Message from Director

Prof. Sunil Kr Sarangi, FNAE

Director

Scholarship thrives for communication; Institutes of higher learning prosper when faculty and students share their thoughts with each other. While conversation among faculty and students continue to be scientifically productive, more formal communication channels benefit everyone in the community. These formal channels include conferences, symposia, institute and departmental seminars, journals and magazines. Those are the category of communication media that give more effective sharing of thoughts among scientists around the globe. Departmental magazines in particular are good compromise between informal communication among closely related colleagues, and formal communication between professional peers over wider areas. Departmental magazines may be in print, in electronic media or even be pasted on the wall. They substantially enrich the scientific and cultural life of a department. These magazines give opportunity to everyone in the department, from senior-most professor to the youngest student to express his or her creative thoughts. I am indeed happy to learn that the faculty and students of our Chemistry Department have floated their departmental magazine. I am confident that with the support and cooperation of all faculty and students in the department, this magazine will grow from strength to strength with time. I congratulate the Head of the Department Professor B. G. Mishra, his team of young faculty colleagues and students of the Department for taking up this venture. I wish them all success in serving the Institute community interested in various aspects of chemistry.

Prof. Sunil Ku Sarangi

Editorial…..

Like an age old banyan tree; deep rooted in soil and numerously

branched above the ground to arise as a symbol of growth and

serene existence, our department of chemistry in NIT Rourkela has

come across a long way since its inception in 1961 and standing

taller than ever in 2012. Started as a sapling planted under the

guidance of Prof. D. V. Ramana Rao, this department has truly

embodied a grown up tree that patrons sixteen faculty members,

00 staffs, 00 students and 00 research scholars. Indeed, we are a

part of a big family now. Complementing with the chemistry

department’s existing academic heritage, we realize that it is the

time to add a cultural perspective that is characteristic to every

traditional family. On this note we felt that there should be a

platform to express our thoughts, feelings and intellect in terms of

words. It is our utmost pleasure to present you the first issue of

our own departmental magazine ‘Chemunion’, where students

and faculties can have their voices and literary talents shared. This

magazine would be published annually. In general, it would

include the updated faculty profiles and latest academic as well as

cultural happenings of the department. Additionally there will be

a group photo of all outgoing students of MSc (both 2 yr and

integrated) batches so that Chemunion stays as a long lasting

memory for these students. Besides, there will be several literary

and scholarly articles from faculties as well as students in each

issue. Along with hardcopies, there will be an online edition of

this magazine for general access. I consider myself extremely

fortunate to be an active part of this departmental magazine. I

would personally like to thank Anurag, Sandeep and every other

integrated MSc student of the chemistry department for their hard

work in making this project coming through. We are indebted to

all the faculties of this department, especially Prof. B. G. Mishra for

the helpful suggestions and guidance. Finally, we would like to

thank our honourable Director, Prof. S. K. Sarangi for his support

and best wishes that has propelled our magazine forward. We

believe that Chemunion would one day become an indispensable

part of the rich cultural tradition of NIT Rourkela and like a legacy

it would continue for a long time in future.

Supratim Giri

Editor

Chemunion

About The Department

The Department of Chemistry is one of the premier departments in

eastern part of India imparting science education and research. The

chemistry department started during the year 1961 along with the

inception of Regional Engineering College. In the beginning,

Engineering Chemistry was offered to BE students. Master of science

(two year) course was started with the specialization in inorganic

chemistry with an intake capacity of four students from the year 1965

with the able leadership of Prof. D. V. Ramana Rao. At present the

intake capacity of two year M.Sc. students is thirty. The department

has started the five year integrated M.Sc. in Chemistry from 2009,

which is an attractive program drawing students from various parts of

India. The department also offers PhD programme since the inception

of the department. The faculties of the department are engaged in

teaching, research and consultancy work. The Department of

Chemistry at NIT Rourkela, over a period of time, has acquired many

advanced analytical equipments such as NMR, ESI Mass spectrometer,

surface area analyzer, FTIR, UV-Vis Spectro-photometer, HPLC,

Potentiostat/galvanostat, Fluorescence spectrometer etc. The current

research focus of the department includes Environmental Chemistry,

Organic synthesis, Natural products, Organometallics, Metal Clusters,

Nanomaterials, Organic-Inorganic Hybrid materials, coordination

chemistry, Biophysical Chemistry, Catalysis, Spectroscopy and Nano-

Biomaterials. The faculty members of this department have published

more than five hundred research papers in different national and

international journals of repute. Fifty research scholars have received

PhD degree and one D.Sc. degree from this department. Besides, four

hundred students have obtained master degree in chemistry. At

different times, the following professors have taken the leaderships as

Head of the Department and had given the right direction and

momentum. The department owes its gratefulness to Prof. D.V.

Ramana Rao, Prof. R.K. Pattanaik, Prof. R.N Patel, Prof. K.K. Tripathy,

Prof C. Panda, Prof. B. Pradhan Prof. K.M. Purohit and Prof. R.K.

Patel.

CONTENTS

1. Faculty Profiles 1-16

i. Dr Aparna Mondal

ii. Dr B. G. Mishra

iii. Dr Debayan Sarkar

iv. Dr G. Hota

v. Dr Harekrushna Sahoo

vi. Dr Madhurima Jana

vii. Dr Niranjan Panda

viii. Dr Priyabrat Dash

ix. Dr R. K. Patel

x. Dr Rupam Dinda

xi. Dr Sabita Patel

xii. Dr Sasmita Mohapatra

xiii. Dr Saurav Chatterjee

xiv. Dr Supratim Giri

xv. Dr Usharani Subuddhi

xvi. Dr V. Sivakumar

2. Research Articles 17-31

i. Mixed-ligand Nickel(II) thiosemicarbazone complexes:

Synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation. 18

ii. Fe-Catalyzed One-Pot Synthesis of 1,3-Di- and

1,3,5-Trisubstituted Pyrazoles from Hydrazones

and Vicinal Diols. 19

iii. Stereo selective Synthesis of Enamides by Pd-Catalyzed

Hydroamidation of Electron Deficient Terminal Alkynes 19

iv. Diverse field of Organometallic chemistry: Challenges and

Opportunities 20

v. Electrospun Nanofibers: Fabrication, Functionalization and

Environmental Applications. 23

vi. Carbon Trading: Challenges and Perspective 24

vii. Atom economic transformations towards biologically importantnatural products under Metal Environment – A view Of Molecular Gymnastics

involving acetylenes 30

3. Final Year Batch Profiles 33-59

i. Abhijit Nandi

ii. Arpan Pal

iii. Aurobindo Mohanty

iv. Binu Mishra

v. Chinmayee Priyadarshini

vi. Dibyansu Mishra

vii. Eeti Chatterjee

viii. Hasan Adib Khan

ix. Jayanti Sravanti

x. Kasturi Singh

xi. Kongrailatpam Dayananda Sharma

xii. Kumari Saroj

xiii. Madhusmita Rout

xiv. Nilendri Rout

xv. Prajna Mishra

xvi. Pramoda Behera

xvii. Pranati Badhai

xviii. Ranjak Behera

xix. Rohit Xalxo

xx. Sabera Milan

xxi. Sagarika Behera

xxii. Santu Nandi

xxiii. Santanu Kumar Dalai

xxiv. Santwana Sahoo

xxv. Subhasmin Rana

xxvi. Sushreeta Behera

xxvii. Upasana Panda

4. Scientific & Literary Articles 61-85

i. Chemistry and Computers: Friendship between Two “C”s 61

ii. Use Of Significant Figures (aka) Sig Fig In Chemistry 63

iii. Morning 67

iv. Chemistry- The King of Subjects

An omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient science 68

v. The Periodic Table Expands Yet Again… 70

vi. The Improbable Reality 71

vii. Temporary Storage for Electrons in a Hydrogen

Producing Enzyme 73

viii. A Noble Discovery 74

ix. Reality Beyond Imagination 77

x. Lamentation For Ill – Learnt Literates 80

xi. Hope 82

xii. Hope That Brings a Big Change In You 83

xiii. Chocolate 85

xiv. Wake To Sleep 87

xv. The Chemistry Of Love 88

5. Scientist of The Issue: Neils Bohr 90

6. Chemicross 92

7. Inquizzire 93

8. Trivia 95

9. Laugh-a-thon 97

Imagination is more important than knowledge. 1

Dr Aparna Mondal

Assistant Professor

Dr Aparna Mondal has been rendering her services by educating the students of our

college since July, 2007. She has received her Master of Science degree (M.Sc.) in

Chemistry from the University of Burdwan, West Bengal, India, Master of

Technology degree (M.Tech.) and Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD) both from

Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India. After pursuing her

doctorate, she worked as a scientist in National Institute for Interdisciplinary

Science and Technology, formerly known as Regional Research Laboratory (CSIR),

Thiruvananthapuram from 2004 to 2007.

She hails from Burdwan, a district in West Bengal. Apart from spreading the light

of wisdom, she is passionate about singing and surfing the internet. She likes

visiting exotic and serene places for relaxing and refreshing her mind, her best

vacation spot being Iddukki, Kerala. After working as a scientist for two years, she

realised that her heart lies in teaching and imparting knowledge and took up

teaching profession.

Teaching is not just a job for her but a passion, her heart’s desire. She encourages

the students to work sincerely and at the same time derive the maximum

happiness from whatever they are working for.

Whatever you are, be a good one. 2

Dr Braja Gopal Mishra

Associate Professor

Head of the Department

Dr Braja Gopal Mishra, Associate Professor, in fact the Head of the chemistry

department (HOD) has been sincerely rendering his services by spreading his

wisdom of knowledge in chemistry to the students of NIT Rourkela since, 2008. He

has achieved his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 2004 from the very reputed

University in India i.e., Indian Institute of Technology, Madras where he was

honoured with Langmuir Medal for best PhD thesis in physical chemistry. He has

also served as a lecturer in the chemistry department at BITS, Pilani for about

three splendid years from 2005 till the time he joined NITR.

Dr B. G. Mishra hails from Odisha. He is a resident of Sonepur, Binka district. Above

and beyond the life of chemistry he also spends sometime in listening music and

reading.

His research projects take account of:

1. Development of water tolerant nanosized functional heterogeneous catalyst

for synthesis in aqueous media, CSIR, 2010-2013.

2. Novel environmental friendly protocol for the synthesis of biologically

important molecules using heterogeneous catalysts, DST, 2009-2012.

In today’s educational society, we are very fortunate to have such an intellectual

enlightening professor in NITR who has been contributing his knowledge with all his

authentic efforts in amplification of chemistry.

Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it. 3

3TDr Debayan Sarkar 3T

Assistant Professor

Dr Debayan Sarkar hails from Malbazar, located in the Dooars area of Northern Part

of West Bengal. The place is surrounded by 27 tea gardens and very close to

nature’s beautiful places like Darjeeling, Gangtok. He obtained his PhD from Indian

Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata, and joined the

prestigious NIT Rourkela in 2011. Dr Sarkar has recently completed his post-

doctoral research in Palo Alto, California in the most acclaimed Stanford

University.

