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KOTA SAMARAHAN, 26th September 2019: Faculty of Resource Science and Technology (FRST) UNIMAS held the Professorship Inaugural Talk this year to honour the promotion of Professor Dr Zainab Ngaini.
The event was held this morning at PITAS UNIMAS and was attended by UNIMAS Vice Chancellor, Professor Datuk Dr Mohamad Kadim Suaidi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor ( Research and Innovation), Professor Dr Wan Hashim Wan Ibrahim, Deputy Vice-Chancellor ( Academic and International), Professor Dr. Ahmad Hata Rasit, Deans and Directors of Faculty and Institutes.
Also present during the inaugural talk were representatives from various distinguished stakeholders of UNIMAS and school from Kota Samarahan and Kuching, as well as from other government agencies such Malaysia Pepper Board, Department of Education and companies such as Triniekens and Serapi Bayu.
Professor Dr Zainab Ngaini is a prominent organic chemist scientist and academician. Originally from Selangor, she has been at UNIMAS since the early days of UNIMAS establishment in 1997.
Since the moment of her appointment as lecturer in UNIMAS, Professor Dr Zainab has established her strong commitment to UNIMAS to provide her knowledge and expertise, making sure the knowledge in science is disseminated to students, as well as to the communities surrounding UNIMAS.
Her field of specialization covers synthesis of organic compounds such as azobenzene, chalcones, coumarins, aspirin, Schiff Bases, thiourea, pyrimidine, pyrazoline and kojic acid derivatives for applications as antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer activities. Her research also involved in chemical modification of agricultural wastes for green industrial applications. Her innovation in chemistry has won her several gold medals awards in local and international R&D exposition. She is also listed as an inventor of more than 11 patents.
In her talk, Professor Dr Zainab emphasized on the importance of learning basic and fundamental science, as well as applying the knowledge in fundamental science to innovate and develop downstream green technology products that are environmentally friendly.
According to Professor Dr Zainab, the fundamental science is an outstanding topographical illustration of structural synthetic chemistry related to drug design, liquid crystal study, solid-phase organic synthesis and other applications. Based on the fundamentals, it outlines the significance of functional groups in the development and production of important compounds with various applications.
The chemical description of the compounds is supported by spectroscopic instrumentations, molecular docking, polarizing optical micrograph and many others were presented during the talk.
Her talk also includes the application of fundamental knowledge of applying green chemistry via chemical modification of agricultural waste to provide a clean and healthy environment to living organisms and aquatic life.
She summarized the downstream studies on agricultural waste and overcomes issues related to extraordinary properties of sago which hold promises for future applications.
An understanding of the synthetic chemical structures and many of the properties from sago and other waste materials were described during her inaugural talk. Green methodologies have been reported to overcome the current problems even though they trigger environmental and economic concerns in the chemical society.
According to Professor Zainab, organic synthesis is a broad dynamic science that has continuously developed which leads to unique applications of chemistry in science and technology. She hoped that with her talk, it may provide inspiration to members of public, fellow academicians, scientists and schoolchildren in making new discoveries and an understanding of the physical world based on the fundamentals of chemistry.
