, he has 26 publications and more than
half of them are in high impact (Q1 and Q2) ISI journals.

Dr. Thiru graduated with a BSc (Hons) degree in Chemistry from Universiti Putra Malaysia
(UPM) in 2014 and immediately pursued a PhD and graduated in 2017 from the same
university. He is an active member of Malaysian Institute of Chemistry and Malaysian
Natural Products Society.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

Madam Adelina Iskandar
Public Relations Consultant

Madam Adelina Iskandar now freelances on special projects on matters pertaining to Public
Relations and Corporate Communications.

Madam Adelina’s previous post was Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Tenaga Nasional
Berhad. Adelina’s division covered all aspects of Corporate Communications, Regulatory
Relations and Management, CSR and also the Yayasan Tenaga Foundation.

She was also previously with SYABAS as General Manager, Customer Service Division
(PUSPEL and had also served as Director of Corporate Communications with the
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) where she was
responsible for all matters pertaining to media, government and public relations as well as
overall strategy of the branding and image building of the commission.

Prior to that Madam Adelina was attached with the Association of Chartered Certified
Accountants where she was responsible for members’ relations as well as corporate
communications. Adelina was also in the education field for 10 years as Director of the
University Preparatory Programme with an American twinning programme here. She holds
a bachelor’s Degree in Humanities and a Masters in Linguistics and has more than 30
years’ experience in public relations and training.

She is a member of the Institute of Public Relations Malaysia (IPRM) and also the ASEAN
PR Network.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
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Datuk ChM. Dr. Soon Ting-Kueh
Institut Kimia Malaysia (IKM)

Datuk ChM. Dr. Soon Ting-Kueh is very active in promoting the advancement of chemistry
in Malaysia, Asia and the rest of the world. He serves in the IKM Council since 1988 and
has held many positions in IKM Council, including Chairman of Chemical Education Section
since 1988 and President from 2007 – 2014. Currently he is the President since 2018. With
his involvement, IKM organized many international conferences and meetings such as the
7th Asian Chemical Congress (7ACC) in 2007, the 10th Asian Conference on Analytical
Sciences (ASIANALYSIS X) in 2009, the IUPAC International Conference on Chemical
Research Applied to World Needs (CHEMRAWN XIX) in 2011 and the 24th IUPAC
International Conference in Chemistry Education (ICCE) in Kuching, Malaysia in 2016.

Dr. Soon is also very active in the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies (FACS), being
its President (2007 – 2009) and Treasurer from 2016 – 2020. In the last few years, he is
especially active in promoting collaborations among FACS member societies. He organized
the Cambodian Malaysian Chemical Congress (CMCC) in Seam Reap, Cambodia in 2012,
the Vietnam Malaysian Chemical Congress (VMCC) in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2014 and the
International Symposium on Pure and Applied Chemistry (ISPAC) 2017 in Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam in 2017. From 2018 onwards, IKM organizes a series of International
Congress on Pure and Applied Chemistry (ICPAC) in ASEAN countries including ICPAC
Siem Reap 2018, ICPAC Langkawi 2018 and ICPAC Yangon 2019. ICPAC 2021 will be
held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia in November 2021.

In 2012, Dr. Soon was conferred a Honorary Doctorate by the Kazan National Research
Technological University, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia and in 2013, he was admitted as a
Honorary Fellow of the Singapore National Institute of Chemistry. For his contribution to the
advancement of chemistry in Asia and the Pacific, Datuk Dr Soon Ting Kueh is awarded
the FACS Citation Award 2015.

Datuk Dr. Soon continues to serve IKM and plays an active role in promoting the
advancement and public understanding of chemistry in Malaysia, Asia and other parts of
the world.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

Dr. Chidera Hilarion Okoye
Research Assistant
(University of Lincoln)

Chidera is a recent PhD graduate and a researcher, having attained his degree in 2021.
Following this he worked within the University of Lincoln as a research assistant. His role
involved carrying out thermal analytical studies on polymers as part of a collaborative
project. He is a non-executive director of Juhel Nigerian Limited – a leading indigenous
pharmaceutical company in Nigeria.

An analytical chemist with over 5 years of research experience built from academia through
post-graduate studies and research roles. Chidera has strong expertise in the thermal
analytical field, particularly with techniques such as DSC and TGA. As a non-executive
director of Juhel Nigeria Limited, he is involved in broad discussions on the direction of the
company and the development of strategies optimum for the companies growth.

Chidera obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Bradford, studying
Chemistry for Medicines Development – going on to achieve his master’s degree at the
same institution. This was followed by a PhD at the University of Lincoln – specialising in
thermal analysis.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

ChM. Dr. Nurul Ain A. Talib
Scientist
Malaysia Genome and Vaccine Institute
National Institutes of Biotechnology
Malaysia

Ch.M. Dr. Nurul Ain A. Talib, better known as Dr. Ain is the Scientist for Synthetic Biology
& Genetic Engineering in Malaysia Genome and Vaccine Institute (MGVI)-National
Institutes of Biotechnology Malaysia (NIBM). Dr. Ain is a member of Synthetic Biology &
Genetic Engineering and is responsible for research and development projects in MGVI.
Currently, Dr. Ain projects include the development of various disease detection kits,
protein detection kit, and Covid-16 screening programs.

Dr. Ain has served Malaysia Genome and Vaccine Institute (MGVI), previously known as
Malaysia Genome Institute for 3 years where the responsibilities are more on the R&D in
projects related to immunosensor, lateral flow assay, and virus screening in service and
R&D projects. Previously, she works as a Researcher in the R&D group for polymer coating
at Top Glove International Sdn Bhd (one of the main glove manufacturing companies in the
world) and gained experience in the glove manufacturing process mainly in troubleshooting
and R&D of thin layer polymer glove coating. She also had served as Research Officer at
MARDI for project biosensors in the development of polyclonal antibodies as biorecognition
elements in toxin biosensors.

She is a Member of Malaysian Institute of Chemistry since 2019. Dr. Ain graduated from
Universiti Putra Malaysia in Sensor Technology Engineering (Ph.D. 2018), Polymer
Chemistry (MSc 2013), and Industrial Chemistry (BSc 2008). She was awarded PhD with
Distinction and Graduate on Time in 2018 by UPM. Dr. Ain has published academic journals
in Q1 and Q2 tier journals and presented her research finding in local and international
conferences. She also won a gold medal (ITEX’19) and a silver medal (PECIPTA’19) in
international and local innovation and invention competitions.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

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PANELIST PROFILES

Mr. Nik Mohd Zulhakimi Nik Abdullah
Assistant Manager
Duopharma Innovation Sdn Bhd

Mr. Nik Mohd Zulhakimi, better known as Mr. Zulhakimi is the Assistant Manager for
Analytical Department in Duopharma Innovation Sdn. Bhd. Leading a team of 7 Analytical
Executives and 4 other Sr. Supervisor, Mr. Zulhakimi is responsible in managing analytical
related projects in Duopharma Innovation Sdn Bhd, engaging with other Duopharma sister
company in Duopharma Biotech Berhad.

With more than 13 years of work experiences in pharmaceutical industry, he has been an
all-rounder in technical pharmaceutical specifically in Analytical, Quality Control,
Formulation, Process, and Equipment Qualification. Such technical area of pharmaceutical
involved are Analytical Method Validation, Analytical Method Transfer, Oral Solid Dosage
Re-Formulation, Process Validation, Technology Transfer from R & D to manufacturing
facility, and Commercialization of New Product.