He has quite an ecstasy range of choices when it comes to hobbies, as he likes

fishing and of course eating. He also has a special likeliness for swimming.

He has been awarded with an Associate membership of Royal Society of Chemistry,

Cambridge, UK in 2011. He has been recently awarded with the Prestigious INDO-

US Research fellowship 2012-2013 to carry out Post-Doctoral research in Stanford

University, USA along with the CSIR-Junior Research Fellowship in 2005 and the

CSIR – Senior Research Fellowship in 2007. The current project continuing under

him is “Synthesis of Medicinally Important Natural products Employing Cyclopropyl

Ring cleavage, Oxidative De-aromatization and Other Strategies” funded by DST

under Fast Track Project for young Scientists.

Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought. 4

Dr Garudadhwaj Hota

Associate Professor

Dr Hota hails from our very own state of Odisha. His native place is Sonepur which

is situated in the district of Mayurbhanj. He obtained his PhD degree from the

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in the year 2004 and has a post-doctoral

experience for 3 glorious years at the National University of Singapore. He became

an integral part of the NIT Rourkela family in the year 2007.He had qualified the

prestigious GATE exam in the year 1998 and also qualified for NET lectureship in

the very succeeding year, i.e. in 1999.

Leaving aside the mysterious world of Chemistry, Dr Hota loves watching live or

highlights telecasts of cricket matches and spending his leisure time enjoying with

kids. If not a faculty of the Department of Chemistry, then he would have

definitely loved to be a Scientist in Research and Development laboratory.

Very recently he has concluded a project of Department of Science and Technology

(under the Govt. of India) on “Novel Iron Oxide/Alumina Nanofibre for

Environmental Applications”. He believes that with this technique one can be able

to synthesize continuous ultra- thin polymer Nano-fibres that can be used in

production of protective clothing, making mask (for biological warfare ascent) for

defence purpose, filtration media, wound healing and many other environmental

applications which would be very difficult to sum up in a few words.

You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him discover it in himself. 5

Dr Harekrushna Sahoo

Assistant Professor

Dr Harekrushna Sahoo is a big time admirer and follower of scientist Stephen

Hawking. A man who had aimed at becoming a doctor at his adolescence finally

landed up into teaching stream, says that he relish his profession the most and

loves interacting with his students at his free time. A man from Berhampur after

acquiring his B.Sc. degree from Nayagarh College (Nayagarh), he joined Utkal

University, Bhubaneshwar to complete his masters in Physical and Nuclear

Chemistry. From Bhubaneshwar, he went to NIT Durgapur to carry out his M.Tech.

In Corrosion Sc. and Technology in 2002. In the meantime he got a chance to

undertake a project in IIT Bombay. He then joined Jacob University, Berman,

Germany to pursue his PhD in Bioorganic-Physical Chemistry with Prof. Werner

M.Nau in year 2006. He accomplished his Post-Doctoral research with Prof. Lila M.

Gierasch at University of Massachusetts-Amherst (USA) (2007-2009) Research

Associate with Prof. Petra Schwille at Technical University Dresden (Germany)

(2010-2011). He is now working as an active member in Who’s who in fluorescence,

American Chemical Society, protein society, Biophysical society.

Well, Prof. Sahoo is a “Travel Buff”. He says, “I want to visit every nook and

corner of this world before dying”. In addition to his intense interest in chemistry,

his various leisure pursuits are reading scientific fictions like scientific excerpts

and journals by Stephen Hawking. He also likes to play games like cricket and

badminton in his past time. A man of gracious attitude, friendly behaviour and

smiling face, he always stays one step ahead in helping his students.

Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. 6

Dr Madhurima Jana

Assistant Professor

Dr Madhurima Jana was born and brought up in Siliguri, West Bengal. The place is

enveloped with naturally beautiful landscapes, hills and valleys. Later she had to

shift to Midnapur, also known as one of the largest districts of India. Since then the

city of Midnapur has become her hometown. In addition to her admiration for the

subject of chemistry, she is voracious reader of fiction, especially the stories

meant for children. Not only this but she also loves to travel and explore new

places.

On 17th of November 2011, her career as an assistant professor in NIT Rourkela has

begun. She served as a short term visiting Fellow in the Pontificia Universidad

Cat´olica de Chile, Santiago. Her area of study was Computer Simulation of

Biomolecules. She was awarded the CSIR-UGC NET in the year 2005 and even

qualified GATE in the same year.

She obtained her PhD from IIT Kharagpur in June 2012. On September 2012 she was

approved for DST-FAST TRACK project. Recently she was selected for 1st prize of

2012 Lilly Outstanding Thesis Awards. On this great, triumphant success the

magazine team on behalf of The Department of Chemistry congratulates her. Hope

such good news and awards keep joining in our department’s in-exhaustive list.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. 7

Dr Niranjan Panda

Associate Professor

Dr Niranjan Panda hails from Cuttack. He is a voracious reader of Oriya novels. He

procured his masters from Ravenshaw University, Cuttack and then qualified for

Research Fellowship programme in IIT Kharagpur (2000–2005).

After obtaining PhD from IIT Kharagpur, he moved on to Technion-Israel Institute

of Technology, for his Post-Doctoral research from Nov 2005-June 2006. After

coming back he joined NIT Rourkela as an Assistant Professor in The Department of

Chemistry. From 2008 onwards he was appointed as an Associate Professor of the

Department. His research interest lies in the field of “Transition metal catalysed

cross-coupling reactions and their application towards the synthesis of

heterocycles”, “Synthesis of natural and non-natural products of biological

significance” and “Magnetic nanoparticles mediated cross-coupling reactions”.

His current sponsored project is “Magnetic Nanoparticle Mediated Cross-coupling

Reactions: Synthesis of Biologically Potent Molecules” which is being funded by The

Department of Science and Technology, India.

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome. 8

Dr Priyabrat Dash

Assistant Professor

Dr Priyabrat Dash is a native of Athagarh, Cuttack. He earned his bachelor as well

as his master’s degree in Chemistry from Utkal University. In 2004, he procured

M.Tech. from IIT Bombay. He obtained his PhD (2005-2010) from the University of

Saskatchewan, Canada and has Post-Doctoral experience of 1 year 7 months

from the University of Ottawa, Canada. He states that his IIT teacher Prof. T. R.

Rama Mohan was great impulse for his professional career. He is a big time fan of

documentary and debating sessions of news channels.

Despite of living abroad for a continuous stretch of 7 years he favours Indian dishes

over all other European and American dishes. Well, apart from the country food

loving nature, Dr Dash loves to travel and explore new places. Out of all

destinations he states Banff, one of the most loved hiking spot in Canada and the

amazing Niagara falls in the Canadian province of Ontario to be the best ones so

far.

Apart from the busy world of Chemistry, he manages time and is a avid reader of

journal articles. He has served as a member of Canadian Society of Chemistry

(CSC) and Member of Materials Research Society (MRS), USA. His on-going research

subject is "Synthesis and functionalization of hollow metal oxide spheres in ionic

liquid micro emulsions for catalysis and sensor applications", which is funded by

DST with an estimated budget of 27 lakhs. Well, in short Dr Dash advices to live

life to the fullest and in his words

“Life is not a race, but a journey to be savoured each step of the way”.

Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. 9

Dr Raj Kishore Patel

Professor

The Department of Chemistry is quite fortunate to have the most dynamic faculty

Dr Raj Kishore Patel who with his utmost travail have acquired the designation of

Professor in this Institute. He hails from Deogarh. He had obtained his M.Sc. degree

from Sambalpur University. He procured his PhD from NIT Rourkela itself in the

year of 1991. He joined NIT Rourkela back in 1994 and served as the previous HOD

of the department.

Prof. Patel, having an aptitude for chemistry, shares his interest in the area of

Environmental Chemistry, Hybrid Materials, Organic Chemistry, and Photo

remediation & Bioremediation. He is presently undertaking ample research

projects which includes “Development of new environment friendly adsorption

media and its value added application for removal of hazardous anions from

water”, “Pilot plant study for the extraction of fine iron from red mud” and “The

studies on the quality of water in the iron ore mines area of Koira block of

Sundergarh District”. He is the only faculty in NIT, Rourkela to obtain two patents

under his name.

Being the most experienced faculty of the Department, he is also an assiduous

person with a man of principles. His immense effort has bagged him The Bharat

Jyoti Award in 2009. A person, whose whole life has been an incredible journey

encourages students to devote their life towards research activities and for the

welfare of mankind. His various leisure pursuits include reading books and novels

especially of Manoj Das, and writing short stories in Oriya.

The laws of physics and chemistry must be the same in a crucible as in the larger laboratory of Nature. 10

Dr Rupam Dinda

Associate Professor

Hailing from the well-known neighbourly state of West Bengal, Dr Dinda obtained his

Bachelor as well Master degree in Chemistry from The University of Calcutta. Then he

obtained his PhD degree from Jadavpur University in Kolkata.

He joined NIT Rourkela in the year 2007 as an Assistant Professor and since 2009 he

has been continuing as an Associate Professor in The Department of Chemistry. He has

two Post-Doctoral research experiences which include one in The Missouri University

of Science and Technology, USA (2003-2006) and the other at The University of

Heidelberg, Germany (2006-2007).

Dr Dinda’s research interests lie in the field of Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry and

Catalysis. At present he holds the prestigious positions as a member of American

Chemical Society, USA and a life-time member at Indian Association for the

Cultivation of Science.

Science is the knowledge of consequences, and dependence of one fact upon another. 11

Dr Sabita Patel

Assistant Professor

In the department, Dr Sabita Patel is illustrious for her commitment and fidelity in

enlightening people of our institute since July 2008 till date. She completed her M.Sc.

in 1999 with 2 P

ndP rank at Sambalpur University, Odisha. In 2002, she secured a rank

within best 20% in JRF-CSIR-NET. She received Prof. R. C. Tripathy Young Scientist

Award in 2005 and Prof Dayanidhi Pattanaik Award for best paper of the year by

Orissa Chemical Society. Later she procured her PhD degree from Sambalpur

University in 2007. After accomplishing her doctorate, she did Post-Doctoral research

at Dong A University, Busan, South Korea. She further did fellowships as an Extended-

senior research member at CSIR, NEW DELHI.

When interviewed by the team, she stated that she likes to spend her free time with

her family on a vacation to some country spot. Besides, she is a big time lover of

homemade foods. With her exceptional desire and dedication to the academic field

she proves to be inspiring and refulgent to all.

Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind. 12

Dr Sasmita Mohapatra

Assistant Professor

Dr Sasmita Mohapatra, hailing from Bhubaneswar is designated as an Assistant

Professor in NIT Rourkela. Formerly she served as a lecturer in BIT Mesra, Ranchi.

After pursuing the M.Sc. degree from Utkal University in the year 2001, she received

the CSIR- NET-JRF in the year 2001 and qualified GATE in the following year. She has

also served as a JRF in IIT Kharagpur from October 2002 to October 2004 and as a SRF

in IIT Kharapur, in the following three years. She obtained her PhD degree from the

Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in the year 2007. She joined NIT Rourkela in

2008.

Apart from her interests in Chemistry, she is fond of reading newspapers, novels and

listening to Indian music.

