Alumni Details of Organic Chemistry

Departmental History:

The Department of Organic Chemistry of IACS started with Dr. S M Mukherjee, Reader and Mr. P. Bagchi, Research Officer in 1949. After their fruitful contribution, an eminent synthetic organic chemist of our country Prof. P C Dutta took over the charge as the Head of the Department in 1953 and guided the destiny of the Department for more than two decades. He introduced in our country for the first time the stereo controlled synthesis of organic molecules related to terpenoids and variety of other natural products. Hailing from the research school of Prof. P C Dutta, another internationally reputed synthetic organic chemist Prof. U R Ghatak took over the charge as the Head of the Department in 1977 and further uplifted the research quality to a level of excellence. He also became the Director of the institute in 1989. The central research mission of the department is to bring together diverse researchers across disciplines to perform cutting-edge research. Presently, six faculty members and two J. C. Bose fellows are engaged in versatile research activities which includes

• Asymmetric and stereocontrolled synthesis of complex natural products of biological significance
• Organometallic chemistry
• Crystal engineering
• Supramolecular chemistry
• Chemical biology and drug development
• Asymmetric catalysis
• Development of novel synthetic methodologies and reagents including nanoparticles and nanomaterials.

Various awards and honours have been received by the faculty members from academies and research societies of India and holding positions in important committees in our country. With deep expertise in synthetic organic chemistry in the department, we attract talented students and postdoctoral researchers from around the country.  Department takes students from M.Sc background through a competitive examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with research and training opportunities in many subdisciplines of chemistry. Research for Ph.D thesis becomes a significant focus following an initial period of course work and presentation of research works. Department extends the laboratory facility for exposure to undergraduate students of various schools and colleges having science background. Significant contributions have been made recently by developing green methodologies for organic transformations,  synthesis of highly potent natural product for anticancer activities, iboga-alkaloid for analgesic activitiy, organocatalyst–mediated highly functionalized benzofuran moieties, proline derivative for better catalysis than proline, metal organic framework based different types of useful materials.  Research has been expanded to the chemical biology area and development of a method for the synthesis and delivery of morpholino oligonucleotides, antisense-based therapy for the treatment of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, development of G-quadruplex inhibitors and hydrogel-mediated drug delivery. The department is supported by five technical and office staffs  and seventy students are working at present. More than 1000 papers have been published in reputed peer reviewed journals and students are settled in various academic and industrial establishments.