Dhevalapally B. Ramachary, FTAS, FRSC, FASc, FNASc
Senior Professor of Chemistry
Catalysis Laboratory, School of Chemistry
University of Hyderabad
Central University P.O.
C. R. Rao Road, Gachibowli
Hyderabad 500 046 (Telangana), INDIA
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://chemistry.uohyd.ac.in/~dbr/index.htm

Brief Biography:

Ramachary graduated with M.Sc. degree in School of Chemistry from University of Hyderabad and obtained Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 2001. He subsequently held postdoctoral position at the Scripps Research Institute for Catalysis, prior to joining University of Hyderabad in January 2005, where presently he is full professor of organic chemistry.

He is a recipient of many awards including Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad (2021), Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London (2020) and Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (2018).

He has guided 22 Ph.D. students and 13 PDFs. Out of them, 5 Ph.D.’s received Eli Lilly & Company Asia Outstanding Thesis Awards in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2021.

He is an Editorial Advisory Board Member for:
- Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, RSC Journal (2013-present)
- European Journal of Organic Chemistry, Wiley Journal (2017-present)
- Tetrahedron Chem, Elsevier Journal (2021-present)
- Tetrahedron/Tetrahedron Letters, Elsevier Journals (2024-present)
- Sustainability and Circularity NOW (March 2025-present)

Prof. Ramachary serves as a reviewer for many national and international reputed journals and is a member in many committees of national funding bodies such as DST and SERB.

He has published more than 125 research papers in both national and international reputed journals, authored two books on emerging organocatalysis area, and several chemical reactions are named after him.

Prof. Ramachary has delivered more than 150 lectures in both national and international conferences.

Prof. (Dr.) Ekambaram Balaraman
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati
Contact Number: +91-7756831487
Email: [email protected]
Homepage: https://sites.google.com/view/balaramansresearchgroup/

Brief Biography:

Dr. Ekambaram Balaraman received his M.Sc. in Chemistry from R.K.M. Vivekananda College, Chennai (2002) and Ph.D. from the Central University of Hyderabad (2008). He subsequently held an FGS Post Doctoral Fellowship at the Weizmann Institute of Science (2008–2012).

In July 2013, he started his independent career as a Senior Scientist at the CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory. In December 2018, he moved to IISER Tirupati as a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry.

He is the recipient of many awards including:
- MRSI Medal (2021)
- SwarnaJayanti Fellowship (2020)
- CRSI-Bronze Medal (2020)
- The Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Association (APA) Young Scientist Award (2019)
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2019)
- AV Rama Rao (AVRA) Young Scientist Award (2018)
- Member of the Indian National Young Academy of Science (INYAS), INSA (2018)

Dr. Balaraman’s research primarily focuses on generating resources for green energy and recycling atmospheric waste. Specifically, he works on the design and development of catalytic materials for hydrogen generation from feedstocks, sustainable chemical synthesis, and conversion of CO₂ to value-added products.

Profile

Dr. Aman Desai is a Co-Founder and Director (Research and Operations) at Aether Industries Limited. He leads R&D, manufacturing, and operations at Aether and is also responsible for new technical business development.

Education

• Bachelor’s in Chemical Technology from ICT, Mumbai (erstwhile UDCT), India
• PhD in Organic Chemistry from Michigan State University, USA

Career Highlights

Aman worked as a Project Leader in the Engineering and Process Science division of the Core R&D HQ at The Dow Chemical Company in the USA for 3 years before moving back to India in 2013 to co-found Aether Industries.

Publications & Patents

• Co-author of 27 technical publications in leading international journals
• Co-inventor on 5 worldwide patents

Awards & Recognition

• Young Achiever Award (ICT Distinguished Alumnus Award), 2018
• Business World BW Disrupt 40 under 40 Business Leaders Award, 2022
• Rasayan Udyog Yuva Ratna (Chemical Industry Young Diamond) Award from the Indian Chemical Society, Century of Chemistry in India, 2025

Academic Engagement

Dr. Desai is an official PhD co-guide for ICT Mumbai, NCL Pune, and UTU Surat, and serves on the Board of Studies for Chemical Sciences at UTU Surat.

Contact Information

Email: [email protected]
Website: www.dmaiti.com

Presenter Details

Prof. Debabrata Maiti received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 2008 under the supervision of Prof. Kenneth D. Karlin. After postdoctoral studies at MIT with Prof. Stephen L. Buchwald, he joined the Department of Chemistry at IIT Bombay in 2011. His research interests are focused on the development of new and sustainable synthetic and catalytic methodologies. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of Synlett.

Research Focus

The limitations of cross-coupling such as the availability of prefunctionalized coupling partners, instability, and expense remain significant barriers to unlocking new chemical space. To address these challenges, Prof. Maiti's group focuses on developing techniques for direct C–H functionalization and cross-electrophile coupling.

