Professor, Department of Chemistry
Office
SL-206 ,
Department of Chemistry
IIT Kanpur,
Kanpur 208016
Supramolecular Chemistry
PhD (1979), IIT Kharagpur
UNESCO Fellow, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 1979-1980
Postdocs: Rutgers University, 1980-1985
University of California at Davis, 1985-1987
Assistant Prof., 1987-1993
Associate Prof., 1993-1995
Professor, IIT Kanpur, 1995-present
Visiting Prof., University of Saarland, Germany, 1998
POSTECH, S. Korea, 2000-2001; Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences, 1998
Fellow, Indian National Science Academy, 2008
Poonam and Prabhu Goel Chair, 2011
J. C. Bose National Fellow, 2011
Distinguished Alumnus, IIT Kharagpur, 2013
Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, 2014
The principal thrust of present research activities has been in the area of supramolecular chemistry of cryptands and coordination polymers for various applications
(i) Cryptand:
Made a new synthetic protocol for multigram synthesis of cryptands adopted by others.
Major contributions include transition metal induced fluorescence enhance-ment. Transition metal ions that are known as effective quenchers, can give large enhancement with cryptand based systems. Such systems are useful as sensors for biological/ environmental applications and as logic gates for molecular information processing.
Another important research is based on cryptand based new generation of amphiphiles for stable Langmuir-Blodgett films and vesicular aggregates. Translocation of a metal ion inside the cavity as well as inside to outside of the cavity in a reversible manner has been achieved.
Presently, we are engaged in single- as well as multi-step FRET and use of cryptands as platforms for attachment of donors and acceptors for charge separation. Besides, new generation of cryptands for exocyclic coordination are also being pursued.
(ii) Coordination Polymers:
Research activity in this emerging area of chemistry involves synthesis of coordination polymers and use them to store gases for mobile applications. In addition various other applications such as heterogeneous catalysis, separation of geometrical isomers, magnetism, proton conductance and so on are being investigated.
In a major thrust, single-crystal to single-crystal (SC-SC) transformations of coordination polymers for various applications are being probed.