Mr. Zulhakimi graduated from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, majored in Analytical and
Environmental Chemistry in 2007.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

Miss Siti Farhana Binti Abu Osman
Chief Executive Officer,
PTTI GROUP SDN BHD

Miss Siti Farhana binti Abu Osman, better known as Cikgu Fana is the Chief Executive
Officer for PTTI Group Sdn. Bhd. Leading a team from 2015, Cikgu Fana is responsible
offering academic improvement in education for secondary level education for SPM
Science Stream subjects with special method and formula.

With more than 11 years of teaching experiences in education specialized in Chemistry
subject, Cikgu Fana has helped more than 100,000 students to improve their academic
examination results. From 2015, Cikgu Fana developed comprehensive guidance and
method to most proven results formulas and techniques to help students keep the
learning easy and simple yet could improve exam grade from zero to success.

Cikgu Fana is a qualified Educator and holds the Master of Science Nanotechnology &
Material Science from Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia. Strong passion for the
education makes she spent time via creating effective learning environments endeavor
to increase learning potentials of their students.

In 2020, she received The BrandLaureate SMEs e-Branding Awards 2020 in the category
of the Online Education Platform. Building a greater online presence has always been the
goal of Cikgu Fana. This was in line with the company’s vision of becoming the Netflix of
education by obtaining two million subscribers by 2024.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
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Miss Fatin Yusoff

Senior PR and Events Executive
GRADUAN®

Miss Fatin Yusoff is a Senior PR & Events executive at GRADUAN® with 5 years’
experience in media and communication fields. Miss Fatin has led numerous GRADUAN
Flagship events including GRADUAN ASPIRE, The Malaysian UK Career Fair, GRADUAN-
MASCA Australia Fair and new initiated GRADUAN Global and US Career Networking
Fair. With more than three years of work experiences in career resources industry, Miss
Fatin has been actively engage with talents globally.

She has earned a wide spread of expertise in specific industries such as Business Strategy,
Planning and Communication Management as her ultimate forte.

Miss Fatin graduated from the Birmingham City University, United Kingdom with a master
in Global Media Management.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

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SPECIAL APPEARANCE I PROFILE

Dr. Nor Afzalina Azmee (better known as Nia Azalea)
Lecturer / Part-time Writer
UPSI / Karangkraf

Nia Azalea, also formally known as Dr. Nor Afzalina Azmee full-time lecturer in Universiti
Pendidikan Sultan Idris and a part-time writer in Karangkraf. As a writer, she has published
her work under Alaf21, where the theme is generally targeted to female audience and the
focus is on the growth of a female protagonist. On the other hand, as a senior lecturer, her
responsibilities include teaching mathematics/statistics for undergraduate and master’s
level, consulting, doing research and writing academic papers.

Her first novel entitled Kau Yang Satu, was published in 2002 and was well-received by the
general audience. Since then, she had published two more novels and had collaborated
with two authors in writing a collection of stories, which was set on the main character being
a pilot. In 2017, her first novel was adapted into a movie, starring Aaron Aziz and Izara
Aishah. To celebrate the event, the original work was revised and published with a different
ending and several shots from filming the movie was also included in this limited-edition
novel.

Nia Azalea graduated from UTM in Industrial Mathematics and subsequently obtained her
master degree in Statistics and PhD in Statistics from University of Warwick and University
of Sheffield, respectively. Although she did not receive any formal education in literature or
creative writing, she is passionate about reading and is using that experience as informal
guideline in being a part-time writer.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
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SPECIAL APPEARANCE II PROFILE

Mr. Muhammad Yaaqub Hambiaq bin Mahmood
Senior Interior Designer
TBR Home Design

Mr. Muhammad Yaaqub Hambiaq bin Mahmood or Yaaqub Mahmood is a Senior Interior
Designer at TBR Home Design, a local Interior Design company based in Shah Alam. As
the senior executive, he is responsible for fulfilling clients’ design needs and coordinating
the production team into realizing clients’ dreams.

Used to work at JKR and Legend Kitchen,he has been in this industry for almost 10 years
and has done numerous Commercial, Residential and Office Projects.

He studied at Fakulti Sains UPM (Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Chemistry) for 2 years
until he decided to change his program of studies under Faculty of Design and Architecture,
(Bachelor of Architecture). He then continues his Master degree in Architecture in UiTM for
another 2 years.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

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CAREER TALK PROFILES

Miss Jessica Evans
Membership Recruitment Executive – Industry

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), United Kingdom

Having trained as a Chemist and following 3 years working within a laboratory setting,
Jessica joined the membership department at the Royal Society of Chemistry. Her role as
Membership Recruitment Executive involves partnering with and supporting companies of
all sizes and varieties to help them achieve a framework for continuing professional
development, setting a pathway to the RSC professional recognition awards and aiding
their recruitment and retention of talented chemical scientists.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
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Dr. Robert Bowles MRSC
Careers and Professional Development Adviser
The Royal Society of Chemistry, (RSC), United Kingdom

After an early career in marine biotechnology, Robert moved out of
the lab, gaining five years’ experience in sales and marketing of educational software to
schools. He joined the Royal Society of Chemistry fourteen years ago, and managed a
programme of their successful education and careers projects.

As a qualified careers adviser, he currently works in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s
Career Management team; offering careers advice to our membership and the wider
chemistry community.
www.rsc.org/careers

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

ChM. Voon Chang Hong Cchem.
Staff Chemist
PETRONAS Research Sdn Bhd

Madam Voon Chang Hong, better known as Voon is Staff Chemist in Centralized
Laboratory, Advance Expert Common Centre in PETRONAS Research Sdn. Bhd. She is
an analytical chemist involved in product development, measurement, and quality
assurance specifically for petroleum and petrochemical R&D products. Voon is specialized
in analytical instrumentation, methodology development and solution provider that having
to do with the properties of chemical systems in every technology development process,
who serves PETRONAS R&D research development work as well as other PETRONAS
operating units. Besides her core role, she also active in promoting analytical science and
technology in Community of Practice platform within PETRONAS fraternity and she
manages R&D Method Review Committee to bound up with industrial and international
standard.

With more than 20 years of work experiences in PETRONAS, she involved in petroleum
products characterization, development and formulation in the early part of her career. In
recent years, she focusses in providing technical leadership and consultation in analytical
solution for R&D projects. She has years of experience in managing an accredited
laboratory and a resource person in developing laboratory management system in the
research center.

She is a member of Institut Kimia Malaysia and a qualified Chartered Chemist awarded by
Royal Society of Chemistry RSC. Madam Voon graduated from University Putra Malaysia,
majored in Chemistry and had further her studied in the Degrees of Master of Science in
Instrumental Analytical Chemistry in University Malaya.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

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PROGRAMME ITINERARY

The 25th Industrial Chemistry Seminar @ Seminar Kimia Industri-XXV

3rd March 2022
Thursday, 8.00 am – 4.35 pm, Malaysia Time MYT

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/97600986150?pwd=eHA4Q2o0ajlHNU1yU2JXTmt6WlMvQT09

Meeting ID: 976 0098 6150
Passcode: 866269

8.00 am Online Registration
8.15 am
8.35 am Invited speaker 1
8.55 am UPM Alumnus

9.15 am Mr. Ezaideen Bin Ahmad
Process Safety, SHHE Division, PETRON Malaysia
9.30 am
9.45 am Invited speaker 2
10.05 am UPM Alumnus

ChM. Dr. Thiruventhan Karunakaran
Universiti Sains Malaysia

Invited speaker 3
Mdm. Adelina Iskandar
Public Relations Consultant

Student Montage I

Virtual activity with undergraduate students
Chemistry Undergraduate Students Club (KMK)

Promotion of MSKK
Master in Science Program by Coursework

(Analytical Chemistry)

Special Appearance I
Nia Azalea

Novelist ‘Kau yang Satu’

