Srinivasan Chandrasekaran (born 1945) is an Indian organic and organometallic chemist, academic and a former chair of the Department of Organic Chemistry and the Division of Chemical Sciences. He was also a former Dean of the Faculty of Science at the

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a Public university, public, Deemed university, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The ...

. He was known for his research on organic reaction mechanisms and

organic synthesis Organic synthesis is a branch of chemical synthesis concerned with the construction of organic compounds. Organic compounds are molecules consisting of combinations of covalently-linked hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms. Within the gen ...

. and was an elected fellow of the

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three b ...

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS) is a North–south research partnerships, merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting more than 1,400 scientists in some 1 ...

and the

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and List of Nobel laureates, Nobel Laureate Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 27 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it ...

. The

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR; IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada'') is a research and development (R&D) organisation in India to promote scientific, industrial and economic growth. Headquarter ...

, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1989, for his contributions to chemical sciences.

Biography

S. Chandrasekaran was born on 15 November 1945 in the south Indian state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

.He did his college studies at the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda College of

Madras University The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

from where he completed his graduate and master's degrees and secured a PhD from the same university in 1972, studying under the guidance of S. Swaminathan. His thesis was based on '' Oxy-Cope rearrangement and on the synthesis of novel

norbornane Norbornane (also known as bicyclo .2.1eptane) is an organic compound and a saturated hydrocarbon with chemical formula C7H12. It is a crystalline compound with a melting point of 88 °C. The carbon skeleton is derived from cyclohexane ring with ...

derivatives''. Moving to the US, he did his post-doctoral studies in the laboratory of E.J. Corey at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(1973–75) and on completion of the studies, worked as a scientist at Syntex Research Laboratories during 1975–76. He stayed in the US for one more year, resuming his research at Corey's laboratory before returning to India in 1977 to join

IIT, Kanpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT- Kanpur or IIT-K) is a Public university, public institute of technology located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), it was declared an Institute of Nationa ...

as a lecturer in chemistry. After 12 years of service there, he shifted his base to

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

to continue his service at the

. He held several positions at IISc including those of the chair of Department of Organic Chemistry and the Division of Chemical Sciences as well as the Dean of the Faculty of Science. Chandrasekaran lives in Bengaluru and serves as an honorary professor at the Indian Institute of Science.

Legacy

During his post-doctoral studies with Corey, Chandrasekaran was able to accomplish the synthesis of

gibberellic acid Gibberellic acid (also called gibberellin A3 or GA3) is a hormone found in plants and fungi. Its chemical formula is C19H22O6. When purified, it is a white to pale-yellow solid. Plants in their normal state produce large amounts of GA3. It is po ...

, a plant growth hormone, successfully for the first time. Later at

Syntex Laboratorios Syntex SA (later Syntex Laboratories, Inc.) was a pharmaceutical company formed in Mexico City in January 1944 by Russell Marker, Emeric Somlo, and Federico Lehmann to manufacture therapeutic steroids from the Mexican yams called ''c ...

, he worked on the synthesis of beta-lactam antibiotics. Subsequently, working on organic reaction mechanisms, he developed a set of new organic synthesis reagents and using them, accomplished the creation of the carbon constellations. His research has been documented by way of several articles published in peer-reviewed journals and

ResearchGate ResearchGate is a European commercial social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. According to a 2014 study by ''Nature'' and a 2016 article in ''Times Higher Education' ...

, an online article repository has listed 318 of them. Besides, he has contributed chapters to two books; 3 chapters to the Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis and one chapter to ''Particle Swarm Optimization''. He has also mentored several scholars in their studies and has delivered keynote addresses and plenary speeches. He was involved with the functioning of many science societies; executive committee membership and chair of

International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC ) is an international federation of National Adhering Organizations working for the advancement of the chemical sciences, especially by developing nomenclature and terminology. It is ...

, chair of the national committee of the Indian National Science Academy, secretaryship of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the presidency of the

Chemical Research Society of India Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) is an India based scientific society dedicated to the field of chemistry. It was established in 1999 as a part of celebrating India's 50th anniversary of independence Independence is a conditi ...

were some of those responsibilities.

Awards and honors

Chandrasekharan received the Basudeb Banerjee Memorial Medal of the Indian Chemical Society in 1988 and the

awarded him the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Shanti or Shanthi may refer to: In Sanskrit * Inner peace, a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress * Kshanti, one of the paramitas of B ...

, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1989. The Indian Academy of Sciences elected him as their fellow the same year and the Indian National Science Academy and The World Academy of Sciences followed suit in 1992 and 1999 respectively. The other awards he has received include Silver Medal of the

, Golden Jubilee Commemoration Medal (2007) of Indian National Science Academy and the Alumni Award of Excellence of Indian Institute of Science. He has also held the J. C. Bose National Fellowship of Department of Science and Technology and the Distinguished Fellowship of the Science and Engineering Research Board.

Selected bibliography

Chapters in books

* * *

Articles

* * * * *

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chandrasekaran, Srinivasan Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Chemical Science 1945 births Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy TWAS fellows Scientists from Tamil Nadu Tamil chemists University of Madras alumni Genome editing Harvard University alumni History of biotechnology Academic staff of the Indian Institute of Science Indian organic chemists Living people Academic staff of IIT Kanpur Indian Tamil people