Writing the Reflection Journal

Introduction
Working on the project began about a month ago before the submission date. The main part of the project included a detailed study on a drug on a disease which was given to each group. There are six groups each consisting of three members each. The various diseases given were Swine flu Typhoid Chest Pneumonia Dengue Malaria and AIDS

Our group received the project on Swine flu. The project we received was a complete integration of science knowledge. I mean to say that the project included all the sciences in it i: e; Physics, Chemistry and Biology. The Chemistry part of the project included the study of the chemical properties of the drug involved in curing the disease. The main two drugs which have been proved to have an effect on the Swine flu disease are Oseltamivir (Trade name:-Tamiflu) and Zanamivir (Trade name: - Relenza). Real timeline:-

Week 1
The initial task was to get an idea of the medicines and thus decide which medicine to work on and what to do

Week 2
It had already been decided that we were going to work on the medicine Tamiflu and study the procedure of its synthesis. So this weeks task was to get as many procedures as many possible and find out the most convenient method of synthesizing the medicine, so that it can be done as a part of the project in the school laboratory. The few methods I went through were as follows: Hoffmann-La Roche process (Starting from Shikimic Acid or Quinic Acid) Current commercial synthesis method Karpf / Trussardi synthesis (Azide free synthesis) Corey synthesis (From butadiene and acrylic acid) Shibasaki synthesis (From Shikimic Acid) Fukuyama synthesis (From pyridine and acrolein) Trost synthesis (Shortest route of synthesis up till date) The part written in bracket suggests the most important aspect of the manufacturing process.

Week 3
The thing to do this week was to study the synthesis perform the experiment, take a video and be done with the chemistry video work. But unfortunately the preparations were done in highly specific conditions which werent possible in the school laboratory and thus the preparation could not be done. Also the preparation of Tamiflu if started from a scratch could take a completion time of 2 years! Of course we did not have time for the preparation of Tamiflu.

Week 4
And so came by the final week before the presentation. We had almost everything planned out and it was time to make the best of the time that we had. The work was pretty much divided between us and we had to act to complete the tasks. I being the team leader was the first one to complete the movie and also re-draft way before time. Now work was left for the other two members and I knew I had to help. It was a Saturday just before the presentation which is to happen on Monday and we were to complete the word document and the presentation, also prepare to present it. Ishita was doing her work but not with sincerity and commitment so I knew it was just me Jinay who would have to complete the work. I asked him to do a stay back and readily agreed. We guys worked out sincerely and had completed the work in the stay back session. This I am saying with sincerity that he is by far the best Googler I have ever met. He is very good at bringing out information from Google and of course I was there to put it in place. And thus we two guys completed the project with a very good margin of time left for the preparation of the presentation on Monday.

Conclusion
The project not only taught me about the pandemic Swine Flu and the drugs used to cure it but also as being a group project taught how to work in a group and be a good and understanding leader, who understands the needs of his fellow group members and also understands his responsibility as a leader and consider himself as a part of the group and not above anyone.
-Shubham Garg XII-C