Invited speaker 4
Datuk ChM. Dr. Soon Ting Kueh
President, Malaysian Institute of Chemistry (IKM)

Invited speaker 5
Dr. Chidera Hilarion Okoye
Director, Juhel Nigeria Limited

10.25 am Student Montage II
10.30 am Break

Opening Ceremony

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

OPPORTUNITIES” Singing of National and Putra Gemilang anthem
10.35 am Prayer recitation
10.45 am
Welcoming remarks
Assoc. Prof. ChM. Dr. Haslina Binti Ahmad

Chairman, SKI-XXV

10.50 am Welcoming remarks
YBhg. Prof. ChM. Dr. Mohd. Basyaruddin Bin Abdul Rahman

Dean, Faculty of Science, UPM

10.55 am Officiating speech
YBhg. Prof. Dr. Mohd Roslan Bin Sulaiman

Vice-Chancellor, UPM

11.00 am Officiating gimmick
11.05 am Photography session

Invited speaker 6
UPM Alumnus

ChM. Dr. Nurul Ain Binti A. Talib
Malaysia Genome Institute

Forum and dialogue session
Theme: “Chemistry and Beyond: Exploring New Opportunities”

11.25 am Panelist:
1. Mr. Nik Mohd. Zulhakimi Bin Nik Abdullah
12.30 pm Assistant Manager (Analytical), Duopharma Innovation Sdn Bhd
2.15 pm
2. Mdm. Siti Farhana Binti Abu Osman
3.00 pm CEO, PTTI

3. Miss Fatin Binti Yusoff
Graduan®

Break

Special Appearance II
UPM Alumnus

Mr. Yaaqub Mahmood
Singer

Career Talk
Miss Jessica Evans
Membership Recruitment Executive – Industry
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), United Kingdom

Dr. Robert Bowles
Career & Professional Developer Adviser
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), United Kingdom

22

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

OPPORTUNITIES” Career Talk
3.30 pm UPM Alumnus
ChM. Voon Chang Hong
Staff Chemist, Petronas Research Sdn Bhd

3.50 pm Q&A session
Closing Ceremony

4.00 pm Closing remarks
Assoc. Prof. ChM. Dr. Intan Safinar Binti Ismail
Head of Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, UPM

4.10 pm Video presentation of the 3-MTC journey & announcement of 3-MTC
winners
4.20 pm
4.30 pm Announcement of video poster competition winners

Speech from student’s representative

Montage from SKI-25 committee

4.35 pm End of programme

23

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

OPPORTUNITIELSI”ST OF 3 MINUTE THESIS COMPETITION (3MTC)

NO. TITLE CONTESTANTS

1 Discovery of novel inhibitor of mycobacterium Nurul Husna binti Abdul Rahem
tuberculosis cyp121, an anti-tuberculosis drug target.

2 The perilous potential behind uric acid Nur Aqilah binti Aziz

3 DFT functionals and their effect on the excited state Munirah binti Abdilah
band gap energy

4 Preparation and 24haracterization of antimicrobial on Azra Afrina binti Mohamad Zulkifli
paper food packaging

5 Synthesis of methoxycinnamate lignan derivatives Nuraina Humaira binti
Kamarulzaman

6 Vitamin c deficiency: can it be detected? Aisya binti Md Isa
(Finalist)

7 Exploring cellulose-based kenaf as a potential bio- Nur Ezzatul Shahira binti Azizon
adsorbent for dye removal (Finalist)

8 The uniqueness of aromatic leaves benefits all Siti Aisah binti Hamdan

9 Zapping the pathogens Nur Syamimie binti Mohd Rozali
10 From round to hexagonal shape. Is that matter? (Finalist)

Elly Rasyidah binti Selamat

11 Today’s waste, tomorrow’s fuel Muhammad Syahmi Bin Sal Azizi
12 Oxidation Gets Better with Supported Catalyst Nurfatin Liyana binti Rohizat

13 BPA: Hidden Compound in Plastics Nur Atiqah Raihana binti Suhaimi
(Finalist)

14 The Ocean Isn’t the World’s Trash Can Shalini Vijayakumaran
(Finalist)

15 The Recycling Efficiency of Battery for world Law Yoo Kee
sustainability

16 Help Mr. J to fight cancer Nur Qurratu Ain binti Ahmad Nordin
(Finalist)

17 Phytochemistry and Antidiabetic Properties of Nur Masitah Mohd Nasarudin
Paederia foetida in ethyl acetate extract

18 Towards green future Muhammad Mustaqhim Alias
19 Colorful Fabrics are Polluting Water Resources
20 Drug Loading: Tweak to Tick Nurul Syamirah binti Shamsul
Bahari

Thean Mei Yean
(Finalist)

24

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

OPPORTUNITIES” CONTESTANTS
NO. TITLE Nor Aliya binti Amran
21 DMF as a promising biofuel Nur Amira Natasya Jamil
22 The power of Sawdust in wastewater treatment

23 T & MOF: The Fungi Fighters Nurul Ain binti Muhammed
24 Synthesis of Benzimidazole
25 The Ocean Isn’t Keen to Taste Our Waste Muhammad Fakrullah bin Ismail
26 Pesticides On Demand (Finalist)
27 ZIFs as a Promising Material in the Future
28 Chalcone: Future medicine for epilepsy Amiithra A/P Thevanesan
29 We are going nuts for better water quality! (Finalist)
30 Sun Shield: Protect the Skin You’re In
Muhammad Syahmi bin Hasan

Kurbashini Selvarajoo
(Finalist)

Muhammad Syafiq Akmal bin Mohd
Fahmi

Nor Azlina binti Mujir
(Finalist)

Nur Fahani binti Osman

31 Photocatalytic regenerative adsorbent for water Nurul Atiqah binti Shahri
treatment (Finalist)

32 Clear skin, happy skin Nur Fazlina binti Aziz

33 Clustering Malaysian Gasoline for Forensic Analysis Nur Azalina Ajmahera binti
Shamsudin
34 Dock a Dengue with Curcumin
Tan Ee Fei
35 More than a basic cleanser; bye-bye dark spot!! (Finalist)
36 AZO Dyes: Scandal in Fashion Industries Nursyawaltul Akina binti Abdul
Raman
(Finalist)

Nor Athirah binti Abdul Romli

37 Meet the E-nose that actually sniffs Nazatul Aqilah binti Azrul Affendy

38 The fascinating of self-healing rubber Amirul Asyraf bin Noor Nasruddin

39 Make yourself invisible with graphene nanofiber Nur Afiqah binti Badrulhisham
40 Vanishing Plastic
Priyameeta Vennu
(Finalist)

25

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

OPPORTUNITIES” LIST OF VIDEO POSTERS PAGE
30
POSTER TITLE 31
NUMBER 32
33
P01 THE USE OF OIL PALM WASTE
Nur Ayunni Ahmad Shahrul Amin, Irmawati Ramli* 34
35
SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AU-PD
P02 SUPPORTED ZIF-8 CATALYST 36

Nur Nisa Mardhiah Azmi, Izham Saiman* 37

P03 GRAPHENE-BASED SORBENT MATERIAL FOR BROAD- 38
SPECTRUM WASTEWATER TREATMENT 39

Nurzulaiha Zuraimy, Mohd Haniff Wahid* 40

ADSORPTION STUDY OF PERFLUOROOCTANE 26
P04 SULFONATE (PFOS) USING SODIUM

ALGINATE/CYCLODEXTRIN-BASED HYDROGEL
Tuan Nur Khairunnisha Tuan Roslan, Aiza Farhani Zakaria,
Sazlinda Kamaruzaman*