Dr Sasmita Mohapatra is currently working on a research work titled “Development

of Functionalised Ferrite Nanoparticles for Targeted Tumor Therapy” from DBT which

has an estimated cost of forty two lakhs.

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow. 13

Dr Saurav Chatterjee

Associate Professor

Dr Saurav Chatterjee obtained his master degree from the University of Burdwan,

West Bengal and his PhD degree from IIT Bombay in the year 2001. He has two Post-

Doctoral experiences in the University of Bonn, Germany (2003 – 2004), as well as in

The Ruhr University Bochum, Germany (2002 – 2003). He joined NIT Rourkela as an

Assistant Professor in The Department of Chemistry in the year 2007 and was

appointed as an Associate Professor in the year 2009.

Dr Chatterjee hails from Durgapur, West Bengal. Leaving aside the mysterious world

of Chemistry, he loves reading historical books. His interest also lies in the field of

Geography, Literature as well as famous historical novels.

Recently he concluded a project funded by DST on the subject of “Transition Metal

Acetylide Chemistry”. Dr Chatterjee received DAAD fellowship for research stay in the

summer of 2012 at The University of Duisburg, Essen, Germany. His current research

project is “Metal Complexes of Ferrocene Based Ligands; their Electrochemical

Behavior and Biological properties” which has an approximate budget of 17 lakhs,

funded by The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. 14

Dr Supratim Giri

Assistant Professor

Born in North Bengal, Dr Supratim Giri was brought up in proper Kolkata, the heart of

Bengal. He spent 22 years of his life in West Bengal. Having completed B.Sc. from the

renowned Presidency College, Kolkata he moved out of the city and till date could

hardly find the opportunity to return. Young Supratim had been playful and led a

common urban kid’s life. He recollects being more playful than studious. After

completing his B.Sc. he appeared the entrance exam at IIT Kanpur and made his place

among 14 odd students selected from the diverse nation.

After procuring his PhD from Iowa State University in 2006, he looked forward and

opted for post doctorate, and had three years of Post-Doctoral research experience in

Biomedical Engineering at University of Toronto, Canada. Then he headed back to

India and joined NIT Rourkela as an Assistant Professor. The list of projects currently

under him are “Up conversion nanoparticles for barcoding technology and drug

delivery caps” approved by DST and “Cell based suspension array on magnetic-up

conversion barcodes” approved by DBT. Innovative way of teaching as well as keen

interests in research has bagged him the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation

Fellowship Award in 2009 as well as The Iowa State University Teaching Excellence

Award in 2003.

Photography, watching movies and playing outdoor games like cricket and football are

some of the stuffs he likes to do apart from the World of Chemistry.

Education is not the filling of a pail, but lighting of a fire. 15

Dr Usharani Subuddhi

Assistant Professor

Dr Usharani Subuddhi obtained her PhD degree from IIT Madras in Physical

Photochemistry. She did her M.Sc. from Sambalpur University, Odisha. She has a post-

doctoral experience for 1 year in the University of Alberta, Canada. She joined NIT

Rourkela in the year 2009 as an Assistant Professor. She was a member of The Orissa

Chemical Society in the year 2010 and an active member Of Luminescence Society of

India in the year 2011.

Her interest lies in the field of Photochemistry, Biophysical Chemistry, Protein

Fluorescence, Novel Drug-delivery Systems, Photo physical studies of Bio surfactants

and Dendrimers. Leaving aside the world of Chemistry, she loves to read sci-fi novels.

Currently her research title is “Design and Physico-Chemical Properties of

Cyclodextrin Incorporated Smart Hydrogels Towards Improved Delivery Of

Hydrophobic Drugs” which is funded by DST and the approximate value is 20 lakhs.

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. 16

Dr Vaidyanathan Sivakumar

Assistant Professor

Dr Shivakumar accomplished his M.Sc. from MGAC, Vellore and PhD degree from IIT

Madras. He is an Assistant Professor in NIT, Rourkela from September 2011 –till date.

Previously he was faculty at NIT, Calicut from July 2010 to May 2011. In 2007, he

received Prof. A. Werner medal for best thesis in inorganic chemistry from IIT,

Madras. In 2011, he got the membership in Luminescence society of India.

His areas of interest include synthesis of organic and organometallic molecules for

organic electronics, Lanthanide, Luminescence, Light emitting diodes (LED). He gave

a presentation on Lamp phosphors and concepts related to its applications at IISc,

Bangalore on April 12-13, 2012. He also took part in a seminar on advanced materials,

at University of Coimbatore. He was invited to talk on Lanthanide based materials for

energy efficient solid state lighting.

Apart from that he is a regular badminton player and aimed to join the army and

serve the nation if not in the field of chemistry. Along with that, he describes Kerala

being his favourite destination spot. He also prefers South Indian dishes above all. On

May 2012 he bagged Inspire Faculty Fellowship Award from DST. Besides, he has also

been awarded Young Scientist Award by BRNS-DAE.

Research

Articles

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. 18

Mixed-ligand Nickel(II) thiosemicarbazone complexes:

Synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation.

Some new mixed-ligand nickel(II) complexes of the selected three thiosemicarbazones

{4-(p-X-phenyl)thiosemicarbazone of salicylaldehyde} (H2L1-3), where they are

expected to bind to nickel in tridentate O,N,S-fashion were prepared. To satisfy the

remaining coordination sites on the metal centre five coligands, viz. triphenyl

phosphine, pyridine, imidazole, 4-pic (4-picoline) and 4,4'-byp (4,4'-bipyridine) were

selected. Molecular structures of four mononuclear and one dinuclear Ni(II) complexes

determined by X-ray crystallography. The complexes have been screened for their

antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Bacillus.

- Dr Rupam Dinda

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow. 19

Fe-Catalyzed One-Pot Synthesis of 1,3-Di- and 1,3,5-Trisubstituted

Pyrazoles from Hydrazones and Vicinal Diols

Abstract: Substituted pyrazoles are privileged structural units in many blockbuster

drugs, pesticides, functional materials including optical brighteners, ultraviolet

stabilizers etc. The rising usage of pyrazoles stimulates the development of new and

complementary methods for their synthesis. The existing methods on synthesis of

pyrazole often suffer from limitation on regioselectivity, explosive nature and

sometimes multistep access of starting materials restricts their wide use. Furthermore

use of expensive halides, transition metals poses the subsequent draw backs. In this

context, recently we have developed an iron-catalyzed route for the regioselective

synthesis of 1,3- and 1,3,5-substituted pyrazoles from the reaction of

diarylhydrazones and vicinal diols. This method was found to be practical with wide

substrate scope.

Ref: N. Panda, A. K. Jena, J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77,9401-9406.

Stereo selective Synthesis of Enamides by Pd-Catalyzed

Hydroamidation of Electron Deficient Terminal Alkynes

Abstract: Pd-catalyzed hydroamidation of electron-deficient terminal alkynes by

amides has been developed for the stereo selective synthesis of Z-enamides. The

possible intramolecular hydrogen bonding between the amido proton and carbonyl

oxygen of ester group provides the extra stability to the Z-isomer of vinyl-palladium

complex, which subsequently undergoes protodepalladation and leads to the Z-

enamide selectively. This process is found to be mild and operationally simple with

broad substrate scope.

Ref: N. Panda, R. Mothkuri, J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 9407-9412.

- Dr N. Panda

The man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others. 20

Diverse field of Organometallic chemistry: Challenges and Opportunities

Beginning of organometallic chemistry took place in the year 1760, with the synthesis

of organoarsenic compound or Cadet’s “funming liquid” or “Cacodyl” by Louis Cadet

de Gessicourt and later identified by Robert Bunsen as tetramthyldiarsine (Me4As2) or

its oxide (Cacodyl oxide). Thereafter, a series of development occurred with the

synthesis of a variety of important organometallic compounds like Zeise salt

[KPtCl3( 2-C2H4)] in 1827, Metal alkyls in 1850-1860, binary metal carbonyls in 1890-

91 and Grignard reagent at the beginning of the 20th century. The emergence of a

major application in organometallic chemistry in catalysis evolved in the first half of

20th century. Among the most important were the heterogeneous hydrogenation of

olefins using nickel by P. Sabatier, Fischer-Tropsch syngas (CO +H2) catalysis,

hydroformylation of olefins by dicobaltoctacarbonyl (oxo process), Reppe’s

trimerization and tetramerization of alkynes, Ziegler-Natta polymerization catalysis

etc. The discovery of the first sandwich complex, ferrocene, came much later in 1951

by Pauson and Miller, which opened almost a new branch of ferrocenyl chemistry and

later their application as sensors made them an important molecule in optoelectronics

and biological research. Silently and without much notice, another application of

organometallic was slowly evolving along with catalysis. That was the development of

bioorganometallic chemistry or medicinal organometallic chemistry. Paul Ehrlich’s

discovery of salvarsan for the treatment of syphilis and structural analysis of Vitamin

B12 coenzyme by D. Crowfoot-Hodgkin are the beginning of modern medicinal

organometallic chemistry. Research on bioorganometallic chemistry took momentum

in 1990s and now a large number of researches are concentrated on compounds like

metallocenes, half-sandwich complexes, metal carbonyl complexes, gold complexes

etc. for their active role in antibacterial, antimalarial, anticancer, CO releasing

agents, diagonistic and other biological activities. Organometallic compounds have

also been found to possess potential for their use as photosensitizers in solar cells. A

lot of research is going-on on that front as well.

You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted. 21

For the last five years at NIT Rourkela, we have been concentrating on two main

research on organometallic chemistry, first is the synthesis of transition metal cluster

for the application in catalysis and nanoparticle synthesis and the second, in the area

of bio-organometallic chemistry.

In transition metal cluster two or more metal atoms are bound together by direct and

substantial metal-metal bonds to form a three dimensional polyhedral geometry. A

large variety of organometallic transition metal clusters are known containing homo

or hetero metal atoms, a range of terminal and bridging ligands and with numerous

unique structural geometry. Transition metal cluster chemistry has gained current

attention due to their properties related to catalysis, optoelectronic materials and

biological processes. In the last two decades, varieties of synthetic methodology have

been developed for the synthesis of metal clusters with unique structural features and

properties. Recent studies have shown that several heteronuclear metal clusters have

been used as precursors for nanoparticle synthesis and heterogeneous catalysis. Our

studies have been focused to develop methodologies for obtaining novel mixed metal

clusters of desired structural and reactivity features. However, synthesis of metal

cluster is a real challenge and their stability is one of the main concern. Therefore, a

bunch of different strategies has been employed to synthesise higher nuclear metal

clusters. One of the strategies includes incorporation of main group atoms into

transition metal clusters which plays a key role in stabilizing the bonding network in

the transition metal, non-metal clusters. In addition, attaching electro-active groups

like ferrocene in transition metal clusters has been one of the approaches to tune the

properties of the cluster molecule. Recently, we have been focussing our studies on

transition metal phosphine cluster to modify, functionalize, tune and design higher

nuclear metal clusters for nano-material studies and other materialistic properties..

