Animesh Chakravorty

Animesh Chakravorty
Animesh Chakravorty at 2017
Born	(1935-06-30) 30 June 1935 (age 89)
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	Scottish Church College Kolkata, B.Sc. (1955) College of Science (Calcutta University), M.Sc. (1957), Ph.D (1961)
Spouse	Aparna Chakravorty
Children	2
Awards	Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize(1975) TWAS Prize (1993)
Scientific career
Fields	Inorganic Chemistry: Transition Metal Coordination Chemistry
Institutions	Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science
Thesis	Absorption Spectra of Metal Chelates
Doctoral advisor	Sadhan Basu
Other academic advisors	F. Albert Cotton Richard H. Holm
Doctoral students	Akhil Ranjan Chakravarty Rabindranath Mukherjee Sreebrata Goswami Samaresh Bhattacharya Goutam Kumar Lahiri Sankarprasad Rath

Animesh Chakravorty (born 30 June 1935) is an Indian inorganic chemist. ^{[1] [2]}

Biography

Born in Mymensingh city (now in Bangladesh), Chakravorty had his school education there and later in Kolkata after the family moved there in 1948. He received his BSc degree from Scottish Church College, Kolkata (1955); ^[3] MSc and PhD degrees (1957 and 1961) from College of Science, University of Calcutta, Kolkata. ^[4] His doctoral work was directed by Sadhan Basu (1922-1992). ^{[5] [6] [7]} He also worked independently. ^[8] He then went to Cambridge, USA to work (1961-1964)  at  Massachusetts Institute of Technology  with Frank Albert Cotton (1930-2007) and later at Harvard University with Richard Hadley Holm (1933-2023). He returned home in 1964 and joined the Chemistry Faculty of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) ^[9] in as a lecturer, later becoming a professor (Head,1974–77). In 1977 he moved to Kolkata to lead the Department of Inorganic Chemistry at Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), the oldest science research institute in India. ^{[10] [11]} He formally retired from IACS in 2000 but continued to work there till 2018 as an Emeritus Professor concurrently holding other externally supported  research positions.

Research

Chakravorty's research concerns synthesis, structure and reactions of new transition metal complexes. He is best known for his work on  tuning of variable valence and scrutiny of associated redox phenomena.   He is an early pioneer in the systematic use of the now-common voltammetric techniques as a powerful research tool in variable valence transition metal coordination chemistry initially using a home-built equipment. ^[12]  The  work of his group has resulted in nearly 300 original papers encompassing the chemistry of manganese, ^{[13] [14] [15] [16]} iron ^{[17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25]} and nickel ^{[12] [26] [27]} groups of elements and of  vanadium, ^{[28] [29] [30]} molybdenum ^[31] and copper. ^[32] Representative examples are cited in each case. In the general framework of variable valence, the work is dotted with other themes such as ligand redistribution, spectroelectrochemical correlation, aromatic hydroxylation, oxygen atom transfer, cyclometalation, azo anion radical stabilization and more. The works on vanadium, ^{[28] [29] [30]} manganese, ^{[13] [14]} iron ^[22] and molybdenum ^[31]   are of peripheral bioinorganic chemistry.^. Chakravorty is also the author of several major review articles and book chapters. Chakravorty has a secondary interest in history of chemistry. He published numerous articles on this issue and a book ^[33] on the contributions of the greatest among early torch bearers of modern chemistry in India, Prafulla Chandra Rây (1861-1944).

