1. Name: R. Mukherjee
2. Designation: Professor
3. Field of Specialization: Inorganic Chemistry
4. Date of Birth: April 19, 1953
5. Address:
Indian Institute of Technology Technology Campus
Kanpur - 208 016 Kanpur - 208 016
Phone:+91-512-2597437 Phone:+91-512-2598547
Fax:+91-512-597437/597436
6. Educational Qualifications:
M. Sc. (Specialization in Inorganic Chemistry) The University of Burdwan (1976), West Bengal, India
Ph. D. (Worked under the supervision of Professor Animesh Chakravorty at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science(IACS), Calcutta during 1978-1983), The University of Calcutta (1983), West Bengal, India
7. Post-doctoral Research Experience:
Department of Inorganic Chemistry (in the laboratory of Professor A. Chakravorty), Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Calcutta (1983-1985)
Department of Chemistry (in the laboratory of Professor Richard H. Holm), Harvard University, USA (1985-1987)
8. Employment:
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry IIT Kanpur 1987-1993
9. Award/Fellowship:
Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, India (1999)
Chemical Research Society of India Medal, Bangalore, India (2000)
Has acted as a scientific member of 33rd International Chemistry Olympiad, Mumbai, India (2001)
Awarded The Royal Society of Chemistry Journals Grants for International Authors Fellowship to visit the laboratory of Professor David E. Fenton (University of Sheffield, UK) to exchange research ideas and results, by the Royal Society of Chemistry (August 2000). Amount: £ 2000. Visit: May 2 – June 2, 2001.
Visited the Chemistry Departments of the following Universities and had scientific discussions with a number of inorganic colleagues and delivered lectures:
1. University of Durham (Host: Prof. Todd B. Marder/Dr. Paul J. Low): “Spin-State Regulation in Iron(II) and Iron(III) Complexes with Pyrazolylpyridine and Deprotonated Pyridine Amide Ligands” (May 9, 2001)
2. University of Bristol (Host: Prof. Jon A. McCleverty): “Co-ordination Chemistry with Non-Planar Pyrazolylpyridine Ligands: An Overview” (May 16, 2001)
3. University of Edinburgh (Host: Prof. Peter T. Tasker); delivered lecture at Heriot-Watt University (Host: Prof. A. J. Welch): “Chemistry of Dinuclear Metal Complexes from Bioinorganic Perspectives” (May 23, 2001)
4. University College London (Host: Prof. A. J. Deeming): “Chemistry of Dinuclear Metal Complexes from Bioinorganic Perspectives” (May 25, 2001)
5. University of Manchester (Host: Prof. P. O’Brien/Dr. E. J. L. McInnes): “Chemistry of Dinuclear Metal Complexes from Bioinorganic Perspectives” (May 31, 2001)
10. Current Research Projects:
Awarded a collaborative joint research project with Prof. Dr. Siegfried Schindler (Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Universität Erlangen Nürnberg, Germany; currently at Universität Giessen, Germany) for a period of three years by the Volkswagen Foundation (August 2000). Amount: DM 167,200. Start of the project: June 2001.
a) Duration of First Visit: June 2 – 23, 2001
Delivered a lecture at the Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Universität Erlangen Nürnberg, Germany (Host: Prof. Dr. Rudi van Eldik) and had scientific discussions with a number of inorganic colleagues and delivered a lecture: “Chemistry of Dinuclear Metal Complexes from Bioinorganic Perspectives” (June 18, 2001).
Visited the Max-Planck Institut für Strahlenchemie, Mülheim, Germany (Host: Prof. Dr. Karl Wieghardt) and had scientific discussions with a number of inorganic colleagues and delivered a lecture: “Spin-State Regulation in Iron(II) and Iron(III) Complexes with Pyrazolylpyridine and Deprotonated Pyridine Amide Ligands” (June 15, 2001).
Visited the Gorlaeus Laboratories, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands (Host: Prof. Jan Reedijk) and
had scientific discussions with a number of inorganic colleagues and delivered a lecture: “Chemistry of Dinuclear Metal Complexes from Bioinorganic Perspectives” (June 25, 2001).
Visited the Unilever Research Center, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands (Host: Dr. Ronald Hage) and had scientific discussions with a number of scientists and delivered a lecture: “Chemistry of Dinuclear Metal Complexes from Bioinorganic Perspectives” (June 26, 2001).