Molecular compounds containing organometallic tags have been found to be potential

therapeutics against major diseases and can play a vital role as tracers in

immunological analysis based on several analytical methods like FTIR,

electrochemical, atomic absorption techniques etc. This very recent application of

organometallic compounds has led to the immergence of a relatively new field of

The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing. 22

bioorganometallic chemistry and is increasingly drawing much interest due to the

development of a new class of organometallic compounds and their ability to play a

leading role in the field of biology. The use of ferrocenyl derivatives as bioactive

molecule has been established recently and several reports show that a large number

of ferrocene containing compounds display interesting cytotoxic and DNA cleaving

activities. These new evaluations on the biological properties of organometallic

compounds are increasingly drawing much interest due to their distinctive properties

and features concerning both organometallics and co-ordination chemistry. In view of

the enormous opportunities in this area of bioorganometallic chemistry we have been

engaged in designing several [(η5-C5H4R)M] based organometallic compounds and

investigate their reactivity and study their biological properties. While most of the

global research is concentrated on ferrocene based system, we are exploring the

possibility of other Cp based organometallic fragments for their role in biological

properties. Although, the opportunities in this area of biorganometallic research are

vast, there are formidable challenges not only to synthesise and design organometallic

compound but also to understand the mechanism of action of organometallic drugs in

the biological processes.

- Dr Saurav Chatterjee

Delusions of grandeur make me feel a lot better about myself. 23

Electrospun Nanofibers: Fabrication, Functionalization

and Environmental Applications.

Summary:

Although there are many methods of fabricating nanofibers, electrospinning is

perhaps the most versatile process. Materials such as polymer, composites,

ceramic and metal nanofibers have been fabricated using electrospinning

directly or through post-spinning processes. However, what makes

electrospinning different from other nanofiber fabrication processes is its

ability to form various fiber assemblies/morphologies as shown in the figure

below.

In electrospinning process polymer nanofibers (with diameter 50 nm to 1µl and

lengths up to meters) can be produced using an electrostatically driven jet of

polymer solution (or polymer melt). These nanofibers produced are useful in a

wealth of applications that include catalysis, composites, membrane

separation, gas storage, energy conversion, tissue engineering, sensing, and

environmental protection.

Presently, my group research activities are on the synthesis of alumina-iron

oxides ceramic nanofibers by electrospinning method and its application for

removal of toxic metal ions such as As, Hg, Cd, Pb etc. from aqueous stream

via adsorption/ chemisorptions process. Apart from this, we are also focusing

on the functionalization of hydrophobic & hydrophilic polymer nanofibers

surface by metallic nanoparticles and other functional groups. These surface

functionalized electrospun nanofibers membrane could be useful for

decontamination of organic and inorganic contaminants and harmful

microorganisms from aqueous systems.

- Dr G. Hota

Abundance is, in large part, an attitude. 24

Carbon Trading: Challenges and Perspective

Natural calamities like floods, hurricanes, forest fire and drought are becoming

the regular practice of happening all over the globe at different period of time.

The latest one is the sandy which has made havoc in USA, the mightiest country

of the world. With all the modern technology and information available, the

humane being could not stop the happenings of hurricanes. There may be

various reasons but definitely the degradation of environment may be one of

the important reasons of such natural calamities. When the degradation of

environment is considered, there are issues like local, regional and global

which creates problems to environment. All these problems are important

parameters for environment and concerned to everybody. But when the

problems related to global scale is thought, it comes the global warming which

is related to many other such problems. Global warming is nothing but average

increase in the atmospheric temperature. Almost everybody knows about the

effect of global warming on environment and human being.

Global warming has created a new activity of trading the environmental

services which basically termed as the carbon trading. This economic activity

involve the buying and selling of services including the removal of greenhouse

gases from the atmosphere. The element carbon is the common element in all

the polluting gases which causes the global warming. Among all the greenhouse

gases carbon dioxide is responsible for retaining about half of the atmospheric

heat. It is known that this gas is generated primarily by burning the fossil fuel.

The situation becomes worst due to deforestation along with the burning and

biodegradation of biomass. The reports indicate that the concentration of

carbon dioxide was 260 ppm during the pre-industrial period, but now the level

is around 385 ppm. This increase in the level of carbon dioxide occurs in the

last 100 years. It is also reported that in the year 2010 the emission was very

high than the estimated emission. If suitable efforts are not put in this regard

by the world community, then the level may reach 1000 ppm by the end of

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.But in practice, there is. 25

current century. This situation will be very dangerous for the environment and

the society. It may create havoc for the entire living creature on earth. What

should be done? The solution lays in the conservation of energy, the reduction

of consumption, a more equitable use of resources and equitable development

and distribution of clean and renewable low impact energy sources, Than who

will be doing all the above. It is definitely a herculean task and requires the

involvement of everybody starting from a common man to the highest

representative of the people. This cannot be done by a single or a group of

country but by all the countries of the world.

Back ground of Carbon Trading: After the Kyoto Protocol cane into force on

16th February 2005, the idea of carbon trading comes in to the focus.

Subsequently the idea was more focused when 191 countries have signed and

ratified the protocol in September 2011. As per the agreement of Kyoto

protocol, the industrialized countries have to reduce the emission of

greenhouse gas by 5.2 % lower than the level of 1990 between 2008-2012.The

trading is almost similar to the trading of commodities or goods in a market

place. An economic value is provided to the carbon which allows the people,

companies or a nation to do trading. When anybody purchased the carbon, then

he got the rights legally to burn it. Similarly, when somebody is selling the

carbon, then he is giving up the rights to burn. And the value of carbon is based

on the ability to store it or to prevent it from releasing to the environment.

Trading facilities are created to provide the rights for buying and selling of the

rights to emits greenhouse gases. The nation or company who has no means to

reduce the emission, they can buy the rights to emit these gases from other

nation or company who produces less amount of these gases or having

technology to reduce the emission. This trading is possible as the Kyoto

protocol provide the provision of reducing the emission of greenhouse gases as

a collective responsibility. If this trading goes well than greenhouse gases will

be reduced and some countries and companies will be benefited economically.

There are many contradictory ideas being floated in support and against the

Don't stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed. 26

idea. But the trading have its own merits but suggestion in various level should

be incorporated from time to time as it require a compromise between profit,

equality and ecology.

International trends in carbon dioxide emissions: The emission of carbon

dioxide is increasing continuously even after all the provision with all the old

polluter along with some new one. The figure-1 provides an idea about the

increasing trend of carbon dioxide. The two most populated developing

countries of the world China and India have started increasing the emission due

to the economic growth. This trend will further increase in future years. It is

reported that there is an increase by 2.5 % annually in the level of CO2

emissions and about two-thirds of this increase are from low and middle-

income countries like India and China. The energy sector releases 80 % of the

total emission and the rest 20 % credited to the agricultural sector. Coal is used

as the main source of energy for electricity generation, The emission of few

countries are presented in

Figure-1: Recent global mean carbon dioxide

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have. 27

Figure-2: Recent global mean carbon dioxide

Kyoto Protocol: All countries are vulnerable to climate change but the poorest

countries are worst sufferer as they have little means to adopt the changes.

The Kyoto Protocol is a framework of United Nations Conference on Climate

Change (UNFCCC) which has resolved to mitigate the climate change due to

accumulation of more greenhouse gases in atmosphere. This is an international

agreement, which legally binds, developed nation to reduce worldwide

emissions of greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol has come up with three

clear cut mechanisms to reduce the targeted emission. They are called the

Kyoto mechanism. The three mechanisms are 1. Joint Implementation 2. Clean

Development mechanism and 3, Emission trading

1. Joint Implementation: This mechanism provide rights to a developed or rich

countries to meet the Kyoto commitment by not directly reducing the targeted

amount in their own country but applying the emission reducing project or by

enhancing the removal by sink in the territory of another developing countries

and can count this reduction as the reduction of that implementing countries.

Everything you can imagine is real. 28

2. Clean Development mechanism: As per the provision of this mechanism

governments or any company from developed countries or any other countries

can set up projects in any developing countries which reduces the emission and

for that they get credit as certified emission reductions (CER's) The CDM

provide sustainable development in developing countries, and earn emissions

credits from the investments in the projects. The process flow of CDM projects

are Complicated and actual which starts with. Project Design, Letter of

Approval, Validation, Registration,, Implementation & Monitoring of Project

performance, Verification and Certification of achieved emission reduction,

Emission Reduction Certificates and Use under CDM

3, Emission trading: It provide provision to countries to involve in international

emission trading. As per the provision, countries or company can go on trading

by buying and selling of reduction emission certificates best on the cost of the

projects. If the cost of reduction in one country is more than that countries can

meet the target by purchasing the certificates where the cost is less.

Carbon Trading: It is a system of trading in which a company or a country can

meet the emission target by buying from another country or company who have

the necessary certificates of reduction of emission. By doing so, a country or

company allows to meet the carbon dioxide emission reduction target as per

the requirement of Kyoto agreements. It is the trading of certificates

representing different technique in which emission reduction targets may be

fulfilled. The concerned parties can trade contractual commitments or a

certificate which indicates that a fixed amount of carbon related emissions are

allowed to be emitted or reduces the emission by using new technology,

efficiency in energy consumption and renewable energy or by sequestration of

carbon. This trading is going on as it is one of the ways of reducing the level of

carbon dioxide emission with an assumption that the transaction cost involved

in the trading are kept at reasonable rate. The process will be effective as the

sellers have created a technique which reduces their own emission and

obtained a certificate, and certainly it will be effective when it is purchased by

Everything you can imagine is real. 29

any other buyer. In fact there are two types of trading namely emission

trading and project based credits trading .When both the trading are mixed

than they are called hybrid trading.

Prospective: If all the signatory countries will participate in the process

definitely some reduction in emission will takes place. Some countries

developing countries have adopted the process of trading. Many research

groups throughout the globe are working for development of technology or

process for the reduction of emission. If this process will be focused by the

developed or reach nation this will give a good results. As this process is the

trading of first environmental services in future similar services can be

extended in other polluting substances

Challenges: There are many challenges, among them the most important one

is: the Kyoto protocol will be terminated this year but there is no common

agreement by the member countries either extending the treaty or replacing

the old one with a new one. The main reason is the conflict of interest

between the developed and developing countries. But at the same time the

challenges before the scientific communities is to create new technology or

process to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. We can hope to get a

better future of environment and so city. This article is published to make

awareness among the student to think and act to mitigate the increasing trend

of global warming.

- Dr R. K. Patel

If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there. 30

Atom-economic transformations towards biologically important natural products under Metal environment- A

view of Molecular Gymnastics involving acetylenes Our work started with the idea of development of the polysubstituted 1,4-

piperidone system in an atom-economical fashion mainly with Ruthenium

catalysis. The functionalized piperidone can further be easily reduced to the

desired piperidine system. The functionalized piperidine ring is one of the

central core of many alkaloid natural products and thus continues to be a

common moiety in pharmaceutical research. Piperidones as a whole do not

comprise more of these natural products but they act as advanced

intermediates for piperidine synthesis. There are many recent reviews which

update the progress of stereoselective and asymmetric syntheses of substituted

piperidines. There are many latest pharmaceutically important commercially

important products which contain a pipyridine as a central core.

