Main Group Chemistry:

• Low coordinate s- and p-block compounds
• Reactive cations and dications
• Lewis acid catalysis.

Research Group

Research Scientific Staff

• Dr. Kriti Pathak

PhD Students

• Deepti Sharma
• Sheetal Kathayat Bisht
• Suban Kundu
• Annabel Benny
• Jerin Joseph

BSMS Major Project Students

• Aqil Suhaib 

Selected Publications

Quest for Active Species in Al/B-Catalyzed CO₂ Hydrosilylation

S. K. Bisht, D. Sharma, R. Kannan, T. Rajeshkumar, L. Maron, A. Venugopal, Inorg. Chem., 2023, 63, 18453.

Mechanistic investigations on bismuth catalyzed reduction of ketones and phosphine oxides
A. Benny, D. Sharma, Ankur, T. Rajeshkumar, L. Maron, A. Venugopal, Chem. Eur. J., 2023, e202300588.

Crystallographic evidence for a continuum and reversal of roles in primary–secondary interactions in antimony Lewis acids: Applications in carbonyl activation
D. Sharma, A. Benny, R. Gupta, E. D. Jemmis, A. Venugopal, Chem. Commun., 2022, 58, 11009.

Reversing Lewis acidity from bismuth to antimony
D. Sharma, S. Balasubramaniam, S. Kumar, E. D. Jemmis, A. Venugopal, Chem. Commun., 2021, 57, 8889.

Cationic zinc hydride catalyzed carbon dioxide reduction to formate: Deciphering elementary reactions, isolation of intermediates, and computational investigations
R. Chambenahalli, R. M. Bhargav, K. N. McCabe, A. P. Andrews, F. Ritter, J. Okuda, L. Maron, A. Venugopal, Chem. Eur. J., 2021, 27, 7391.

Electrophilic organobismuth dication catalyzes carbonyl hydrosilylation
R. Kannan, S. Balasubramaniam, S. Kumar, R. Chambenahalli, E. D. Jemmis, A. Venugopal, Chem. Eur. J., 2020, 26, 12717.

Organoaluminum cation for carbonyl activation
R. Kannan, R. Chambenahalli, S. Kumar, A. Krishna, A. P. Andrews, E. D. Jemmis, A. Venugopal, Chem. Commun., 2019, 55, 14629.
 
Terminal hydridozinc cation
R. Chambenahalli, A. P. Andrews, F. Ritter, J. Okuda, A. Venugopal, Chem. Commun., 2019, 55, 2054.
 
Disguised hydride in a butylmagnesium cation
S. Banerjee, Ankur, A. P. Andrews, A. Venugopal, Chem. Commun., 2018, 54, 5788.
 
Consequence of ligand bite angle on bismuth Lewis acidity
R. Kannan, S. Kumar, A. P. Andrews, E. D. Jemmis, A. Venugopal, Inorg. Chem., 2017, 56, 9391.

Complete List of Publications
https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=r4Dj8nMAAAAJ&hl=en

Courses Taught at IISER Thiruvananthapuram

• CHY 111:    Atomic Structure and Chemical Bonding
• CHY 121:   Basic Concepts in Organic and Inorganic Chemistry
• CHY 311:   Coordination Chemistry
• CHY 321:   Organometallic Chemistry
• CHY 411:   Main Group Chemistry
• CHY 4206: Main Group Catalysis 

Dr. Ajay Venugopal
Associate Professor
School of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research
Maruthamala P.O, Vithura
Thiruvananthapuram - 695551
Kerala, India

Phone: 0471-2778076
Email: venugopal[at]iisertvm[dot]ac[dot]in