Comins Awarded 40th Patent

Chemistry professor Daniel L. Comins has received his 40th U. S. patent for work on synthesizing nicotine derivatives that could potentially be used to treat a variety of human health disorders.

The patent stems from research in Comins’ laboratories on converting commercially available nicotine into useful compounds that may be useful in treating Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, migraines, depression and pain.

Comins and his former Ph.D. student, Emilie Smith, were awarded U.S. patent number 7,888,512. Comins has over 220 publications in various areas of organic chemistry and natural product synthesis.