You don’t need to win every medal to be successful. 31

Aricept 1 (Donepezil), an acetylcholineesterase inhibitor, is currently being prescribed for Alzeimer,s syndrome. Naramig( naratriptan) 2, an antagonist of 5-HT1D and 5-HT1B has shown promise in the treatment of migraine headaches.

Risperdal (Risperidone) 3,

and Serdolect 4, both nonselective 5-HT/D2 antagonists are currently being utilized in the treatment of schizophrenia. Apart from these four, there is a huge variety of piperidine natural products with an extensive range of biological activities. Our strategy involves an interesting and unexplored approach of molecular gymnastics which acetylenes and allenes show in presence of Metal environment.

- Dr Debayan Sarkar

[Type text] 32

Final Year

Batch Profiles

If you are a terror to many, then beware of many. 33

UAbhijit Nandi UPlace You Hail From:-U Belongs to the “cultural capital of India”, West Bengal. UAreas of Interest:-U My realm of chemistry being in the Synthesis work in Organic Chemistry. UInternships:-U Had an proficient acquaintance from IIT Gandhinagar. UFuture Plans:-U To carry out an profound research in the realm of chemistry and to become an eminent scientist. UBest Moment in NIT:-U the best cherishing moment in NITR so far being 3 P

rdP

February, Department picnic. UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-U Haven’t experienced such stuffs that I cud change. UFavorite location in campus for hang-out:-U Best hangout place being the Banyan tree near the coffee shop. Where are we most likely to be found than that of our classes. Where every single person of NITR happens to put his attendance. UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-U When memorable moments come the first thing that come to my mind is birthday cake of my friend Navin SUNIYA. It was a magnificent evening. A superb toast. Savoury dishes. UMessage to the juniors:-UMy sincere suggestion to all my juniors is try to adore your subject. Until and unless you acquire an utmost interest and sincerity for chemistry those chemical formulas would tangentially pass across your mind.

Make voyages! - Attempt them! - there's nothing else... 34

UArpan Pal UNickname:-U Baban

UCourse:-U M.Sc. Chemistry

UPlace You Hail From:-U Rampurhat, West Bengal

UAreas of Interest:- U Development of new organic synthetic methodology

UInternships:-U 1. IACS, Kolkata (Prof. B.C. Ranu)

2. IIT, Guwahati (Dr Bhubaneswar Mandal)

3. IACS, Kolkata (Dr Rajib Kumar Goswami)

UFuture Plans:- U Seeking PhD position in a challenging synthetic organic chemistry group.

UBest Moment in NIT:-U When I got selected for the M.Sc. dissertation project under the supervision of Dr N. Panda.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:- UIt is not possible for me but I wish there must be a good multiplex in Rourkela.

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:-U The Coffee shop under the roof of the big banyan tree.

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:- U Every morning I go to my class without brushing my teeth! I will never forget it.

UMessage to the Juniors:- U You all are budding chemist. I feel you have chosen to study chemistry because you are passionate about your subject. You are studying in a prestigious institute which has the reputation for the development of future leaders in science and technology of the nation. So it is expected that you should be dedicated towards your subject and you may all will be leading chemist either in academics or in industry.

One should count each day a separate life. 35

UAurobindo Mohanty

UNickname:- UAuro

UPlace You Hail From:-U Balasore

UAreas of Interest:- UMy area of sphere includes Organometallic Catalysis

UInternships:-USummer project at NISER (BBSR).

UFuture Plans:-Uto obtain the star degree of doctorate from one the premier institutes of world.

UBest Moment in NIT:- UPicnic in 2012

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-URourkela, all though is a steel city, holds an indigenous community does a clean and a green city of India needs change?

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:- UThe nature of the course that m pursuing bound me to fix my location in library. Can’t help!!!

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-U If you are a part of nit...and if you haven’t enjoyed the hall day of the nit host...then dude you have seriously missed a lot of stuffs...so far my most epic moments of hostel life being the hall day.

UMessage to the Juniors:-U Don’t wait for the last time. Peak yourself up from now onwards and start practicing for GATE/NET

Nothing is too small to know, and nothing is too big to attempt. 36

UBinu Mishra

UNickname:-U Sweety

UCourse:-U M.Sc Chemistry

UPlace You Hail From:-U Roing (Arunachal Pradesh)

UAreas of Interest:-U Singing, Dancing, Painting, gossiping with friends, reading novels.

UInternships:-U Summer internship at Vedanta Aluminium Ltd., Lanjigarh (Odisha),

2 months teaching internship at DAV school Chandrashekharpur (Bhubaneswar)

UFuture Plans:-U To do research.

UBest Moment in NIT:-U Watching movie in BBA hall.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-U The climatic condition of Rourkela is horrible, I wish I could change it and I wish I could change the grade back system of NIT.

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:-U Near banyan tree, in front of BBA hall.

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:- UCelebrating new year in my room with my friends.

UMessage to the Juniors:-U Study well and prepare yourself for various competitive exams. And do hard-work, at the same time u enjoy the college life, and never miss any chance of entertainment.

A man may well bring a horse to the water but he cannot make him drink. 37

UChinmayee Priyadarshini

UNickname:-U Chinu

UPlace You Hail From:-U Hail from “silver city of Odisha” Cuttack

UAreas of Interest:-U My area of discipline includes Material synthesis based on Ionic liquid

UInternships:-U I have done my Internship programme at National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar.

UFuture Plans:-U To achieve PhD from a reputed university and dedicate my life performing research to unravel the hidden mysteries of the vast sphere of chemistry.

UBest Moment in NITR:-U Our department picnic

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-U As we all know that Rourkela the steel city hence the water quality is very poor. If I were given a chance I would try to use my chemistry skills and knowledge to change the water content and quality.

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:-Uwell the campus of our institute happens to be outstanding and breath-taking. And one of my favourite places is the Swimming pool. Cool breeze in the summer during the night time is impeccable.

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-Ubirthday celebration happens to be the most awesome moment...and if that would be a birthday of a friend, it turns out to be more legendary. Mid-night birthday celebrations, a grand “kick” session, wishes, and a big treat. What more is required to make it memorable?

UMessage to the Juniors:-U Read well and all the best for your bright future.

Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say and not giving a damn. 38

UDibyansu Mishra

UNickname:-U Kehsav

UPlace You Hail From:-U Rajgangpur, Odisha

UAreas of Interest:-U Physical and Computational Chemistry.

UInternships:-U Development of visible light responsive InR2ROR3R/ZnGaR2R0R4R Composite Photo catalysis, IMMT, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

UFuture Plans:-U To become a lecturer in a renowned university of India.

UBest Moment in NIT:-U The day when I was about to join the institute…since then, no good moment, so forget about best one.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-U Before changing anything in Rourkela, I’d rather change the curriculum of M.Sc. courses in NITR…..

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:-U Hexagon

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-U Birthday bash….not of mine for sure, but of my friends, GPL sessions.

UMessage to the Juniors:-U Don’t change yourself in the shadow of others. Be whatever you are, whether you are being praised for that or you are turning out a mid-time discussion for your faculties, or else you’ll be bugged off.

You can cover a great deal of country in books. 39

UEeti Chatterjee

UNickname:-U Sona

UPlace You Hail From:-U Hail from Rourkela

UAreas of Interest:-U Apart from chemistry, everything.

UInternships:-U I have done 2 months internship at Vedanta Aluminum Limited, Lanjigarh, Odisha on the topic of “Causticization”.

UFuture Plans:-U Nothing specific. Just want to go with the flow of chemicals.

UBest Moment in NIT:-U During a fest, when for the first time I went to the dance floor with my buddies and danced like anything. That was the best moment for me when everyone surrounding me was busy in our world famous “BATRA DANCE”.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-U The supplied water to CVR hostel of NIT Rourkela as we are facing too much hair problems here.

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:-U Nescafe, Banyan tree, and the most favorite of all is Chemistry lab.

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-U Gossiping. Gossiping and Gossiping.

UMessage to the Juniors:-U Enjoy each n every moment in NIT to the fullest.

The only way not to think about money is to have a great deal of it. 40

UHasan Adib Khan

UNickname:-U Adib

UPlace You Hail From:-U Hails from the “steel city” Rourkela

UAreas of Interest:-U His domain includes Inorganic chemistry

UInternships:-U Summer project at IMMT(BBSR) under Dr Bankim Chandra Triphathy & currently at NITR under Dr. Usharani Subuddhi

UFuture Plans:-Uto obtain the epic word “doctor” before my name from one of the renowned institutes.

UBest Moment in NIT:-UAll though i stayed here for 2 years but there are some moments that is still alive in my mind is PICNIC of 2012.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-URourkela being the most cool and happening city as per me, I don’t think it needs “change”.

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:-U I like spending time in and around the books...so my GPS location is always got set on library only.

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-Uthe awesome memory so far i have relished fully is the hall day...the dj’s..the dance floor...the barati dance...just legendary.

UMessage to the Juniors:-U Peak yourself up from now onwards and start practicing for GATE/NET. And also try for competitive exam like UPSC etc.

Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you. 41

UJayanti Sravanti

UNickname:-U Sudha

UPlace You Hail From:-U Berhampur

UAreas of Interest:-U Nothing specific, interested in everything, I am a know all type of girl.

UInternships:-U I have done 2 months internship at Utkal University on the topic of “Effect of Cobalt precursors on Mesoporous materials”.

UFuture Plans:-U Let future come first, then I will decide. As I am not much worried regarding it.

UBest Moment in NIT:-U When for the first time I danced like ROWDI with my best buddies in the hall garden festival.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-U Location of NIT Rourkela. As my hometown is bit far away, owing to communication menace.

UFavorite location in campus for hang-out:-U Nescafe and my project lab.

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-U My birthday celebration with my buddies in the hostel.

UMessage to the Juniors:-U All the best for your future.

The wisest mind has something yet to learn. 42

UKasturi Singh

UNickname:-U Rinku

UPlace You Hail From:-U Paradeep

UAreas of Interest:-U Inorganic Chemistry, especially on OLED.

UInternships:-U National Chemical Laborotary, Pune under the great guidance of Dr. Jayaraj Nithyanandhan, Senior Scientist in Physical and Material Chemistry Division.

UFuture Plans:-UTo be a good professor and to do extensive research in the field of Chemistry.

UBest Moment in NIT:-UWhen I got prize from our respected director Prof. S K Sarangi on the occasion of Foundation Day.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-U For now it seems to be perfect.

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:-U Coffee shop near banyan tree & our all-time favourite SAC.

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-U Lot to share but memorable is the functions we attended together with our all batch mates.

UMessage to the Juniors:-UDo well and go ahead there is a long way to walk, God may full fill all your beautiful wish, that is my wish.

The highest courage is to dare to appear to be what one is. 43

UKongrailatpam Dayananda Sharma

UNickname:-U Daya

UPlace You Hail From:-U Hail from “Land of jewels”, Manipur

UAreas of Interest:-Umy realm of chemistry includes Computational Chemistry

UInternships:-U ”Disposal of Plastic waste in RIE Campus” done in Regional Institute of Education, Bhubaneswar. Taught in Sainik School for a month

UFuture Plans:-U Be a teacher, a reader invariable in speech one exhorts the audience in developing discipline in every walk of life. I want to serve my nation by sharing my knowledge as a good teacher.

