The department of chemistry in the St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata is one of the oldest departments in the state of West Bengal. The department carries a rich academic excellence in the branch of both basic and applied chemistry. Starting from the early days, the department had produced innumerable number of students of excellence in the branch of chemistry and many of those holds a reputed academic position both in India as well as in abroad. The notable alumni of the department include Prof. Amitabha Chattopadhyay (CCMB, Hyderabad – India), Prof. Rajib K. Mitra (S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata – India), Prof. Kallol Ray (Humboldt Universitat Zu Berlin, Germany), Prof. Soumyajit Roy (IISER Kolkata, India), Dr. Devleena Samanta (University of Texas at Austin, USA) and so on. Every year, a significant number of students qualify entrance exams like JAM, CUET and many others for pursuing M. Sc. in IITs, IISc Bangalore, IISERs, TIFR as well as in other Universities of high repute like Banaras Hind University, School of Chemistry Hyderabad, Calcutta University, Jadavpur University and so on. Many of our ex-students are currently pursuing research in leading institution in abroad and India; such as, Stanford University (USA), University of Chicago (USA), University of Florida (USA), Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) Kolkata, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) Pune, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCSAR) Bangalore, IITs and IISERs, University of Hyderabad, Purdue University (USA), Ohio State University (USA), École Polytechnique (France), Texas A&M (USA) etc.

The Department presently consists of eight full time faculty members and the teaching methods employed are in the form of classroom lectures, visual mode using power point presentation as well as practical classes. The theoretical papers in the UG course consist of Organic, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry in the first four semesters while in the fifth and sixth semesters, Biochemistry and Analytical Chemistry are also introduced. The Practical course includes Inorganic Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis, Inorganic Synthesis, Organic Qualitative and Synthesis, Physical Chemistry Experiments, Biochemistry and Analytical Practical, Instrumental Methods of Analysis and Computer Programming & its Application to Chemistry.

The Department has introduced ‘Instrumental Method of Analysis’ and ‘Optimization of structures of simple molecules/ bio-molecules by using DFT’ in the Skill Enhancement Course of the new CBCS curriculum. In addition, there is ‘Computer Programming with application in Chemistry’ in a DSE paper. In an incessant endeavour to inspire the students and expose them to contemporary research, the department organizes both International as well as National level Seminars every year, where renowned scientists from different parts of India and abroad participate and deliver scientific lectures. Furthermore, ‘Beyond Curricular Classrooms Lectures’ are also organized, particularly for the third year students and this gives them an opportunity to interact with the eminent scientists and professors.

The department is growing everyday with updated infrastructural, teaching and research facilities. Majority of the departmental faculty members are involved in research activities which further enriching the department in every passing days. In the coming year department has a plan to grow more in the direction of research and development both in basic as well as in applied areas of chemical sciences.

Infrastructure

• Spectrophotometer
• Spectro-fluorimeter
• Cyclic Voltammeter
• Tensiometer
• Spectro-colorimeter
• Melting point apparatus
• HP Workstation (24 Core)
• Gel Electrophoresis Apparatus (vertical)
• Rotary Evaporator with chiller and vacuum pump
• Modern Fume Hood
• Oil bath with temperature control
• Heating mantle,magnetic stirrer, steam bath
• Digital Balance (4 Digit) , Digital Balance (3 Digit)
• TLC Apparatus
• Multiple suction pump
• Conductivity meter, pH meter
• Hot air oven, Centrifuge
• Computer Server