Awards and professional outreach

• Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1975) ; The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) prize (1993); Lifetime Achievement Gold Medals of Chemical Research Society of India (2003) and of Indian Chemical Society (2005); P.C Rây Memorial Award of National Academy of Sciences, India (2018); Golden Jubilee Research Professorship (1996-2001) of Indian National Science Academy; Tata Chemical Platinum Jubilee Distinguished Emeritus Professorship (2014–16). DSc (Honoris Cause) of Burdwan University (2008).
• Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc, 1975), of Indian National Science Academy (FNA,1978), of The World Academy of Sciences (FTWAS, 1995).  Bureau Member (1991-99) thereafter Fellow of IUPAC, Honorary Fellow of Indian Chemical Society (1999) and President of the Chemical Research Society of India (2006–09).
• Member Editorial Boards of Inorganic Chemica Acta (1975–80), Dalton Transactions (1992–96), Inorganic Chemistry (1997–99), Indian Journal of Chemistry Sect.A(1992–98, 2002–07) and Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry-II (CCCII), 10 Volumes, Elsevier (1987).
• Honored  via dedicated Issues: Indian Academy of Sciences, Proceedings Chemical Science (August, 1995)  Inorganica Chimica Acta   (October,2010)  and Journal of  Indian Chemical Society (December, 2015).
• Honorary Professor  (1990–95) and Hindustan Lever Research Professor (2001–06) of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research; Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Hyderabad University (1994); Ramanna Fellow of the Department of Science and Technology (2010–13); Visiting Professor Texas A&M University (1983).
• In 2006 the Chemical Research Society of India established the biennale Prof. Animesh Chakravorty Endowment Lecture to be delivered as part the Society's Conference by a very distinguished inorganic chemist of the world. The 10th Lecture was held in 2024. The endowment fund for this Lecture was donated by students and admirers of Chakravorty.
• Delivered numerous plenary, endowed, anniversary, commemorative, foundation day and other categories of invited lectures in conferences and in academic and industrial institutions in India and abroad. These include Special Harvard/MIT Inorganic Chemistry Colloquium at MIT (1983), Gordon Research Conference on Inorganic Chemistry at Wolfeboro, NH, USA (1987); 9th National Convention, Royal Australian Chemical Institution, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (1992) and the Third International Symposium on the Chemistry and Biological Chemistry of Vanadium in Osaka University, Japan (2001). ^[34]
• Leader of the Indian delegation to the Indo-Russian Symposium on Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry jointly organized by Indian National Science Academy and Russian Academy of Sciences and held at Nizhnni Navogorad, the leader on the Russian side being M.V.Vol'pin (1993).    
• In 1985 convened a conference titled "Recent Trends in Inorganic Chemistry" at IACS as part of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Indian National Science Academy (1985). This was the seed of the premier international conference, "Modern Trends in Inorganic Chemistry" (MTIC), now a major yearly event that moves from one institution to another within India with participants from India and abroad.  
• Has served as Chairman/Advisor/Member of Governing Councils/ Committees of numerous Academic Institutions and Governmental Departments supporting planning and research in science in India.