MINERALIZATION OF ACID BLACK 1 BY
P05 PHOTOREGENERATIVE
ADSORBENT

Siti Aisyah Abdullah, Zulkarnain Zainal*

P06 PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF
POLY(LACTIC ACID)/ CARBOXYMETHYL CELLULOSE

BIOCOMPOSITE

Seri Syahinda Samsudin, Priyameeta Vennu, Norhazlin

Zainuddin’ Norizah Abdul Rahman*

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERISATION OF Cu(II), Ni(II),
P07 La(III), AND Pr(III) PHENYLALANINE-TEREPHTHALDEHYDE

DERIVED SCHIFF BASE METAL COMPLEXES
Sofea Hani Samidi, Fatin Syakila Ahmad Shukor, Velan
Raman, Natasya Muhamad Khirudin, Mohamed Ibrahim
Mohamed Tahir*

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF COBALT (Co)
P08 SUPPORTED ON ACTIVATED CARBON (AC) FOR

HYDROGENATION OF HYDROXYMETHYLFURFURAL (HMF)
Fatin Syamimi Ahmad Shukor, Nor Aliya Amran, Nor Azam
Endot*

P09 SYNTHESIS OF 8,8’-LIGNAN FROM SINAPIC ACID
Nur Syafinas Sudi, Siti Mariam Mohd Nor*

APPROACH TO INCREASE THE ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY
P10 FROM THERMOPHILIC CYANOBACTERIA BY USING

MODIFIED BG-11 MEDIUM
Norhidayah Saleh, Siti Zulyana Azmi, Fong Li Yee, Anthony
Nyangson Steven*

REMOVAL OF 2-CHLOROETHYL ETHYL SULFIDE USING
P11 GRAPHENE NANOPLATELETS AS ADSORBENT

Norsyamim Alia Mat Anan, Sazlinda Kamaruzaman*

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

OPPORTUNITIES” TITLE PAGE
POSTER 41

NUMBER 42
43
IDENTIFICATION OF BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS AND 44
P12 VITAMINS SYNTHESIZED BY THERMOPHILIC 45
46
CYANOBACTERIA USING UPLC-MS/MS 47
Siti Zulyana Azmi*, Anthony Nyangson Steven, Norhidayah 48
Saleh, Fong Li Yee 49
50
ELECTROCHEMICAL SENSING OF URIC ACID USING CU- 51
P13 ASP/MWCNTs/SPE MODIFIED ELECTRODE
52
Nur Irdina ‘Amirah Dewa Indra, Ruzniza Mohd Zawawi*
27
P14 MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS VACCINE DESIGN
USING REVERSE VACCINOLOGY

Nur Afrina Mohamad Abdul Ghafar, Bimo Ario Tejo*

WASTE GLASS DERIVED CATALYSTS FOR THE
P15 PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL

Adam Syafiq, Tan Yen Ping*

P16 EVALUATION OF POTENTIAL ENERGY FOR MOLECULAR
SIMULATION USING DIFFERENT CHARGE METHODS

Mohd Farid Ismail*, Fakriah Mutiyah Omar

IN SILICO STUDIES AND SYNTHESIS OF
P17 TRIFLUOROMETHYLBENZENESULFONYLATED

CHALCONES AS NEW ΑLPHAGLUCOSIDASE INHIBITORS

Nur Hannani Mohd Sholihin, Siti Munirah Mohd Faudzi*

P18 GREEN SYNTHESIS OF TITANIUM DIOXIDE
NANOPARTICLES USING PLANT EXTRACT
Nur Ilya Aqeela Mahamad Basari, Ernee Noryana Muhamad*

ANALYSIS OF METAL ORGANIC FRAMEWORK (MOF) FOR
P19 CO2 ADSORPTION AND CHEMICAL SENSOR

Tay Khee Guan, Janet Lim Hong Ngee*

P20 DISCOVERY OF DENGUE RNA-DEPENDENT RNA-
POLYMERASE INHIBIT BY ENSEMBLE-BASED MOLECULAR

Heng Pei Pei, Bimo Ario Tejo*

MICROPLASTIC IDENTIFICATION USING FT-IR
P21 Abdul Rahman Zuhari, Mohd Rashidi Abdul Manapp*, Noor

Hazfalinda

P22 DESIGN, IN SILICO STUDIES AND SYNTHESIS OF
HYDROXYLATED N-METHYL-4-PIPERIDONE CURCUMIN

ANALOGS AS ANTIBACTERIAL AGENTS

Siti Nooraziehaa Mohamad Zahar, Siti Munirah Mohd Faudzi*

P23 IN-VITRO PENETRATION STUDY OF NANOEMULSION
CONTAINING ESSENTIAL OIL DERIVED FROM BACKHOUSIA

CITRIODORA

Nur Syazwani Shahidan, Norazlinaliza Salim*

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

OPPORTUNITIES” TITLE PAGE
POSTER 53

NUMBER 54

DETERMINATION OF FATTY ACID TYPES OF 55
P24 THERMOPHILIC CYANOBACTERIA USING LIQUID 56
57
CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS SPECTROMETER (LC/MS) AND 58

GEL PERMEABLE CHROMATOGRAPHY (GPC) 59
Fong Li Yee, Anthony Nyangson Steven* 60
61
INVESTIGATION OF WATER TREATMENT: CDI 62
P25 TECHNOLOGY USING CARBON-BASED ELECTRODE 63

MATERIALS AND INTERCALATION ELECTRODE 28

MATERIALS.
Muhammad Hafiz Helmi Bin Ismail, Lim Hong Ngee*

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF NEW JACAREUBIN
P26 DERIVATIVES AS ANTI- CANCER AGENT.

Nadiah Mad Nasir*, Pavithren Devakrishnan, Nurul Adlina
Hasnul Hadi, Nur Qurratu Ain Ahmad Nordin

TURN-OFF FLUORESCENCE SENSOR BASED ON
P27 CARBON DOTS FOR GLUCOSE DETERMINATION.

Najwa Harun, Jaafar Abdullah*

ADJUSTED GAFF PARAMETERS THAT REPRODUCE
P28 ACCURATE STATIC DIELECTRIC CONSTANT AND DENSITY.

Mohd Farid Ismail*, Wan Ahmad Firdaus Che Hussin

P29 IN SILICO STUDY OF CAROTENOID AND PHENOLIC
COMPOUNDS FROM CHLORELLA SP. MICROALGAE

AGAINST BETA-AMYLOID FIBRIL USING MOLECULAR

DOCKING AND MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS.

Nur Juliyana Bella, Nur Hana Faujan*

ADSORPTION OF METHYLENE BLUE AND
P30 PARACETAMOL BY CARBON NANOTUBE

Nur Ezniey Natasha Hilmy, Nurafiqah Ayob, Abdul Halim
Abdullah*

SYNTHESIS OF BROMINATED BENZIMIDAZOLE
P31 Nuraisyah Nabilah Nor Azlan, Noor Syahirah Muhamad Rafi,

Emilia Abd. Malek*

P32 SYNTHESIS OF IONIC LIQUID TEMPLATED MESOPOROUS
SILICA NANOPARTICLES (MSNs) AND AMINE

FUNCTIONALIZED MSNs FOR CO2 CAPTURE

Aida Afiqah, Zuhaiqal Adnan, Haslina Ahmad*

P33 PREPARATION OF GO/TIO2 NANOCOMPOSITE AS A
PHOTOCATALYST FOR WASTEWATER MITIGATION

Ethan Dern Huang Kong, Cheng Seong Khe*

TOTAL PHENOLIC CONTENT AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY
P34 OF LEMON MYRTLE LEAVES EXTRACT AND ITS