Visited the Laboratoire de Magnétisme et d’Optique, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Versailles Cedex, France (Host: Prof. F. Varret) and had scientific discussions with a number of scientists and delivered a lecture: “Spin-State Regulation in Iron(II) and Iron(III) Complexes” (June 27, 2001).
Visited the Laboratoire de Chimie Inorganique, Institut de Chimie Moléculaire d’Orsay, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France (Host: Prof. J.-J. Girerd) and had scientific discussions with a number of inorganic colleagues and delivered a lecture: “Chemistry of Dinuclear Metal Complexes from Bioinorganic Perspectives” (June 29, 2001).
b) Duration of Second Visit: April 30 – June 20, 2002
Delivered a lecture at the Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Universität Erlangen Nürnberg, Germany (Host: Prof. Dr. Rudi van Eldik) and had scientific discussions with a number of inorganic colleagues and delivered a lecture: “Spin-State Properties of Peptide Complexes of Iron(III) and Dicopper Complexes of Relevance to Biology” (May 7, 2002).
Visited the Organisch-Chemischen Institut der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany (Host: Prof. B. Krebs) and had scientific discussions with a number of inorganic colleagues and delivered a lecture: “Dicopper Complexes: Inorganic and Bioinorganic Perspectives” (May 16, 2002).
Visited the Anorganische und Analytische Chemie der Johannes Gutenberg – Universität Mainz, Germany (Host: Prof. H.-J. Krüger) and had scientific discussions with a number of inorganic colleagues and delivered a lecture: “Peptide Complexes of Iron(III) and Ligand-Bridged Complexes of Copper(II)” (May 27, 2002)
Visited the Anorganisch-chemisches Institut der Universität Heidelberg, Germany (Host: Prof. P. Comba) and had scientific discussions with a number of inorganic colleagues and delivered a lecture: “Spin-State Properties of Peptide Complexes of Iron(III) and Dicopper Complexes of Relevance to Biology” (June 14, 2002).
11. Research Interests:
My research activities encompass synthetic, structural, and reactivity aspects of transition metal compounds. Synthetic endeavours are directed toward the attainment of new classes of compounds, many of which are related to metal-containing units in proteins and enzymes. Research involves extensive synthesis, molecular structural characterization by magnetic, spectroscopic and X-ray crystallography and investigation of reactivity.
12. Important Research Contributions (in the field of biomimetic chemistry):
We have been actively engaged in the systematic biomimetic studies, using tailor-made organic ligands, to address molecular and electronic structural aspects of dimanganese, diiron and functional aspects of dicopper-containing proteins/enzymes. The proteins/enzymes of our concern are:
(i) hemerythrin, an oxygen transport protein found among marine invertebrates (a prototypical of an emerging class of non-heme oxo/hydroxo-bridged iron proteins/enzymes),
(ii) photosystem II, a tetramanganese cluster responsible for visible light-driven water oxidation of the photosynthetic apparatus; Mn-catalase, having (m-oxo)bis(m-carboxylato)dimanganese(III) structural motif, responsible for disproportionation of hydrogen peroxide, and
(iii) tyrosinase, a dicopper-containing protein responsible for the hydroxylation of tyrosine and its further oxidation to ‘melanin pigment formation’ which are associated with ‘browning of vegetables/fruits’, the color of hair etc.
13. Current Research Activities (in the field of transition metal chemistry including biomimetic chemistry):
The activation of dioxygen by coordination to metals plays an important role in living organisms as well as artificial oxidation catalysts. The metal centres in biological systems can be mimicked by synthetic coordination compounds (Bio-inspired Coordination Chemistry). Efforts are on to address the following problems using tailor-made organic ligands:
(i) the binding and activation of O2 at a dimanganese(II) centre,
(ii) the designing of non-heme diiron(II) complexes that can bind O2 and activate it for the hydrocarbon hydroxylations and related oxidation chemistry, and
(iii) the binding and activation of O2 at a dicopper(I) site of relevance to hemocyanin and/or tyrosinase and related oxidation chemistry.
Systematic development of coordination chemistry of Fe(II) and Fe(III) with peptide ligands. Systematic development of coordination chemistry with pyrazole-based chelating ligands.