UBest Moment in NIT:-U The Day of My admission. The day I got enrolled my name in this premier institute.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-U According to my wish I would like to remove the Open Elective course for the M.sc Students

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:U- Since most of my leisure pursuits includes all most all the sports so my GPS location is got to be Dilip Tirkey Stadium.

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-U Birthday Parties and every day spent in NIT was Quite Special for me especially Friday night thinking that we are relieved from the classes for two days.

UMessage to the Juniors:-U As a senior I would like to just advice 2 all my juniors that utilize every opportunity given to u to the fullest, study hard. Whenever you have doubt then don’t hesitate to seek our faculties. And apart from the course also involve in co-curricular activities. Lastly believe in yourself and don’t waste time. All the best to everyone.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. 44

UKumari Saroj

UNickname:- URose

UPlace You Hail From:- UBokaro (Jharkhand)

UAreas of Interest:- UEnvironmental chemistry

UInternships:- UOne month teacher training in Demonstration Multipurpose School, Bhubaneswar

Two months training at Vedanta Aluminium Limited, Lanjigarh

UFuture Plans:- UTo work in educational field especially in rural areas in order to provide quality education to poor children.

UBest Moment in NIT:- UA prank by my friends on valentine day.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:- UGood market facilities in nearby campus so that we do not have to travel outside the campus every time.

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:- UNear Bhubaneswar Behera Auditorium, especially after the class.

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:- UBirthday Celebration of 2013

UMessage to the Juniors:- UStudy hard and get placed in renowned organisations, apart from this don’t miss this golden moment of your last studentship, enjoy it as much as you can.

Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't. 45

UMadhusmita Rout

UNickname: -U Mamun

UPlace You Hail From:-U Basanti Colony, Rourkela-12 , Sundergarh, Odisha

UAreas of Interest:-U Apart from gaining knowledge in chemistry I spend my time in Reading novels, Listening to music , Drawing sketches, etc.

UInternships:-U Summer project on “AMBIENT AIR QUALITY” at Vedanta Aluminum Limited

UFuture Plans:-U To accomplish a PhD degree and be a renowned professor rendering knowledge to students efficiently making them enhance their skills in the chemistry arena thereby benefiting them and also the country.

UBest Moment in NIT:-U Enjoying different occasions like celebrity night, spring fest etc. Which help provide recreation from the tedious study curriculum along with departmental activities like Picnic, Grand feast and so on.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could changeU:- I would like to change the Communication problem in the college as it acts as a barrier between the students and hinders their interaction process in spreading knowledge.

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:-U Nescafe & Calorie canteen are my favourite locations because I can spend the recess time hanging out there which soothes me from the tiresome theoretical schedule.

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-U In my birthday, had lots of masti and enjoyed all hostel functions with my dear friends.

UMessage to the Juniors:-U You all are getting a great opportunity to utilize and enhance your knowledge, so use it in a better way, have fun and enjoy your life in NIT.

Our ideals are our better selves. 46

UNilendri Rout

UNickname:-U Pinky

UPlace You Hail From:-U Athagarh, Cuttack

UAreas of Interest:-U Material Science

UInternships:-U Two months of summer project on “Synthesis, characterization and catalytic application of Graphene Oxide-Vanadium Phosphate(GO-VPO) Composites “ at IMMT ,BBSR.

UFuture Plans:-U I am planning to pursue PhD

UBest Moment in NIT:-U When I was selected for M.Sc. at NIT

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-U If I could, then I would like to stop pollution in Rourkela as it has beautiful natural sceneries.

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:-U The main road form front gate of NIT to CVR hostel after 6pm really I love the road.

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-U Total hostel life is my best memory never going to forget it as it was my first hostel life.

UMessage to the Juniors:-U Study well, try to achieve what u want to achieve.

I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning to sail my ship." 47

UPrajna Mishra

UNickname:-U Lori

UPlace You Hail From:-U Kendra Para (also called as tulasi kshetra), Odisha.

UAreas of Interest:-U Medicinal Chemistry

UInternships:-U Tata Institute of fundamental Research(TIFR), Mumbai.

UFuture Plans:-U To achieve PhD from a reputed university and dedicate my life performing research to unravel the hidden mysteries of the vast sphere of chemistry.

UBest Moment in NIT:-U Night-outs before the exams when we all indulge ourselves in group discussions and solve the questions just moments before the exam.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-U I would like to diminish the auto charges because the fares are too high even for minimal distances. It is also not justified that we as students squander so much money when we can adopt other frugal means.

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:-U The most visited place of the institute by anyone for refreshments is our canteen, which indeed is the spot where I would like to hang out.

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-U My birthday celebration when all my friends planned it as a surprise for me .There was such a commotion in the hostel during mid-night with friends singing and shouting out wishing me for a bright life.

UMessage to the Juniors:-U Enjoy each moment to the fullest as they never come back because student life is the best stage of life to do so.

A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world. 48

UPramoda Behera

UNickname:-U Patan

UPlace You Hail From:-U A renowned place of religious heritage in our country, Bhubaneswar

UAreas of Interest:-U Has a passion for Inorganic chemistry.

UInternships:-UTwo months summer internships CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India.

Future Plans:-To be a dedicated Lecturer and spread my knowledge in the field of chemistry UBest Moment in NIT:-U My first day in NITRKL when my aspirations came true. I was overwhelmed with euphoria upon looking at the grandeur of the institute.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-UTo change the Open Elective system so that instead of preparing a subject of another branch one can as well enhance their technical skills in their own specialization.

Favorite location in campus for hang-out:- Bhubaneswar Behera Auditorium, NIT Rourkela as it offers a platform for entertainment, cultural programs and seminars which are enlightening and enjoyable. UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-U My nostalgia recollect me of the splendid picnic in the 1 P

stP year when I had a great time with all my lovable friends.

UMessage to the Juniors:-U The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.

Change is the true result of all true learning. 49

UPranati Badhai

UNickname:-U Shyamaa

UPlace You Hail From:-U I belong to the place which is a relish for nature lovers, Jharsuguda (Odisha)

UAreas of Interest:-U Applied chemistry, synthesize some compounds in place of fuels can be used in automobiles.

UInternships:-U IMMT,BBSR under guidance of K.M. PARIDA , worked on LDH As Photocatalyst.

UFuture Plans:-U To pursue M.Tech. at IIT and gain more knowledge in this vast field.

UBest Moment in NIT:-U Spring fest, which is an amalgamation of enthusiastic cultural activities. the other moments include our department grand dinner and teacher’s day celebrations.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:-U I wish I would introduce some high effecting pollution controlling devices in RSP and also wish to change the water quality in whole Rourkela.

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:-U Student Activity Centre where adequate facilities are provided for the extra-curricular activities. I also like to spend my time at our college canteen “Calorie”.

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:-U Rinu’s birthday, studying whole night at hostel gym centre, watching horror movie with friends, dancing in dj night, diwali masti, anytime photo shoot, journey to CWS hospital by ambulance.

UMessage to the Juniors:-U GOOD LUCK .......and don’t rush after cgpa...... 7.0 is enough, study to know the thing and take the help of faculties in studies.

Silence is a source of great strength. 50

URanjak Behera

UNickname:- UTitu

UPlace You Hail From:-U Udala, Baripada

UAreas of Interest:- UNano Chemistry

UInternships:- UI have done my summer internship at R.I.E Bhubaneswar.

UFuture Plans:- UTo pursue PhD from one of the most reputed universities in the field of Nano Chemistry.

UBest Moment in NIT:- U26 June 2011, the counselling date of our batch.

UOne thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:- UTo make Rourkela more clean and green as the industrial plants lead to more pollution.

UFavourite location in campus for hang-out:- UBest location in campus for hang-out is gulmohar street and Sachin Tendulkar sports complex .

UBest Memory of Hostel Life:- UCelebrating friends birthday in the middle of the night.

UMessage to the Juniors:-U If you can imagine it, you can achieve it, if you can dream it, you can become it.

“U Are Not Resposible for What People Think about U

But U Are Responsible For What U Give Them To

Think About U”’

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment. 51

URohit Xalxo

UNickname:- URohit

UPlace You Hail From:- URourkela

UAreas of Interest:- UInterests lies in chemistry and studying historical novels in free time.

UInternships:-U Summer internship at VSSUT Burla under Dr.Sukalyan Dash and currently at NIT Rourkela under Dr. Usharani Subuddhi.

UFuture Plans:- UTo do PhD in chemistry and move forward in life.

UBest Moment in NIT:- UAt picnic in 2012

One thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:- Politics

Favourite location in campus for hang-out:- At Library

Best Memory of Hostel Life:- Playing cricket with friends

Message to the Juniors:- There is only one life, so do now whatever you really want to do, never follow others and choose your own path.

The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. 52

Sabera Millan

Nickname:- Mili

Place You Hail From:- Keshar Pur, Cuttack.

Areas of Interest:- Painting and reading story book.

Internships:- Summer Project on “A Novel Synthesis of 10,10-Dipropargyl of Anthrone” at IIT Guwahati.

Future Plans:- To continue with PhD in Chemistry in a reputed university.

Best Moment in NIT:- Getting First prize in 1 P

stP year for being the departmental

batch topper.

One thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:- Water and communication problem in Rourkela.

Favourite location in campus for hang-out:- Coffee corner near banyan tree and Canteen, it used to be a good time pass location where we used to have chats and get togethers.

Best Memory of Hostel Life:- My Birthday celebration with my lovely friends.

Message to the Juniors:- Study well and enjoy your life in NIT style.

Music in the soul can be heard by the universe. 53

Sagarika Behera

Nickname:- Saggy

Place You Hail From:- I hail from Cuttack which is also popularised as Silver City.

Areas of Interest:- Dancing and gardening.

Internships:- CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneswar.

Future Plans:- To be a successful person in my life.

Best Moment in NIT:- All moments are memorable for me.

One thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:- Auto rent should be cheap for NIT students like 10 % discount at Madhuban.

Favourite location in campus for hang-out:- In front of computer science Department, especially in the grassy lawn.

Best Memory of Hostel Life:- My birthday celebration in hostel with my buddies.

Message to the Juniors:- Best of luck for your future and enjoy every moment of life.

Responsibility is the price of freedom. 54

Santu Nandi

Nickname:- Sanu

Place You Hail From:- Gopiballavpur (West Bengal)

Areas of Interest:- Organic Chemistry

Internships:- Pursued summer internship at the prestigious IIT Guwahti.

Future Plans:- To be a scientist

Best Moment in NIT:- NITRUTSAV where I danced and enjoyed to the utmost level.

One thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:- Without spending much money on infrastructure, NITR should focus on giving placement opportunities one and all irrespective of their branch.

Favourite location in campus for hang-out:- Beside Sachin Tendulkar sports complex, as well as cricket ground.

Best Memory of Hostel Life:- Hall day and night cricket tournament.