FRACTIONS
Siti Nurhanisha Hamdan, Nur Kartinee Kassim*, Siti Nur Liyana
Darimi, Nurdiyana Amirah Mohamad Shahrul

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

STUDENT POSTER ABSTRACTS

29

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
OPPORTUNITIES”

P01

THE USE OF OIL PALM WASTE

N. A. A. S. Amin1, I, Ramli1*.
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University Putra Malaysia, 43400, UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

As the demand for fossil diesel increase, the demand for biodiesel also increase, as biodiesel is a
main substituent for diesel as it can be more environmentally friendly. Therefore, this research
focused on the production of biodiesel from palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) using a sulfonated acid
carbon catalyst. The catalysts were prepared by impregnation method and labelled as Ar-PKS,
CO2-PKS, N2-PKS and Air-PKS. Data from X-ray Diffraction (XRD) showed that carbon catalyst
was in amorphous form. The presence of sulfonate groups can be detected from Fourier Transform
Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). In EDX spectrum, CO2-PKS showed the highest value of sulphur on
the catalyst. Thermal analysis showed the most stable catalyst is CO2-PKS is Ar-PKS. The highest
BET surface area catalytic test carried out on the catalysts displayed that CO2-PKS gave the highest
biodiesel conversion of 89.73% with parameter 4 h at 80 °C with 4 wt% of catalyst. Investigation of
the effect of different temperature in the carbonization can be done in future study. Also, CHNS
analysis and ammonia TPD can be used to determine accurate amount of carbon and sulfur in the
catalyst and acid site in this catalyst respectively.

30

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

OPPORTUNITIES”

P02

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AU-PD SUPPORTED ZIF-8 CATALYST

N. N. M. Azmi1, I. Saiman1*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia.
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

The study aims to synthesize gold and palladium-supported MOF catalysts with two methods, which
are sol immobilization and impregnation. The objective would be to characterize the product of the
gold palladium-supported ZIF-8 catalyst via X-ray Powder Diffraction and Thermogravimetric
Analysis. Zeolite imidazolate framework, MOF catalyst, sol immobilization, impregnation, bimetallic.
High dispersion is desirable for better utilization of gold catalysts since only atoms that are exposed
to the surface can play a role in surface reactions. The sintering of gold nanoparticles would cause
activity degradation. Two methods of synthesis are investigated in this project with various ratios of
gold and palladium metal. Different ratios of metal were used in each method. The sol
immobilization method is a common technique for preparing gold catalysts. Compared to
monometallic nanoparticles, bimetallic gold-palladium nanoparticles have a higher surface-to-
volume ratio and higher catalytic activity. The difference between sol immobilization and
impregnation is the addition of reducing and protecting agents. Showing that bimetallic catalysts
have better heat stability than monometallic catalysts. The sol immobilization method outperformed
the impregnation method because it generates a smaller crystallite size. The gold and palladium
catalysts differ little in terms of thermal analysis and crystallinity. When two metals are mixed, a
bimetallic catalyst has greater properties than a monometallic catalyst. In terms of thermal analysis
and crystallinity, we can deduce that the gold and palladium catalysts are extremely similar. The
sol immobilization technique outperforms the impregnation method.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

OPPORTUNITIES”

P03

GRAPHENE-BASED SORBENT MATERIAL FOR BROAD-SPECTRUM WASTEWATER
TREATMENT

N. Zuraimy1, M. H. Wahid1*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia.
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Water pollution caused by industrial wastewater severely impact humans, aquatic life, and the
environment. Deployment of porous materials as sorbents have been a favourable technique to
remove pollutants from water. Herein, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (r-GO)
coated melamine foams were prepared aiming to adsorb hydrophilic-based and hydrophobic-based
contaminants respectively from wastewater. Melamine foams was chosen as a substrate to develop
3D permeable material which has ideal characteristics for good sorbent material, namely, low
density, high porosity and robust. Results show that the average oil absorption capacity for r-GO
coated melamine foam was 65.99 g/g. Furthermore, r-GO coated melamine foam with higher
concentration of linker content shows better reusability performance as the absorption capacity did
not deteriorate after being reused five times. On the other hand, GO coated melamine foam
efficiently removes 95.21% of Cu2+ ions with 4.27 mg/g maximum adsorption capacity from a 20
ppm copper (II) sulphate solution at pH 6 for 30 minutes contact time. GO coated melamine foam
can be reused up to 3 times. In conclusion, graphene coated melamine foam has good potential to
be developed as sorbent material for oil and heavy metal ions.

32

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

OPPORTUNITIES”

P04

ADSORPTION STUDY OF PERFLUOROOCTANE SULFONATE (PFOS) USING SODIUM
ALGINATE/CYCLODEXTRIN-BASED HYDROGEL

T. N. K. Tuan Roslan1, A. F. Zakaria1, S. Kamaruzaman1*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) was categorized as persistent organic pollutant (POP) that

causes pollution due to slow degradation in the environment. As a result, there have been several

researches on how to remove PFOS, with the adsorption approach by using hydrogel. In this
research, sodium alginate-β-cyclodextrin (SA-β-CD) hydrogel beads were prepared, characterized

using FTIR and FESEM and utilized for the adsorption of PFOS with different parameters such as

pH, contact time and initial concentration, and analyzed by Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) at
wavelength of 220 nm. The optimum conditions for adsorption of PFOS using 1280 mg of SA-β-CD

hydrogels beads were at 70°C, contact time of 30 minutes, pH of 5.5, 10 mL of 10.0 ppm of solution

and 250 rpm of stirring rate. When this ideal setting was applied, the adsorption capacity and
efficiency removal of PFOS by SA-β-CD hydrogels beads were 0.0764 mg/g and 84.72%,

respectively. Based on data obtained, the adsorption kinetic study which is pseudo-second-order
model was fitted to illustrate the adsorption of PFOS by SA-β-CD hydrogel beads with R2 value
obtained was 0.9900 while for the adsorption isotherm study, the adsorption of PFOS by SA-β-CD
hydrogels beads was fitted to the Langmuir isotherm model with R2 value obtained was 0.9876. The

adsorption of PFOS occurs as a monolayer/single layer and chemisorption to the hydrogel beads.
Adsorption by SA-β-CD hydrogel beads may be useful as an initiative to control water pollution in

the environment.

33

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

OPPORTUNITIES”

P05

MINERALIZATION OF ACID BLACK 1 BY PHOTOREGENERATIVE ADSORBENT

S. A. Abdullah1, N. N. Bahrudin1, Z. Zainal1*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia.
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

A hybrid adsorbent of chitosan and montmorillonite (CS-MT) film was synthesized and immobilized
on a glass plate as the support and applied to the study of acid black 1 (AB1) removal from aqueous
solution. The prepared adsorbent was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray
diffraction (XRD), UV-vis spectrophotometer and UV-Vis DRS analyses. Adhesiveness and swelling
test were also being tested on the prepared adsorbent to examine its physical strength. The addition
of MT increased the adhesiveness and reduced swelling behavior of CS. The adsorption of AB1
dye at ambient pH (6.8) and concentration of 10 ppm in 120 min reached ~100% removal. The
spent CS-MT plate underwent 5h of desorption process at pH 11 whereby the desorbed AB1 dye
was then mineralized for 1h under the illumination of fluorescence light at pH 4 in the presence of
TiO2 photocatalyst with 68.03% of degradation, measured by Total Organic Carbon (TOC) analyser.
The regenerated CS-MT plate can be reused to adsorb new dye solution for at least three cycles of
application.