Selectively targeting remote C–H bonds is challenging due to their inaccessibility for forming energetically favorable organometallic pre-transition states. His team devised covalently attached, template-directed methods requiring precise spatial positioning of directing groups to selectively activate remote C–H bonds. They have also demonstrated that non-covalent interactions can orient catalyst and substrate to achieve selective C–H bond activation.

Notable achievements include methods for activating methylene C–H bonds in the presence of methyl C–H bonds to form unsaturated bicyclic lactones via weakly coordinating carboxylic acids toward palladium. They also developed a ligand-controlled, visible-light-driven monometallic cross-electrophile coupling platform for synthesizing unsymmetrical (hetero)biaryls directly from (hetero)aryl halides and pseudohalides.

Additionally, the lab is pursuing strategies to convert small molecules such as CO₂ and SO₂ into a wide range of chemicals and materials using renewable visible-light photocatalysis.

Selected References

• Dutta, U.; Maiti, S.; Bhattacharya, T.; Maiti, D. Science, 2021, 372, 701.
• Goswami, N.; Sinha, S. K.; Mondal, P.; Adhya, S.; Datta, A.; Maiti, D. Chem, 2023, 9, 989.
• Saha, A. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2022, 144, 1929.
• Das, J. et al. Nat. Chem., 2023, 15, 1626.
• Maiti, S. et al. Nat. Catal., 2024.
• Mukherjee, P. et al. Nat. Synth., 2024.

Contact Information

Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Phone: +91-8600140949
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ninadgujarathi

Executive Profile

Chemical engineering professional with leadership experience in R&D, Techno-commercial, Manufacturing, and Business roles. Proven track record in evaluating, conceptualizing, innovating, developing, scaling-up, and delivering process and business solutions. Experienced in leading multi-disciplinary teams, projects, and facilities. Expertise in climate change mitigation solutions, biofuels, biochemical engineering, bioprocess engineering, wastewater treatment, and scale-up of unit operations from concept to commercial scale.

Ability to provide business clarity and role clarity to team members, inspiring them through scientific, technical, strategic, commercial, and professional development. Currently growing Environalgae, a technology firm focused on delivering microalgae-based clean technologies to help mitigate the ill-effects of Climate Change.

Educational Qualifications

• PhD in Chemical Engineering, Colorado State University, USA, 2005 (GPA: 3.85/4.0)
• MS in Chemical Engineering, Colorado State University, USA, 2003 (GPA: 3.33/4.0)
• BTech in Chemical Engineering, Dr. B. A. Technological University, Lonere, India, 2000 (70%)

Key Accomplishments of Environalgae

• Developed and commercialized a full-scale process for microalgae-based Biostimulant production at India's first such commercial plant (production capacity of up to 8 KLD).
• Developing microalgae applications as sustainable and nutritious aquaculture feed.
• Successfully conducted pilot-plant trials for customers from API & FMCG industries, awaiting commercial orders.
• Developing microalgae-based sustainable effluent treatment and co-product opportunities for dyes and textile industries, ethanol distilleries, and CBG (Compressed Bio-Gas) plants.

Key Projects / External Representations

• Conceptualized, designed, commissioned, demonstrated, and operated the world's first large-scale demonstration plant for biocrude production using marine microalgae (2012–2018).
• Secured funding as co-PI from RIL for the US DOE-sponsored PACE project (~$9M total funding), with $250k remittance to India for the demo facility.
• Co-PI from RIL in the US DOE-sponsored NAABB project (2011–2014).
• At PRAJ in 2009, contributed to preparations for the Indian Prime Minister’s Convoy to the Copenhagen Summit, including LCA studies on renewable energy options.
• In 2005, successfully bid for a Joint Indo-US Centre of Excellence for Bioremediation at Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), funded by the Indo US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF) as co-PI, collaborating with Colorado State University and Department of Defense, India.

Profile

Prof. Vikram Vishal serves as the Convener of the DST-National Centre of Excellence in CCUS at IIT Bombay. His academic journey includes various roles at MIT, Stanford University, Monash University, IIT Roorkee, IIT Bhubaneswar along with professional stints at Tata Steel and Shell. He heads the IITB Research Park, and is also the founder and director of UrjanovaC Private Limited - a clean energy and net zero solutions company. Prof. Vishal specializes in clean energy, decarbonization including CCUS. He engages as an Expert and a Knowledge Partner to lead Indian industries like ONGC, NTPC, multiple ministries like that of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Steel, Power, DST, CSIR, NITI Aayog, and chairs two subcommittees on CCUS at the Bureau of Indian Standards. He is the key negotiator on CCUS and CDR at the IPCC on behalf of the Govt of India. A three-time national award and two-time Fulbright fellowship recipient, he has authored over a hundred research publications, a dozen national and international S&T roadmaps over a dozen national and international policy and research roadmaps, and and has received five patents.