Sundargopal Ghosh Department of Chemistry Areas of interest: Transition metal-boron compounds and their application

Prof. Sundargopal Ghosh obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from University of Calcutta. He then received his PhD from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) in 1998. Following a postdoctoral fellowship with Professor Thomas P. Fehlner at the University of Notre Dame, USA he joined the Department of Chemistry at Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 2005. His research interests lie in the area of transition metal-boron compounds and their application in catalysis and small molecule activation. He has over 225 scientific publications in internationally acclaimed journals. For his contribution in chemical science, Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) conferred him with Bronze Medal in 2013 and he was awarded Institute Research & Development Awards (IRDA) in 2014 by IIT Madras. He is an elected fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc) and Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (FNASc). He is awarded Professor Priyadaranjan Ray Memorial Award in 2019. He has supervised 23 PhD students; most of them hold positions in well- known academic institutions.

How does your group keep the HPCE cluster busy?

Over the years, our group at IIT madras is mainly focused on searching versatile bonding of TM boron clusters and various sigma-borate complexes. We use HPCE to study DFT calculation of our synthesised molecules. Some of the typical jobs, such as, optimization, frequency, MO, NBO and NMR calculations are carried out to recognize their stability as well as interesting interactions present in those molecules. We also investigate bonding features for higher vertex single and fused molecular clusters using AdNDP analysis. Further, we have recently started Transition State calculation to get the mechanistic aspects of many small molecule activation and catalytic reactions.

How do you see HPCE landscape in the domain of your research area change over the years?

Our research group is mostly focused on synthesizing and bonding of various cluster systems. Computational studies have enabled us to have a clear idea about the bonding scenario of these species. Previously, for optimization and other calculations, it was very time consuming. Due to recent advancements in computer resources at IITM, now we can carry out the same jobs within a short period of time. In fact, we can take a look at more sophisticated analyses based on our systems that lead to an alternative direction to our research.

What would you suggest to new faculty members and new students in your research area?

A combination of theoretical knowledge along with synthetic chemistry is always worthy and I found it very effective. In fact, due to this strong theoretical background, few of my students have been awarded the world's highly prestigious and competitive the Alexander von Humboldt fellowship of Germany. At IITM this kind of exposure is adequate, therefore explore it wisely. A number of students are showing more interest in my and other groups in the Department of Chemistry.