34

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

OPPORTUNITIES”

P06

PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLY(LACTIC ACID)/ CARBOXYMETHYL
CELLULOSE BIOCOMPOSITE

S. S. Samsudin1, P. Vennu1, N. Zainuddin1, N. A. Rahman1,2*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia
2Laboratory of Nanomaterials Processing and Technology, Institute of Advanced Technology,

Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is a thermoplastic polymer derived from renewable sources such as sugar
cane. It has been used as a substitution for petroleum-based polymer because of its excellent
properties, which are biocompatibility and biodegradability. Nevertheless, PLA exhibits brittleness
and has poor thermal performance. This study aims to prepare and characterize the PLA and
carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) biocomposite. Three optimization parameters were used: blending
time, CMC ratio, and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) plasticizer content. The present of CMC and PEG
in the biocomposite could enhance properties of PLA. PLA/CMC biocomposite films were prepared
using Brabender and hot-pressed compression moulding. The samples were analyzed by using
Fourier-transform Infrared (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) and thermogravimetric
(TGA) for spectroscopic and thermal properties characterization. FTIR analysis of the PLA/CMC
showed the shift in the spectrum of biocomposite, which proved the chemical interaction between
the carbonyl groups of PLA and the hydroxyl groups of CMC. The DSC and TGA analyses indicated
that the increment of blending time, the introduction of 5 wt% CMC, and 10 wt% PEG resulted in
increasing glass transition, cold crystallization, melting and decomposition temperatures. Therefore,
the addition of CMC and PEG improved the thermal stability of the biocomposite. Optimized
PLA/CMC biocomposite parameters were found at 25 minutes of blending time, 5 wt% of CMC, and
10 wt% of PEG. PLA/CMC higher in thermal stability, however, its mechanical characteristics
cannot be determined because of limitations where the composite was too brittle and unable to
undergo tensile testing.

35

SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

OPPORTUNITIES”
P07

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERISATION OF Cu (II), Ni (II), La (III), AND Pr (III)
PHENYLALANINE-TEREPHTHALDEHYDE DERIVED SCHIFF BASE METAL

COMPLEXES

S. H. Samidi1, F. S. A. Shukor1, V. Raman1, N. M. Khirudin1, M. I. M. Tahir1*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia,43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia.
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Schiff base ligands have risen in importance due to their flexibility, such as their simple synthesis,
electron donor property, and multidentate character, which results in extremely high binding
constants for d- and f-block metals. Amino acid Schiff bases exhibit strong biological activity and
have a high ability to create stable complexes with transition metal ions. Phenylalanine has been
discovered to have outstanding performance for complex synthesis due to its chirality, flexibility,
rigidity, and active functional group, and when treated with terephthaldehyde, Schiff bases have the
remarkable ability to form binuclear complexes. In this study, several new d- and f-block metals
complexes of Cu (II), Ni (II), La (III) and Pr (III) with the Schiff base, 2,2’-((1E,1’E)-(1,4-
phenylenebis(methanylylidene))bis(azanylylidene))bis)3-phenylpropanoic acid), derived from
phenylalanine and terephthaldehyde have been synthesised. The ligand was synthesised by
refluxing and stirring the starting material such as phenylalanine and terephthaldehyde over an oil
bath for 6 hours and the metal complexes were synthesised by refluxing the Schiff base and metal
salt for 4 hours over a temperature range of 80-100°C. The compounds were characterised by
means of Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Inductively Coupled Plasma-
Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). The FT-IR spectral data suggested that the ligand
behaves as a bidentate ligand with one nitrogen and one oxygen donor atom, sequence towards
central metal ion. From the analytical data, the stoichiometry of the complexes was found to be 3:1
(ligand:metal). The physicochemical data suggested six coordination numbers for Cu (II), Ni (II), La
(III) and Pr (III) Schiff base complexes. In conclusion, all compounds were successfully synthesised.

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P08

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERISATION OF COBALT (Co) SUPPORTED ON
ACTIVATED CARBON (AC) FOR HYDROGENATION OF HYDROXYMETHYLFURFURAL

(HMF)

F. S. A. Shukor1, N. A. Amran1, N. A. Endot1*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

The growth in the demand for fossil feedstocks as the main source of energy, together with their
fast depletion, has increased the need for the development of a new and sustainable source of
energy. Dimethylfuran (DMF) is a promising biofuel derived from the valorization of sugar, namely
5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). However, most of the catalysts used in the catalytic conversion of
HMF to DMF involve precious noble metals such as ruthenium and platinum. Therefore, in this
work, non-noble metal, cobalt was introduced as a catalyst supported on activated carbon due to
its low cost compared to noble metal. The catalyst was prepared using wetness impregnation
method with different metal loading of 1% Co/AC, 2% Co/AC and 5% Co/AC. Then, the catalyst
was reduced under H2 (60ml/min) at 400°C (heating rate 4°C/min) at 4 hours in tube furnace. The
synthesised catalysts were characterised using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray Fluorescence
(XRF). XRD results showed that the XRD patterns exhibited diffraction peaks characteristic of the
carbon support. XRF results conformed the metal loading of the synthesised catalysts. It was found
that higher metal loading will increase the particle size of Co catalyst due to the agglomeration.

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P09

SYNTHESIS OF 8,8’-LIGNAN FROM SINAPIC ACID

N. S. Sudin1, S. M. M. Nor1*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Lignans are a large class of natural products that are found widely in plants and human diet which

comprise phenolic compounds of phytochemicals that play a remarkable role in plant growth and

reproduction as a defence against predators, microorganisms and pathogens. For instance, lignans
exist abundantly in the plant kingdom such as fruits, vegetables, grains and flaxseed crops. Lignans

are major components of flaxseed in Linum usitatissimum. Accordingly, food rich in lignans have
been shown to have the ability to reduce the risk of cancer because it proposed to exhibit many

physiological functions such as anticancer, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory. However, direct
extraction and isolation of lignan from plants is difficult to do and tedious as it requires various

treatment processes. Consequently, the synthesis of lignan family have increased the curiosity from
the synthetic organic chemist which subsequently the efforts are being made to synthesize 8,8’-

lignan from sinapic acid via oxidative homocoupling reaction from the methyl sinapate that produced
through common Fischer esterification. Ester is a precursor for oxidative homocoupling reaction.

The reaction between methyl sinapate and base of sodium carbonate or potassium hydroxide in
tetrahydrofuran proposed to the formation of 8,8’-lignan. The purified compounds were subjected
to characterization of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Mass Spectrometry (MS), 1H and 13C
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). The formation of methyl sinapate was structurally confirmed

based on the molecular ion peak in mass spectrum while the formation of desired final product of
8,8’-lignan cannot be confirmed structurally based on FTIR spectrum only.

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P10

APPROACH TO INCREASE THE ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY FROM THERMOPHILIC
CYANOBACTERIA BY USING MODIFIED BG-11 MEDIUM

N. Saleh1*, A. N. Steven1, S. Z. Azmi1, F. L. Yee1, N. I. Noh2
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty Science, University Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai,

Johor, Malaysia.
2Nanomaterial Laboratory 2, Building T02, Department of Bioscience, Faculty of Science, University

Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Thermophilic cyanobacteria are a microorganism that thrives at high and severe temperatures
ranging from 45°C to 80°C and is commonly found in hot springs. Thermophilic cyanobacteria have
been shown to be an abundant source of physiologically active chemicals with anticancer,
antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant effects. BG-11 medium is designed for the development
and maintenance of certain thermophilic cyanobacteria. In this study, a modification method was
used as the aim to find the best modified BG-11 medium to grow thermophilic cyanobacteria, three
different types of modified BG-11 medium have been produced. 3 types of modified BG-11 medium
have been created as a standard culture medium BG-11(x10 concentration), modified BG-11 with
added nutrient, and modified BG-11 with addition of flue gas. The modified BG-11 medium was
used to increase the antioxidant activity in thermophilic cyanobacteria by using the DPPH method.
Following the investigation of the effect of modifying nutritive components given by the culture
medium (BG-11) in a previous research study, the procedure of raising or reducing the
concentration of certain elements was carried out. Antioxidant activity of thermophilic cyanobacteria
was increase (>60%) in modification of BG-11 Medium by raising the concentrations of citric acid,
magnesium sulphate (MgSO4), ferric ammonium citrate, and sodium nitrate (NaNO3) while
decreasing dipotassium phosphate (K2HPO4) and Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) aids in the achievement
of favourable results. The antioxidant capacities of EDTA, citric acid and sodium nitrate (NaNO3)
were shown to have positive main effects.