Illustrious Alumni

• Prof. Amitabha Chattopadhyay: working in the areas of membrane and receptor biology and biophysics, presently a CSIR Bhatnagar Fellow at the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology. Additionally, he is a distinguished visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, adjunct professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (Kolkata), Swinburne University of Technology (Australia), and honorary professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (Bangalore). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2013 and Royal Society of Biology in 2017. Link: https://www.ccmb.res.in/People/Research-Group/Amitabha-Chattopadhyay
• Prof. Rajib K. Mitra: previously A. J. C. Bose fellow, currently Professor and Head of the Department of Chemistry, S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences. His research interest includes ultrafast fluorescence, high frequency spectroscopy, colloid and soft materials including biomolecules. Link: https://thzlabrajib.site123.me
• Prof. Kallol Ray is a faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the department of Chemistry, Humboldt Universitat Zu Berlin. Ray group is focused in enlightenment of mechanistic details of the activation of small molecules (O2, H2O, CO2) for redox processes at enzyme like catalysts with transition metal centers e.g. Fe, Cu, Co, Mn and Ni. Link: https://www.chemie.hu-berlin.de/en/forschung-en/ray
• Prof. Soumyajit Roy is presently a professor in the department of Chemical Sciencesat Indian Institute of Science and Educational Research, Kolkata. Roy group focuses synthesis, characterization and applications of Eco-friendly Applied Materials (EFAM); colloidal SOM’s and POM’s, their properties and applications. Link: https://www.iiserkol.ac.in/~s.roy/
• Dr. Devleena Samanta received her MS from Verginia Commonwelthe university and got her Ph. D from Stanford under the supervision of Prof. Richard Neil Zare. Then she moved to Prof. Chad Mirkin group at North Western University for her post doc. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and an Associate Member of the Livestrong Cancer Institutes at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on the development of DNA, peptide, and protein-based programmable materials for the early detection and treatment of diseases. Link: https://www.devleenasamanta.com/index.html
• Dr. Somdev Banerjee is Associate Teaching Professor, Undergraduate Adviser and Accelerated Masters Program Adviser and Illinois Tech Pre-Medicine Advisory Committee Member at Illinois Institute of technology. Link: https://www.iit.edu/directory/people/somdev-banerjee
• Dr. Soumya Mukherjee is a research instructor in the Department of Neurology at Washington University in St. Louis. Washinton University at St. Louis. His current research interests are in understanding the molecular mechanisms in neurodegeneration and the role protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) has to play during disease progression. Specifically he is interested in the 1) cross-talk of PTMs during disease staging, 2) protein aging and 3) altered proteoforms in neurodegenerative diseases. His goals are in translation of these findings using analytical techniques for the development of disease biomarkers. Link: https://batemanlab.wustl.edu/people/soumya-mukherjee-phd/
• Dr. Debanjana Das is an assistant research Scientist at the college of Arts and Sciences, Howard University. Link: https://profiles.howard.edu/debanjana-das
• Dr. Syamantak Roy Senior Scientist @Merck AR&D, Small Molecule, Rahway, New Jersey, United States.
• Dr. Rittwika Roy, Merck, US
• Dr. Prem Channani got his Post Graduate degree from IIT Madras and is a Ph. D. in Chemistry from Texas A & M University. Currently he is a process engineer at Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, Oregon, United States.
• Dr. Sneha Kankaria got her B, Tech. degree from University of Calcutta and Masters from Texas A & M University. She works at Hindustan Unilever, AkzoNobel, BASF and is currently a process engineer at Intel.
• Dr. Sumit Ranjan Sahu, Battery Scientist
• Dr. Pralay K. Santra got his Pgh. D. from IISc, Bangalore under the supervision of Prof. D. D. Sharma. He did his Post Doc at University of Notre Dame, Stanford University and Uppsala University (Carl Trygger's Postdoctoral Fellow). Currently his group at Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences, Bengaluru primarily focuses on development of functional materials and modifying their interfacial chemistry for sustainable and renewable energy. Our work involves material design and synthesis, study of structural and electronic properties and prototype device fabrications. . Link:http://psantra.wixsite.com/santragroup
• Prof. Nanda Dulal Paul received his Ph. D. from IACS and was a scientific researcher at Van't Hoff Institute of Molecular Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam. Currently he is an assistant professor at Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur. His group group is currently working on the new research field of cooperative catalysis with redox non-innocent ligands, coordinated to cheap and earth-abundant first row transition metals. Link: https://ndpaul.wixsite.com/icndp
• Dr. Sreyoshi Sur received her MS from IIT Kanpur and Ph. D from University of Rochester. Currently she is scientist at Moderna Therapeutics, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Dr. Asha Gupta received her MS and Ph. D. from IISc., Bangalore and was involved in post doctoral research with Prof. John B. Goodenough, Noble Laureate Chemistry 2019, University of Texas at Austin,USA. She is currently an Assistant Professor in Chemistry at IITBHU, Varanasi. Her research focuses Energy Storage devices (Lithium-ion, Sodium Ion battery, Supercapacitors), Heterogeneous Catalysis, Electrochemistry, Photocatalysis, Catalyst for green and renewable energy, First-Principles Density Functional Calculations. Link: https://www.iitbhu.ac.in/dept/chy/people/ashachy
• Dr. Hriday Nath Bhattacharjee, Adjunct Professor, Queen’s University. His research focuses Synthetic organic and organometallic chemistry, polymer chemistry, metallopolymers, materials chemistry, surface chemistry, biosensors. Link: https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/media/expert/hridaynath-bhattacharjee
• Dr. Saurja Dasgupta got his Masters from IITB and Ph. D. under the supervision of prof. Joseph A Piccirilli at U Chikago. Currently he is working as a post doc under Nobel laureate Prof. Jack W. Szostak at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. His research interest is in the Origin of Life.
• Dr. Anirudra Paul received his Masters from IITKGP and Ph. D. from Rutgers University, post doc from Cornell University. Currently he is Scientist at Bristol Myers Squibb, Princeton, New Jersey, United States.