Message to the Juniors:- Enjoy studying chemistry rather than pondering it with compulsion.

The love we give away is the only love we keep. 55

Santanu Kumar Dalai

Nickname:- Babuni

Place You Hail From:- Chilika (Ganjam, Odisha)

Areas of Interest:- Solid State Chemistry

Internships:- I have done my summer internship in ‘’Indian Rare Earth

Limited’’(Ganjam)

Future Plans:- To pursue PhD.

Best Moment in NIT:- The moment after completion of semester exam

One thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:- I hate beggars in society. I may try

to make people self-dependent by doing some awareness programme.

Favorite location in campus for hang-out:- Best location in campus for hang-out is DTS

and sometimes Hexagon.

Best Memory of Hostel Life:- Every night before exam is memorable.

Message to the juniors:-A bird sitting on branch of a tree is not afraid by the

shaking branch. Because the bird trusts not branch but her wings. Believe in

yourself and go ahead. Enjoy your days.

Positive anything is better than negative nothing. 56

Santwana Sahoo

Nickname:- Rosy

Place You Hail From:- Jharsuguda

Areas of Interest:- Bio-inorganic and Inorganic Chemistry

Internships:- IMMT,BBSR

Future Plans:- Higher Education in chemistry. Either M.Tech or pursue Ph.D.

Best Moment in NIT:- 1P

stP year picnic of our department with seniors and friends,

had a great time and it was really memorable.

One thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:- Nothing to be changed, for now everything seems fine.

Favourite location in campus for hang-out:- Infront of SAC

Best Memory of Hostel Life:- Last few Memorable days with my friends.

Message to the Juniors:- Work hard with patience and be a good human-being in life as it matters the most and above everything else.

We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone. 57

Subhasmin Rana

Nickname:- Rinki

Place You Hail From:- Tigiria

Areas of Interest:- Synthetic Biochemistry

Internships:- Two months summer project “A Convenient Nucleophilic Acyl

Substitution of Amines via Activation as Corresponding 2,4,6-Trichlorobenzoic

Anhydrides” in Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati,under the supervision

of Dr.Bhubaneswar Mandal, Assistant professor.

Future Plans:- Want to do research in biochemistry

Best Moment in NIT:- Department grand dinner and also the department picnic.

One thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:- Nothing to be changed for now.

Favourite location in campus for hang-out:- No place as I am not involved in much hang outs.

Best Memory of Hostel Life:- Garden fest in my hostel.

Message to the Juniors:- Hard labour is the key of success as well as failure is the pillar of success please do work hard and success will be in your hand. Please respect your teacher and be punctual.

Believe you can and you’re halfway there. 58

Sushreeta Behera

Nickname:- Silly

Place You Hail From:- Silver city Cuttack

Areas of Interest:- Listening rock music, playing guitar, watching travel shows as well as making designs from paper cuttings.

Internships:- CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneswar

Best Moment in NIT:- All moments are very special with my dear friends and some more memorable and nostalgic memories are awaiting us in the last few days at NITR.

One thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:- M.Sc students should get all the facilities like M.Tech students and should not have open elective system.

Favourite location in campus for hang-out:- Nescafe Coffee centre and canteen where we used to idle away our time in silly and never ending gossips.

Best Memory of Hostel Life:- Watching a Korean series with all my roommates continuously for two days without any breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Message to the Juniors:- All the best for your future and enjoy your life to the fullest.

With self-discipline most any-thing is possible. 59

Upasana Panda

Nickname:- Puja

Place You Hail From:- Bhubaneswar

Areas of Interest:- Specially interested in Inorganic Chemistry

Internships:- National Institute of Scientific and Educational Research, Bhubaneswar.

Future Plans:- Pursue further research in the enchanting field of chemistry, and explore, conquer and understand its vast depth.

Best Moment in NIT:- The departmental picnic, had a moment of a lifetime.

One thing in Rourkela you wish you could change:- Want to change the orthodox name of Rourkela itself and name it something more promising according to the recent scenarios.

Favourite location in campus for hang-out:- Canteen with my buddies

Best Memory of Hostel Life:- My last Birthday with my buddies.

Message to the Juniors:- The price of success is hard work , dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand .

60

Scientific

&

Literary Articles

If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything. 61

Chemistry and Computers: Friendship between

Two “C”s

After rejecting too many requests from our 2nd Yr. integrated M.Sc. student,

Soumitra, I thought of writing for the first time in my life for our departmental

magazine. In this write-up, in very few words I have focused how computers

can be used as a tool to solve chemical problems. In my early days of Ph.D., I

was totally unaware what computational chemistry belongs to. Later I came to

know that it is possible to solve the chemical and physical problems using

computers and the results can be correlated with the experimental findings.

Surprisingly, for the first time I came to know that rather than mixing solutions

in test-tubes it is also possible to mix them computationally.

In broad sense computational chemistry is based on quantum and

statistical mechanics and the terms popularly related to this area are theory,

modelling and computation. All of us are comfortable with the term 'theory'.

Next comes 'model' which is typically “involves the deliberate introduction of

simplifying approximations into a more general theory so as to extend its

practical utility.” The term 'computation' is the “use of digital technology to

solve the mathematical equations defining a particular theory or model.”

Computational chemistry relates not only in handling problems to chemical

aspects but also in writing improved algorithm to solve difficult equations,

developing new ways to visualize data etc. Another very well-known term in

computational chemistry is “simulation”. The technique is popularly known as

computer simulations.

Simulation has dual role. It acts as 'connector' between theory and

experiments. Because of such role the technique is known as 'computer

experiments'. It provides a detail microscopic information of a system to

macroscopic properties of experimental interests, e.g. the equation of states,

transport co-efficients, order parameters etc. The information is not only of

academic interest but also of technologically useful. In case of materials,

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom. 62

sometimes experimentalists find difficulties to carry out experiments at

extreme pressure and temperature but a computer simulation of material, e.g.

a high-temperature plasma, a nuclear reactor etc. are perfectly feasible.

Besides, in case of molecules, experimentally it is difficult to probe fast ion

conduction, enzyme action etc. but can be easily obtained from a computer

simulation.

In present days, in our daily life we can't think without computers.

Similarly, modern advanced chemistry stops working without computers. Still

people believe that chemistry is nothing but related to some reactions, mixing

of solutions etc. but beyond their imagination there is some other way to

explore chemistry. In this context I should mention that the Nobel Prize in

Chemistry 1998 was divided equally between Walter Kohn "for his development

of the density-functional theory" and John A. Pople "for his development of

computational methods in quantum chemistry".

Ref: 1. Computer simulation of liquids. M. P. Allen and D. J. Tildesley. Oxford

science publication.

2. Essentials of Computational Chemistry. C. J. Cramer. Wiley

publication.

- Dr Madhurima Jana

- Assistant Professor

He who has a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'. 63

Use of Significant Figures (aka) Sig Fig in Chemistry

This is what I mostly heard not only among the chemistry graduates but also to

some extent among other graduates in our campus. Therefore, it is highly

essential to train our students about the importance of sig figs in their

calculations and measurements.

Please remember that, in science, all numbers are based upon measurements

(except for a very few that are defined). Since all measurements are uncertain,

we must only use those numbers that are meaningful. Not all of the digits have

meaning (significance) and, therefore, should not be written down. In science,

only the numbers that have significance (derived from measurement) are

written.

The objectives of this write-up are:

• Explain the concept of significant figures.

• Define rules for deciding the number of significant figures in a measured

quantity.

• Define rules for determining the number of significant figures in a number

calculated as a result of a mathematical operation.

• Explain rules for rounding numbers.

• Present guidelines for using a calculator.

• Provide some exercises to test your skill at significant figures.

What is a "significant figure"?

The number of significant figures in a result is simply the number of figures

that are known with some degree of reliability. The number 13.2 is said to have

3 significant figures. The number 13.20 is said to have 4 significant figures.

Rules for deciding the number of significant figures in a measured quantity:

Talent does what it can; genius does what it must. 64

(1) All nonzero digits are significant:

1.234 g has 4 significant figures.

1.2 g has 2 significant figures.

(2) Zeroes between nonzero digits are significant:

1002 kg has 4 significant figures,

3.07 mL has 3 significant figures.

(3) Leading zeros to the left of the first nonzero digits are not significant; such

zeroes merely indicate the position of the decimal point:

0.001 oC has only 1 significant figure,

0.012 g has 2 significant figures.

(4) Trailing zeroes that are also to the right of a decimal point in a number are

significant:

0.0230 mL has 3 significant figures,

0.20 g has 2 significant figures.

(5) When a number ends in zeroes that are not to the right of a decimal point,

the zeroes are not necessarily significant:

190 miles may be 2 or 3 significant figures,

50,600 calories may be 3, 4, or 5 significant figures.

The potential ambiguity in the last rule can be avoided by the use of standard

exponential, or "scientific," notation. For example, depending on whether the

number of significant figures is 3, 4, or 5, we would write 50,600 calories as:

5.06 × 104 calories (3 significant figures)

5.060 × 104 calories (4 significant figures) or

Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain. 65

5.0600 × 104 calories (5 significant figures).

By writing a number in scientific notation, the number of significant figures is

clearly indicated by the number of numerical figures in the 'digit' term as

shown by these examples. This approach is a reasonable convention to follow.

Rules for mathematical operations

In carrying out calculations, the general rule is that the accuracy of a

calculated result is limited by the least accurate measurement involved in the

calculation.

(1) In multiplication and division, the answer must contain the same number

of significant figures as the term with the least number of significant figures.

Example: (16.79) (14.6) = 245.134. The answers should be reported as 245.00.

Why? Because the term with the least number of significant figures = 14.6 has

only 3 significant figures.

(2) In addition and subtraction, the answer must contain the same number of

decimal places as the term with the least number of decimal places.

Example: 18.02

12.2

328.445

358.665

Rules for rounding off numbers

(1) If the digit to be dropped is greater than 5, the last retained digit is

increased by one. For example,

12.6 is rounded to 13.

Facts are the enemy of truth. 66

(2) If the digit to be dropped is less than 5, the last remaining digit is left as it

is. For example,

12.4 is rounded to 12.

(3) If the digit to be dropped is 5, and if any digit following it is not zero, the

last remaining digit is increased by one. For example,

12.51 is rounded to 13.

(4) If the digit to be dropped is 5 and is followed only by zeroes, the last

remaining digit is increased by one if it is odd, but left as it is if even. For

example,

11.5 is rounded to 12,

12.5 is rounded to 12.

This rule means that if the digit to be dropped is 5 followed only by zeroes, the

result is always rounded to the even digit. The rationale for this rule is to avoid

bias in rounding: half of the time we round up, half the time we round down.

- Dr Priyabrat Dash

- Assistant Professor

If winning isn’t everything, then why do they keep score? 67

Morning

When the deep sun rays touches the earth,

And the nature looks very fresh,

With a foreword for the new race,

Morning comes without a little trace.

Butterflies with their coloring spray,

Enjoy the warmth of falling ray.

Kissing flowers once and once,

Share their love in natural way.

Morning wishes of the singing bird,

Flowers wrapped in green and gold,

Tiny dew drops on the glossy bed,

Makes the heart deep and glad.