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P11

REMOVAL OF 2-CHLOROETHYL ETHYL SULFIDE USING GRAPHENE
NANOPLATELETS AS ADSORBENT

N. A. M. Anan1, S. Kamaruzaman1*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Chemical warfare agent is a very toxic substance that has been employed in warfare since the
beginning of time. As a result, residual amounts of this chemical may exist in water and must be
eliminated because it is dangerous to humans and other living things. In this study, the adsorption
technique was utilized to remove the chemical warfare agent simulant, 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide
(2-CEES) by using graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) as an adsorbent. The influence of various factors
such as adsorbent dosage, initial concentration, contact time and pH were thoroughly studied. The
optimum condition for the removal of 10 ppm of 2-CEES in 20 mL sample solution was at pH 8 with
contact time of 60 minutes by utilizing 10 mg of GNP. The experimental data were analyzed by the
Langmuir and Freundlich models of adsorption. The adsorption isotherm was found to follow the
Freundlich model. The multilayer sorption capacity of graphene nanoplatelet prepared was found
to be 15.06 mg g−1. Two simplified kinetic models including pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-
order equations were selected to follow the adsorption processes. Kinetic studies showed that the
adsorption followed pseudo-second-order kinetic model. A regeneration study was carried out using
0.05M HCl and it was revealed that the adsorbent is only applicable with single-use with the removal
percentage of 79.6%. The results in this study indicated that GNP could be employed as an
adsorbent for the removal of 2-CEES from aqueous solutions.

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P12

IDENTIFICATION OF BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS AND VITAMINS SYNTHESISED BY
THERMOPHILIC CYANOBACTERIA USING UPLC-MS/MS

S. Z. Azmi1*, A. N. Steven1,2, N. Saleh1, F. L. Yee1
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University Technology Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru,

Johor, Malaysia
2Biotechnology Laboratory, Faculty of Science, University Technology Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru,

Johor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Thermophilic cyanobacteria are a class of cyanobacteria living in high temperature habitat
recognised for their capability in synthesising bioactive compounds and vitamins like indole
alkaloids, terpenoids, mycosporine-like amino acids, non-ribosomal peptides and polyketides,
ribosomal peptides, phenolic acids, flavonoids, antimetabolites, Vitamin B, C, A D, E and K.
Thus, thermophilic cyanobacteria have become a gem to the industry for its vast biotechnology
applications. The purpose of this study is to determine how BG-11 medium and flue gas affects
the biosynthesis pathways of the metabolites. Moreover, to produce, harvest, identify and
calculate the yield of the bioactive compounds and vitamins synthesized by thermophilic
cyanobacteria. Sub-culturing of the thermophilic cyanobacteria will be magnified from time to
time and harvested at stationary phase before undergoing methanolic extraction to prep for
analysis using UPLC-MS/MS. Carbon dioxides, nitrogen, light intensity, salinity and
concentration of trace metals affects the amount of compounds synthesised. In this study,
modifications and improvisations of the factors to a certain concentration and condition are
expected to induce the production of the bioactive compounds by thermophilic cyanobacteria.

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P13

ELECTROCHEMICAL SENSING OF URIC ACID USING CU-ASP/MWCNTs/SPE MODIFIED
ELECTRODE

N. I. ‘A. D. Indra1, R. M. Zawawi1*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

In this studies, copper-aspartate-multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Cu-Asp/MWCNTs) is synthesized.
This composite is then used as electrode materials with screen printed electrodes (SPEs) for
chemical detection of uric acid (UA). Their morphology and electrochemical properties were
investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and cyclic voltammogram. The SEM result
shows that Cu-Asp has a rod-like structure. By adding the MWCNTs to the compound, the structure
appears to be more fibrous at the end of the rod. Apart from that, for the UA detection, the cyclic
voltammogram of the representative Cu-Asp modified SPE revealed the highest electrochemical
sensing activity towards the oxidation of UA in concentration of 1 mM in 0.1 KCl solution. This shows
that Cu-Asp/SPE has higher conductivity than Cu-Asp/MWCNTs/SPE. The thickness of the
MWCNTs layer may cause the electrode to be less conductive because the surface of the electrode
was blocked from the material.

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P14

MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS VACCINE DESIGN USING REVERSE VACCINOLOGY

N. A. M. A. Ghafar1, B. A. Tejo1,2*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia
2Computer Laboratory, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

In this study, immunoinformatic techniques were employed to develop a multi-epitope-based
vaccine. The outer layer membrane; Rv1698, Rv1973, and the secretory antigens; Ag85A, and
Ag85B, of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, were chosen, in which, 1 B-cell epitope, 2 CTL epitopes,
and 1 HTL epitopes for each protein were predicted by using the appropriate server. Furthermore,
the conservation of selected proteins and epitopes was done to ensure selected epitopes are not
homologous to humans. 7 multi-epitope vaccines were created by combining different combinations
of the expected epitope sequences with β-defensin adjuvant at the N-terminal. Tertiary modelling
was carried out by using secondary structure, and a refined model was chosen and docked with
TLR2 and TLR4. The microscopic interaction between the ligand and receptors was verified using
molecular docking and dynamics simulation. The interaction between the ligands and the
immunological receptors were evaluated in which, Ligand 4-TLR2 complex and Ligand 4-TLR4
were chosen for further analysis by molecular dynamics simulation as both complexes show the
lowest docking score (-175.01, -243.12) respectively. Then, molecular dynamics simulation was
done to check the influence of different receptors (TLR2 and TLR4) on the Ligand 4. Analysis of
molecular dynamics simulation trajectory was done by using RMSD, and RMSF. Both complex
RMSD values range from 1 to 2.8 Å shows that there were no significantly different even by using
different receptors.

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P15

WASTE GLASS DERIVED CATALYSTS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL

A. Syafiq1, T. Y. Ping1*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

The growing concern for environmental preservation, combined with the risk of fossil fuel energy
depletion, has prompted companies to create alternative fuels derived from renewable resources
and technologies that are environmentally friendly. Glass was chosen not just because of its
catalytic characteristics, but also because of the possibility for glass recycling in a
world where only 30% of glass waste is recycled. The current research focuses on the utilisation of
glass wastes (GW) as solid base catalysts in the transesterification of cooking oil to biodiesel. The
growing concern for environmental preservation, combined with the risk of fossil fuel energy
depletion, has prompted companies to create alternative fuels derived from renewable resources
and technologies that are environmentally friendly. Glass was chosen not just because of its
catalytic characteristics, but also because of the possibility for glass recycling in a world where only
30% of glass waste is recycled. The current research focuses on the utilisation of glass wastes
(GW) as solid base catalysts in the transesterification of cooking oil to biodiesel.