Personal life

Chakravorty is married to Aparna and they have two children.^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. Mukherjee, R.N. (2014), “ Animesh Chakravorty- an era of inorganic chemistry research in India”, Current Science, 107(6): 1052-1059
2. Mukherjee, Rabindranath; Chakravarty Akhil R. (2010), “Preface”, Inorganica Chimica Acta. 363(12): 2693-2694.
3. Some Alumni of Scottish Church College in 175th Year Commemoration Volume. Scottish Church College, April 2008. page 584
4. Hundred Years of Post-Graduate Teaching in Chemistry under Calcutta University, 1886-1986, 1987 Appendix II page A-II, 6; Appendix IV, page xvii.
5. CHAKRAVORTY, ANIMESH; BASU, SADHAN (5 March 1960). "Crystal Spectrum of Copper Biguanides". Nature. 185 (4714): 681. doi:10.1038/185681a0. ISSN   0028-0836.
6. Chakravorty, Animesh; Basu, Sadhan (2 June 1960). "Crystal Spectra of Chromium tris-Acetyl Acetone". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 33 (4): 1266. doi:10.1063/1.1731381. ISSN   0021-9606.
7. Misra, Ramprasad; Bhattacharyya, S.P.(2013), “Sadhan Basu - Physical Chemist Extraordinaire- A glimpse into his Research work”. Resonance. 18 (07): 598-614
8. Gangopadhyay, Arun Kumar; Chakravorty, Animesh (1961). “Charge Transfer Spectra of Some Gold(III) Complexes". Journal of Chemical Physics. 35 (06): 2206-2209
9. Rao, C.N.R. (2010), Climbing the Limitless Ladder: a Life in Chemistry. World Scientific. Page 58.
10. Gahtak U.R. (Chairman of Publication committee). (1976). A Century: Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science
11. Chakravorty, A. (Chairman of Publication Sub-committee). (2001). 125 Years: Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science.
12. Mohanty, J.G.; Chakravorty, A.(1976), “Chemistry of Tetravalent Nickel and Related Species. 2. Cyclic Voltamametry of Oxidation-Reduction Equilibria Involving Protons”. Inorganic Chemistry, 15(11): 2912-2916.
13. Chandra, Swapan Kumar:; Basu, Partha; Ray, Debashish; Pal, Samudranil , and Chakravorty, Animesh (1990), “ A Family of Monocular Manganese(IV) Complexes: An Mn^ivO₄N₂ Sphere Assembled via Phenolato-Imine-Carboxylate Coordination”, Inorganic Chemistry, 29 (13): 2423-2428.
14. Somnath, Dutta; Basu, Partha, and Chakravorty, Animesh(1991), "Mononuclear Manganese(IV) in Tridentate ONO Coordination. Synthesis, Structure and Redox Regulation via Oxygen Donor Variation", Inorganic Chemistry, 30(21), 4031-4037.
15. Dirghangi, Bimal Kumar; Menon, Mahua; Pramanik, Amitava, and Chakravorty, Animesh (1997), “A Triad of Variable-Valent Rhenium Aldimine and Amide Systems Interrelated by Successive Oxygen Atom Transfer”, Inorganic Chemistry, 36(06): 1095-1101.
16. Gangopadhyay, Jaydip; Sengupta, Suman; Bhattachayya, Sibaprasad, and Chakravorty, Animesh(2002), "Pyridylazole Chelation of  Oxorhenium(V) and Iminorhenium(V). Rates and Trends of Oxygen Atom Transfer from Re^VO to Tertiary Phosphines", Inorganic Chemistry, 41(09):2616-2622.
17. Mukherjee, R. N. ; Rajan, O. A. ; Chakravorty, A. (1982), "Electron Transfer in Groups of Iron, Cobalt, and Copper Triazene-1-Oxides: Hammett Correlation, Ligand Redistribution, and Crystal Field Effects", Inorganic Chemistry, 21 (02): 785-790.
18. Goswami, Srebrata; Chakravarty, Akhil. R; Chakravorty, Animesh (1982), “The Ru^II(OH₂)–Ru^IV(O) Couple in a Ruthenium Complex of 2-(Phenylazo)pyridine : Homogeneous Catalysis of the Oxidation of Water to Dioxygen”, Journal of Chemical Society, Chemical Communication: 1288-1289.
19. Goswami, Srebrata; Mukherjee, Rabindranath, and Chakravorty, Animesh (1983), “Chemistry of Ruthenium. 12. Reactions of Bidentate Ligands with Diaqobis[2-(arylazo)pyridine]ruthenium(II) Cation. Stereoretentive Synthesis of Tris Chelates and Their Characterization: Metal Oxidation, Ligand Reduction, and Spectroelectrochemical Correlation”, Inorganic Chemistry, 22(20): 2825-2832.
