Professor Emmanuel Kyame Oppong is an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry Education, Faculty of Science Education, University of Education, Winneba. He holds a PhD in Natural Products Chemistry from the University of Bradford, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom. He obtained an MPhil. Natural Products Chemistry from the University of Ghana, Legon, a Bachelor of Chemistry and a Diploma in Education degrees obtained concurrently from the University of Cape Coast. He obtained additional training in operating and maintaining the NMR machine at the Pharmaceutical Innovation Centre in Bradford, the use of ACDLab software in Structural elucidation in Manchester and the isolation of endophytic fungi in Liverpool, all in the United Kingdom.
Professor Oppong is a Natural Product chemist and an educationist. His areas of interest are:
- Isolation and characterization of Natural Products from cultures of fungi
- Isolation and characterization of natural products from plant parts
- Production of Essential oils for the cosmetic and perfumery industry from aromatic plants
- Teaching and training researchers in chemistry education
Emmanuel had participated in local and International Natural product research, a research organized across the West African sub-region on Essential oils from different medicinal plants, he played an important role in the team that won the first placard award in Canada. At the University of Bradford laboratory, he isolated a novel cytochalasin, Englomycin acetate from static cultures of a Xylariaceae, Rosellinia arcuata. Cytochalasins are cytotoxic, one member had been found to inhibit HIV-1 protease. Most researchers believe cytochalasins could be the solution to a cure for the Covid-19 menace. Emmanuel has a private microbiology laboratory, where he and his postgraduate students isolate and characterize bioactive compounds from cultures of fungi. He has attended a number of international conferences, the most recent was American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) 60th Anniversary Conference in Madison USA, where he presented a paper on the isolation of pure cytochalasin D from static cultures of endophytic fungi.
He is an affiliate of a number of organizations, including Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) UK, American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) USA, Ghana Chemical Society (GCS), Ghana Science Association (GSA}, etc. He was a country Examination assessor for American College Test (ACT).
He is a reviewer for international academic journals including International Journal of Public and Environmental Health (IRJPEH) and Journal of Pharmaceutical Research International (JPRI)
Emmanuel is married to Mrs. Emma Doreen Otiwaa Oppong. They have four children, Michael, Daniel, Ebenezer and Maame Abena