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P16

EVALUATION OF POTENTIAL ENERGY FOR MOLECULAR SIMULATION USING
DIFFERENT CHARGE METHODS

M. F. Ismail1*, F. M. Omar1,
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia.
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

In the broad computer simulations field using classical mechanics method, accurate knowledge of
the electrostatic interaction between individual molecules is required for the treatment of non-
covalently bonded molecules. However, organized study of the effect of the force field to calculate
energy of a small cluster of different type of molecules has never been published. The objectives
of this study are to evaluate the electrostatic interaction of small clusters of different types of
molecules and to compare the computed values to the energy obtained using the more accurate
ab-initio method. To achieve this, the energy values of two different conformations were calculated
using different partial charges algorithm in combination with the GAFF force field for these
molecules. The resultant difference in the energy from the two different conformations were
compared to energy values obtained from the highly accurate coupled-cluster energy values for
comparison. In general, using different charge methods to obtain the partial charges for performing
single energy calculation has shown to produce different energy values. ESP-A2 and ESP-C2
algorithms provide very good descriptions of the electrostatic interactions around the
tetrahydrofuran with small percentage of error up to 25%. Meanwhile, RESP-A2 with HF/6-31G*
basis set appears to be inadequate for acetonitrile and propylene carbonate in calculating
electrostatic energy with percentage of error 62% to 90% and 29% to 74%, respectively. The results
suggests that the different partial charges algorithm used in GAFF is accurate for low polar
compound but inaccurate for more polar compounds.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022
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P17

IN SILICO STUDIES AND SYNTHESIS OF TRIFLUOROMETHYLBENZENESULFONYLATED
CHALCONES AS NEW ΑLPHAGLUCOSIDASE INHIBITORS

N. H. M. Sholihin1, S. M. M. Faudzi1,2*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia.
2Natural Medicines and Product Research Laboratory, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia,

43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a growing persistent disease worldwide, which can lead to death

and disability because the body cannot use insulin effectively. T2DM is usually treated with five
available medications, including α-glucosidase inhibitor (AGIs); however, it has significant side

effects and complications upon consumption. Hence, a series of new drug candidates, fluoro-

containing aminated- and sulfonylated-chalcones were designed and subjected to thorough in-silico

prediction, molecular docking and selective synthesis via Claisen-Schmidt condensation reaction.

In-silico studies reveal the predicted physicochemical, chemical absorption, distribution,

metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADMET), pan-assay interference compounds (PAINS) and

aggregator properties. Based on mentioned parameters, the in-silico studies concluded that all
fluoro-containing sulfonylatedchalcones (12–18) except compound 11 exhibited anti-diabetic
potency, particularly with respect to α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Furthermore, molecular
docking against human α-glucosidase protein (PDB ID: 5NN8) revealed that all the “drug-likeness”

fluorinecontaining sulfonylated-chalcones (11-18) have a higher binding affinity (8.5-9.2 kcal/mol)
than the standard drug acarbose (8.1 kcal/mol) and their intermediates, the aminatedchalcones.

Due to the highest binding affinity of compound N-{4-[(2E)-3-(3,5-difluorophenyl)prop-2

enoyl]phenyl}-4-(trifluoromethyl)benzene-1-sulfonamide (18), compound 9 was then selected for
synthesis with compounds 3 and 8. Based on the 1H NMR analyses, the intermediate aminated
chalcones (compounds 3, 8 and 9) were successfully synthesized, albeit still in the form of mixtures.
We still failed to obtain high purity compounds after repeated purification attempts, so purification

using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is suggested for future work. Since no pure
sulfonylated-chalcones were synthesized, no experiment with in vitro α-glucosidase assays was

performed to validate the molecular docking results.

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P18

GREEN SYNTHESIS OF TITANIUM DIOXIDE NANOPARTICLES USING PLANT EXTRACT

N. I. A. M. Basari1, E. N. Muhamad1*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Green synthesis of metal nanoparticles has emerged as a potential synthetic strategy in
nanotechnology in recent years due to its environmentally benign procedure. Green synthesis aims
to reduce the use of harmful chemicals used particularly in chemical methods. Usually, the usage
of biological resources such as plant extract is used as a reducing agent as it offers a simple and
safe environment. In this research, titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs) were synthesised
using titanium tetraisopropoxide as metal precursor solution and Moringa oleifera leaves extract as
a reducing agent. The effect of the reaction parameters such as the ratio between extract and
titanium precursor solution and concentration of leaves extract was investigated. The results show
that TiO2 nanoparticles were successfully synthesised as evidenced by the UV-Visible Diffuse
Reflectance (UV-DRS) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The XRD pattern of TiO2-NPs shows an
anatase phase was formed when the precipitate was undergone calcination at 400C in air. The
green synthesis TiO2-NPs show an average crystallite size of 7.40 nm, which is much smaller than
the commercial TiO2 catalyst (14.77 nm). The band gap energy determination from the UV-DRS
confirmed that the synthesised nanoparticle is anatase TiO2 with 3.29 eV. The antibacterial test was
conducted using a disc diffusion method, and it shows that moringa oleifera possesses antibacterial
properties. Further characterisation of the TiO2-NPs will be conducted in the future to explore the
potential application of the material.

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P19

ANALYSIS OF METAL ORGANIC FRAMEWORK (MOF) FOR CO2 ADSORPTION AND
CHEMICAL SENSOR

T. K. Guan1, J. L. H. Ngee1*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Excess carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere has become a critical issue, and it will continue
to rise due to population growth. Current fossil combustion can be divided into post- combustion,
pre-combustion and oxyfuel combustion, and there are several methods like adsorption, absorption
and microalgae that have been inverted to capture CO2. One of the most eye-catching materials
that have shown high adsorption and selectivity is metal organic framework (MOFs), a hybrid and
microporous adsorbent. The ease of tunability of MOFs allows the synthesis of different high-
performance MOFs for CO2 different applications like gas capture and gas sensing. Therefore, the
main purpose of this paper is to analyse the application of MOFs for CO2 adsorption of MOFs and
gas sensing. Adsorption parameters and strategies to improve CO2 adsorption capacity are covered
here also to help better understanding and practical uses.

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SKI-XXV “CHEMISTRY AND BEYOND: EXPLORING NEW OPPORTUNITIES 3rd MARCH 2022

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P20

DISCOVERY OF DENGUE RNA-DEPENDENT RNA-POLYMERASE INHIBIT BY
ENSEMBLE-BASED MOLECULAR

H. P. Pei1, B. A. Tejo1*
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang,

Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Dengue virus is the most significant arthropod-borne human pathogen which is a viral disease
transmitted between human hosts by Aedes mosquitoes. The urge to find novel drugs to deal with
the appearance of drug resistant DENV and its four serotypes is highly needed. The goal of this
study is to find new RdRp inhibitors based on their inhibition of antimicrobial activity by screening
328 curcuminoids. The selection of RdRp prospective inhibitors was based on two criteria, including
the new chemical compound had to bind to the active site of target protein with higher interaction
than its original active ligand, and it had to interact with catalytically essential RdRp residues. In this
work, several chemical compounds have been discovered that bind tightly to the RdRp binding site
and interact with catalytically essential RdRp residues. The results of studying the interaction of the
newly acquired molecular compounds with the binding site and its binding mode conformation
reveal that the molecular compounds engage with, and hence block, residues that are essential for
RdRp's catalytic activity. Through virtual screening of structure-based approaches, several
chemical compounds have been found that may be active against RdRp, and they are anticipated
to have a higher binding affinity to the RdRp active site. There are top 3 promising compounds
chosen from the curcuminoids database based on the criteria, which include compound A
(ID:1N1A), compound B (ID:MAG1) and compound C (ID:113). These chemicals are accessible
commercially and can be obtained for further biological testing.

49