20. Ghosh, Phalgun, and Chakravorty, Animesh(1984), "Hydroxamates of Bis(2,2'-bypyridine)ruthenium: Synthesis, Protic, Redox, Electroprotic Eqilibra, Spectra and Spectroelectrochemical Correlations", Inorganic Chemistry,23(15): 2242-2248.
21. Lahiri, Goutam Kumar; Bhattacharya, Samaresh; Ghosh, Barindra Kumar, and Chakravorty, Animesh (1987), “Ruthenium and Osmium Complexes of  N,O Chelators: Syntheses, Oxidation Levels, and Distortion Parameters”, Inorganic Chemistry, 26(26): 4324-4331.
22. Basu, Partha ; Choudhury, Suranjan Bhanja ; Pal, Samudranil , and Chakravorty, Animesh (1989), “Chemistry of Ferro- and Ferriverdins. Iron Redox and Geometrical Stereodynamis”, Inorganic Chemistry, 28 (13). 2680-2686.
23. Ghosh, Prasanta; Bag, Nilkamal & Chakravorty, Animesh (1996), “Decarbonylative Metalation of Diformylphenol Schiff Bases:  New Osmium and Ruthenium Organometallics Incorporating the Iminium−Phenolato Zwitterionic Motif”, Organometallics, 15(13): 3042-3047.
24. Ghosh, Kaushik; Pattanayak, Sujoy, and Chakravorty, Animesh(1998), "Metallacycle Expansion by Alkyne Insetion. Chemistry of a New Family of Ruthenium Organometallics", Organometallics17(10): 1956-1960.
25. Pramanik, Kaushikisankar; Shivkumar, Maya; Ghosh, Prasanta, and Chakravorty Animesh(2000), "Azo Anion Radical Complexes of Osmium and Relared Nonradical Species", Inorganic Chemistry, 39(02): 195-199.
26. Sinha, Chittaranjan: Bandyopadhyay, Debkumar, and Chakravorty, Animesh (1988), "Aromatic Hydroxylation via Cyclometalation. Meraloxylation of Palladated 2-(Alkylsulfinyl)azobenzenes", Inorganic Chemistry, 27(07):1173-1178.
27. Chattopadhyay, Surajit; Sinha, Chittaranjan; Basu, Partha, and Chakravorty, Animesh (1991), “Platinum(IV)-Azobenzene Cyclometalation Products and Related Species”, Organometallics,10(04): 1135-1139.
28. Dutta, Somnath; Basu, Partha, and  Chakravorty, Animesh (1993), “Chemistry of Mononuclear and Binuclear Oxidic VanadiumV^v, V^vV^v, and V^VV^IV Azophenolates”, Inorganic Chemistry32(23): 5543-5548.
29. Mondal, Sujit; Rath, Sankar Prasad; Rajak, Kajal Krishna, and Chakravorty, Animesh (1998), "A Family of (N-Salicyledene-α-amino acidato)vanadate Esters Incorporating Chelated Propane-1,3-diol and Glycerol: Synthesis, Structure, and Reactions", Inorganic Chemistry, 37(08):1713-1719.
30. Baruah, Bharat; Das, Samir, and Chakravorty, Animesh(2002), "A Family of Vanadate Esters of Monoionized and Diionized Aromatic 1,2-Diols: Synthesis, Structure, and Redox Activity", Inorganic Chemistry, 41(17): 4502-4508.
31. Rajan, O.A.; Chakravorty, A.(1981), “Molybdenum  Complexes. 1. Acceptor Behavior and Related Properties of Mo^VIO₂(tridentate) Systems”, Inorganic chemistry, 20(03 ): 660-664.
32. Datta, Dipankar, and  Chakravorty, Animesh (1983), “Bis(2-(phenylazo)pyridine)copper(I) and -copper(II): Ligand pi acidity and High Formal Potential of the Copper(II)-Copper(I) couple”. Inorganic Chemistry, 22(07): 1085-1090.
33. Chakravorty, Animesh (2019), Glipmses of Acharya P.C. Roy’s Work in Chemical Sciences (p i-xii , 1-136) . Indian Chemical Society, 92 Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Kolkata-70009.  
34. Hirao, Toshkazu; (Editor) (February 2003), “New Directions in Chemistry and Biological Chemistry of Vanadium - Third International Symposium on Chemistry and Biological Chemistry of Vanadium”, Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 237(February): 1-286. [Of Special Interest: p 135-146].

External links

• Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS)