
Ph.D., 2002, IIT Kanpur
Synthetic Chemistry: Organic Synthetic Radical Chemistry; Synthesis of New Generation of Organometallic Compounds; Electron Transfer Reactions; Synthesis of Redox-active Drugs
Molecular Materials: Organic Ferroelectrics; Organic Multi-Electron Reservoirs; Organic Conductive Materials; Organic Magnetism; Organic Electronics; Multi-channel Radical Ion Probes; Organic Nonlinear Optically Active Materials
Supramolecular Chemistry: Understanding of weak interactions; Anion-Pi and Cation-Pi interactions; Design of Electro-active Macrocyclic Hosts; Host-Guest interactions; Engineering of Soft and Nano-materials
Computational Chemistry: Studies of different types of non-bonded interactions by DFT, NBO and AIM calculation methods; Opto-electronic property calculations; Prediction of spin density, diradicaloid and singlet-triplet energy
Present Associate Professor, JNU, New Delhi
Dec. 2006 – July, 2014 Assistant Professor, JNU, New Delhi
2005 – 2006 JSPS Research Fellow, Kyushu University, Japan
2002 – 2004 Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Maryland, College Park, USA
- DST-SwarnaJayanti Fellow
- Associate Member of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore
- JSPS Research Fellow
- DST-DAAD Research Fellow
- ISCA Young Scientist Award
Research Summary:
Our group’s research interests involve various aspects of design, synthesis and stabilization of organic radical ions. One of the major achievements of the group has been to stabilize various types of organic radicals, e.g., radical anions, radical cations and zwitterionic radicals through intramolecular non-covalent interactions. The isolated organic radicals have been found to be ambient stable and, in some cases, even stable to chromatography.
The group’s other areas of interest include synthesis of organic multi-electron redox active systems. Research in this area has led to the isolation of some of the strongest electron acceptors and also electron donors, including electron-sponges and electron-reservoirs.
In addition, the group is interested in the design and synthesis of organic molecular and supramolecular materials, e.g., organic near-infrared and mid-IR absorbers, panchromatic molecules, multi-channel radical-based sensors, organic semiconductors, organic ferroelectrics, organic piezoelectrics, and organic NLO-active materials. Along with these areas, the group has started working on the synthesis of organic redox-active drugs as well as hybrid drug molecules.
The research scholars in the group are trained in organic and organometallic synthesis, purification methods and handling of reactive catalysts and compounds. The scholars get trained in various spectroscopic, spectrometric and electrochemical techniques, as well as proficient in growing of single crystals and single crystal X-ray crystallography. The students also acquire skills in the basic and advanced aspects of computational studies.
Ongoing Projects and Major projects undertaken in the past:
1. Design, Synthesis and Supramolecular Integration of Spin Crossover Complexes with Stable Radical Ions: Towards Redox-, Color- and Magneto-SwitchabIe Materials. SERB (Ongoing).
2. Development of pi-conjugated supramolecular motifs as organic radical precursors ….organic electronics and multifunctional biomedical imaging. DST-WOS (2021-2023, as a Mentor).
3. Exploring design, synthetic and computational tools…..and their self-assembled soft materials. DST, Govt. of India (2015-2020).
4. Design and Synthesis of Naphthalenediimide-based Organic Radical Ions and their Tuned Metal Complexes for Magnetic Studies. SERB (2017-2019, as Mentor of NPDF)
- Synthesis of a Highly Electron-Deficient, Water-Stable, Large Ionic Box: Multielectron Accumulation and Proton Conductivity. J. Shukla, R. Illathvalappil, S. Kumar, S. Chorol, A. Pandikassala, S. Kurungot, and P. Mukhopadhyay*
Org. Lett. 2022, 24, 3038–3042. - Acridine-Peptide Conjugated Nanofiber Assembly Triggers Stimuli-Free Immobilization of Crude Oil and Read-Out by Turn-On Emission. D. Asthana*, N. Patti, and P. Mukhopadhyay*
ChemNanoMat. 2022 (Early View).
Invited: A special collection highlighting Materials Chemistry in India. - Naphthalenediimides with High Fluorescence Quantum Yield: Bright-Red, Stable and Responsive Fluorescent Dyes. S. K. Keshri, K. Mandal, Y. Kumar, D. Yadav, P. Mukhopadhyay*
Chem. Eur. J. 2021, 27, 6954-6962. - Synthesis of Stable, High-SOMO Zwitterionic Radicals: Enabling Electron Transfer Between Naphthalenediimides. J. Shukla, S. Kumar, Rustam, P. Mukhopadhyay*
Org. Lett. 2020, 22, 6229-6233. (Cover Article) - Doubly-Zwitterionic, Di-reduced, Highly Electron-Rich, Air-Stable Naphthalenediimides: Redox-Switchable Islands of Aromatic-Antiaromatic States. Kumar, S., Shukla, J., Mandal, K., Kumar, Y., Prakash, R., Ram, P., Mukhopadhyay, P.*
Chem. Sci. 2019, 10, 6482-6493.