Soon after I completed my Doctorate degree (Ph.D.) programme in the School of Pharmacy of the University of London, I told my supervisor,  Professor W.B. Whalley that I was interested in carrying out further research in the area of drug design.  In drug design, a drug is fashioned so to say for a particular disease, through an interplay of
chemical synthesis, pharmacological testing, and physicochemical properties adjustments.  A search by chemical synthesis you might say, for the ideal or perfect drug for a particular disease.

This would have suited me because I love chemical synthesis.  I had just accomplished what looked like a feat in my Ph.D. research.  I had successfully synthesized for the first time the hitherto elusive complex anhydropyranol base, dracorubin which occurs in nature as the major component of the dragon’s blood resin, starting from methylphlorolglucinol Agbakwuru and Whalley, (1976).  (see Scheme I). The resin is exuded by the plant Dracaena draco Blume, that grows in the Canary Islands and some other places