14. Teaching and Training of Students:
Has taught a variety of undergraduate and post-graduate courses at the Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India. Has developed a new course, “Frontiers in Inorganic Chemistry”.
Has supervised research of seven Ph. D. students and six students are currently working for their Ph. D. and about twenty-eight undergraduate (Master of Science projects) and three (currently one is working) post-doctoral research associates.
15. Lectures:
At the Universities and Institutes:
Has delivered invited lectures in College (Presidency College, Calcutta now Kolkata) /Universities (The University of Burdwan, Burdwan; Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi; The University of Pune, Pune; Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirapalli; Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar)/Institution (Regional Research Laboratory, Trivandrum).
Has delivered lectures in the University Grants Commission-Sponsored Refresher Courses in Chemistry. Has delivered lectures at St. Stephens College and Miranda House (Delhi) and Guru Nanak Dev University (Amritsar), sponsored by the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore.
Has delivered Ajit Memorial Lecture (1998) at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata.
Has delivered invited lectures in the Department of Chemistry in USA: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Yale University. Also delivered invited lectures in the group of Prof. R. H. Holm, Harvard University.
At Symposia and Conferences:
In India: Has delivered session lectures
(i) at the National Symposia on Modern Trends in Inorganic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (January 4-6, 1988); Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar (October 21-23, 1991); School of Chemistry, University of Hyderabad (August 17-19, 1995); Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (January 18-20, 2000);
(ii) Department of Science & Technology (DST) Sponsored Workshop on Bioinorganic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (December 9-15, 1990),
(iii) Symposium to Commemorate the 150th Years of the Royal Society of Chemistry (East India Section) “Chemistry at the Turn of the Century”, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Calcutta (December 5-7, 1991);
(iv) Fifth National Symposium in Bioorganic Chemistry, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Indian Society of Bio-organic Chemists (February 24-25, 1995);
(v) National Symposium on Perspectives of Inorganic Chemistry, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Calcutta (December 21-22, 1995);
(vi) Symposium on Advances in Bioinorganic Chemistry, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai (October 7-11, 1996);
(vii) National Symposium in Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (January 27-30, 1999),
(viii) Fifth IUPAC International Symposium on Bioorganic Chemistry, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune (January 30 – February 4, 2000);
(ix) International Symposium on Advances in Bioinorganic Chemistry, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai (November 20-24, 2000),
(x) Indo-French Workshop on Current Trends in Molecular Magnetism, Bangalore (December 4-8, 2000),
(xi) 3rd National Symposium in Chemistry, Panjab University, Chandigarh (February 2-4, 2001).
Has chaired sessions in national symposia.
Participated in (i) Discussion Meeting: From Homogeneous to Heterogeneous Catalysis, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore (January 27-29, 1992) and (ii) Symposium on Recent Trends in Photochemical Sciences, Regional Research Laboratory, Trivandrum (January 8-10, 2001).
Abroad: Member of the official Indian delegation of the Indo-Russian Symposium on Structural Inorganic Chemistry and Organometallic Chemistry, Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod, Russia (1993)
Has delivered invited session lecture at the
(i) 205th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Denver, Colorado (1993), as part of the Minisymposium: Advances in Bioinorganic-II;
(ii) 216th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts (1998), as part of the Symposium on “Multinuclear Enzymes in Oxygen Metabolism”.
Has contributed a paper in the ”XXXIII International Conference on Coordination Chemistry “The Chemistry of Metal Ions in Everyday Life”, Florence, Italy (1998).
16. Professional Society:
Life Member, Chemical Research Society of India, Bangalore (since 1999)
Member, American Chemical Society (since 1999)
17. Editorial Work:
Corresponding Editor, Resonance --- Journal of science education (1996); published by the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, India
18. Reviewing Work:
Has acted as a referee of the following journals: Inorganic Chemistry (American Chemical Society); Chemical Communications, Journal of the Chemical Society, Dalton Transactions and Physical Chemistry and Chemical Physics (Royal Society of Chemistry); European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry (Wiley); Inorganic Chemistry Communications (Elsevier), Indian Journal of Chemistry, Section A (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, New Delhi and Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (India).
Has acted as a referee of the individual projects submitted to the national funding agencies (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research and Department of Science & Technology, Government of India); and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), United Kingdom.