The silence of city breaks with time.

Again being busy when the clock is nine.

The new morning is a lovely gift of God

Comes hoping hatred to be replaced by love

In the dreamt world.

- Prajna Mishra

- M.Sc. 2nd Year

Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence. 68

Chemistry- The King of Subjects

An omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient science

Chemistry is one of the disciples of science which deals with the characteristics

of substances and the changes they undergo when they are mixed with one

another. It can also be defined as the science of matter and its transformation.

Matter is made up of atoms and molecules. Hence, Chemistry is also well

known as the science of atoms and molecules.

Chemistry is involved in some way with almost everything we do or use. It is

central to most of science and technology, blending at one extreme with

Physics, Mathematics and engineering and at the other into the earth and life-

sciences. So Chemistry in itself is a complete science which has several

branches and each branch has its own importance and significance in diverse

field. Understanding Chemistry helps us in knowing the world around us. From

morning till night whatever we use are the products of Chemistry, the

toothpaste in the early morning, medicines, petroleum products, food stuffs,

fertilizers, preservatives and synthetic fibres are all golden products of

Chemistry. Everything we touch, smell or hear is a chemical.

Chemistry also provides answers to many questions which are related to our

day to day life activities like -

Why laundry detergents work better in hot water?

How baking soda works?

Why not all pain-relievers work equally well on headache?

Is this food fit for consumption?

How can we develop new products from existing resources?

Thus Chemistry is a blessing for we human beings to lead a more comfortable

and luxurious life.

Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit. 69

Knowing all the above facts about Chemistry it can be easily concluded that

Chemistry is the “King of subjects”. Beauty of Chemistry lives in its ability to

simplify a seemingly terrifying complex universe, where everything is

constantly changing on one time scale or another, into a few fundamental

principles that enable us to understand, appreciate and change our world.

Thus, “Chemistry is in the entire World and the entire World is in Chemistry”.

- Gurudas Chakraborty

- M.Sc. (1st year)

Time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted. 70

The Periodic Table Expands Yet Again....

They exist for only seconds at most in real life, but they have gained

immortality in chemistry: two new elements that have been added to the

periodic table-Flerovium and Livermorium. They were earlier knwown by the

temporary monikers ununquadium and ununhexium.The International Union of

Pure and Applied Chemistry officially approved names for the elements – which

sit at slot 114 (Flerovium) and 116 (Livermorium).

Both elements are man-made, what used to be element 114 is now Flerovium,

honoring the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Dubna, Russia, where it

was created. Element 116 is now Livermorium, for the Lawrence Livermore

National Laboratory in Livermore, California, home of a scientific team that

participated in its creation in Dubna. The chemical symbols are Fl and Lv

respectively.

The elements were created by smashing calcium ions (with 20 protons) into

curium targets (which have 96 protons), combining to form element 116,

Livermorium. This element decayed almost immediately into Flerovium, with

114 protons. In contrasts to more familiar elements like carbon, gold and tin,

the new ones are short-lived. Atoms of 114 disintegrate within a few seconds,

while 116 disappears in a fraction of a second. So, you won’t find these

materials lying around. Once made, these atoms decay within seconds.

- Anurag Mohanty

- Int. M.Sc. in Chem (2nd year)

That which does not kill us makes us stronger. 71

The Improbable Reality

The immediate assumption one has on hearing that an academic has won the

Nobel Prize is that he must always have been a brilliant and hard-working

individual who was marked out for golden success. It may be tough to believe

buts it’s true. Sir John Gurdon, Nobel Prize in the year 2012 in psychology/

medicine winner was very weak at science..!!

Gurdon attended Eton College, where he ranked last out of the 250 boys in his

year group at biology, and was in the bottom set in every other science

subject. A schoolmaster wrote a report stating "I believe he has ideas about

becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous. If he can’t

learn simple biological facts he would have no chance of doing the work of a

specialist, and it would be a sheer waste of time, both on his part, and of those

who have to teach him.” Gurdon’s work was ‘far from satisfactory’. One effort

‘scored two marks out of a possible 50’. In a class of 18 at Eton College, this

master placed Gurdon 18th.

Some children could neither spell, nor write grammatically, or remember the

books they had been studying, was greeted with howls of outrage and even

cruel. The truth is that in state schools, proper school reports are a thing of

the past. The old cliché — ‘could do better’ — is no longer allowed. It’s

considered too harsh for the poor dears. But the fact is that unless someone

tells a young pupil that they could do better, they never will do better. They

are left with the lie that they could not improve even if they tried real hard.

Indeed, many students receiving such a rebuke today would probably need

counselling, or their parents would write off to a solicitor seeking redress. For

his part, John Gurdon became a great scientist, not because he was a

conceited, lazy boy, who thought he knew it all, when he did not. He became a

great scientist when he stopped being that boy, and learned the tough lessons

that his biology master wanted to teach him get your facts right, apply

yourself, learn to be humble in respect of facts as well as to work hard.

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. 72

Sir John B Gurdon has won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 for

his discovery at the University of Oxford that the specialization of cells is

reversible, challenging the dogma that mature cells are irreversibly committed

to their fate. He wins the award jointly with Shinya Yamanaka for the discovery

that mature, specialized cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells

capable of developing into all tissues of the body. ”Their findings have

revolutionized our understanding of how cells and organisms develop, said the

Nobel Assembly at The Karolinska Institute in a press release while announcing

the Nobel award”.

Gurdon was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1971, and was knighted in

1995. In 2004, the Welcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Institute for Cell Biology

and Cancer was renamed the Gurdon Institute in his honour. He has also

received numerous awards, medals and honorary degrees. In 2005, he was

elected as an Honorary Member of the American Association of Anatomists. He

was awarded the 2009 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research award. Gurdon's

recent research has focused on elucidating the mechanisms involved in

reprogramming the nucleus in transplantation experiments, including the role

of histone variants, and DE methylation of the transplanted DNA.

Gurdon later had the college report framed and he told a reporter, "When you

have problems like an experiment doesn't work, which often happens, it's nice

to remind yourself that perhaps after all you are not so good at this job and the

schoolmaster may have been right." Speaking after learning of his award in

London on Monday, Sir John revealed that his school report still sits above his

desk at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, which is named in his honour. In the

words of the great researcher Chris Graham “People had talked about cloning a

good deal but with John Gurdon’s work it became a reality.” Thus the true

flavour of character matters more than the grades on the sheet.

- Sandeep Kesh

- Int. M.Sc. in Chem. (2nd year)

Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life. 73

Temporary Storage for Electrons In a Hydrogen-Producing Enzyme

Scientists at the Max Plank Institute for Chemical energy Conversion (MPI CEC)

and the Ruhr-Universidad Bochum (RUB) have found through spectroscopic

investigations on a hydrogen- producing enzyme that the environment of the

catalytic site acts as electron reservoir in the enzyme. Thus it can efficiently

produce hydrogen, which has a great potential as a renewable energy

so producing hydrogen with enzymes the system analyzed constitutes an

enzyme that catalyzes the formation and conversion of hydrogen. In its center

it has a double-iron core, and is therefore also called [FeFe] hydrogenase.

Hydrogenases are of great interest for energy research, since they can

efficiently produce hydrogen. However, new catalysts can only be developed

given a deep understanding of their mode of action.

In hydrogen production, two electrons get together with two protons. The

research team showed that, as expected, the first electron is initially

transferred to the iron centre of the enzyme. The second transfer on the other

hand is to an Iron-Sulphur cluster that is located in the periphery. It thus forms

a temporary storage for the second electron. This "super-reduced" state may be

responsible for the extremely high efficiency of the hydrogenase. Subsequently

both electrons are transferred in one step from the enzyme to the protons, so

that hydrogen is generated.

"Only the use of two different spectroscopic techniques made the discovery

possible," says Agnieszka Adamska, a doctoral student at MPI CEC who carried

out the spectroscopic studies source.

- Malpath Shraddha Kusum

- Int. M.Sc. in Chem. (1st year)

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness. 74

A Noble Discovery

Here' a look at the most amazing award in the world. Yes, we are talking about

THE NOBEL PRIZE. As you must know that it is given to the most intellectual

and dedicated people in the field of physics, chemistry, physiology, medicine,

literature and peace. And this time the pride of receiving this astonishing

award for Chemistry has gone to Brian Kobilka (Stanford) and Robert Lefkowitz

(Duke) for their work on the G-Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs). So, let's

make you explore the discovery made by them. GPCRs are proteins located in

the plasma membrane. The name GPCR refers to a common mode of receptor

signalling via GTP-binding proteins on the inside of the cell. So, they are

essentially both the gatekeepers and molecular messengers of.

The cell transmits signals from inside to outside. The GPCRs are also called

seven-Trans membrane (7TM) receptors. This is because like every protein they

have polypeptide chain, but their polypeptide chain passes seven times through

the plasma membrane which is connected by three loops, three on the

intracellular side and three on the extracellular side. In this way they span the

cell membrane in the form of seven Trans-membrane helices. The six loops on

a GPCR are:

- Particularly floppy and they also turn out to be particularly important

determinants of molecular binding.

- They act as a mediator, virtually for a wide range of physiological signals, from

immune system function to taste and smell.

- Response to the fight-or-flight situations in humans, which are coming from

outside the cell.

- The signal can be a change in concentration of peptides, hormones, lipids,

neurotransmitters, ions, odorants, tastants, etc., or an influx of photons to the

eye.

- Reactions involving other proteins, nucleotides and metal ions, which

eventually deliver a message and an appropriate.

If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself. 75

- Cellular and physiological response. The signal can consist of an amazing

variety of stimuli, from photons (light) to Neurotransmitters to hormones.

GPCRs can also exist in two states: an active state and an inactive state.

Molecules that bind to these proteins come in three flavours:

i) Agonists activate the receptor.

ii) Inverse agonists completely shut it down.

iii) Antagonists prevent agonist binding but don’t shut the protein down.

A small molecule like a drug binds to one of the GPCR helices on the outside

and these results in a complex series of motions of the helices that result in the

dissociation of one of the G protein subunits. After dissociating, the G protein

can interact with a variety of other proteins, including proteins called kinases

which attach and detach phosphate groups and control cell signalling.

The end result of this process is usually the activation of a so-called second

messenger, a small molecule like cyclic. The GMP (cGMP) goes into the nucleus

of the cell and brings about specific gene expression and attendant

physiological responses. The binding of a small agonist molecule to the protein

causes a crucial movement of the helices, resulting in interactions with

intracellular G proteins and transmission of the external stimulus inside the

cell.

GPCRs are also immensely important in medicine and are the target of about

30% of all drugs. Naturally occurring small molecules which bind to GPCRs

include adrenaline, prostaglandins, dopamine, somatostatin and adenosine.

Drug-like small molecules which bind to GPCRs include caffeine, morphine,

heroin and histamine.

Sometimes it takes a good fall to really know where you stand. 76

This discovery has opened the way to not only a detailed dissection of the

mechanism of GPCR function but also to structure-based drug design. In

addition they have struck a blow to the belief that GPCRs cannot be

crystallized. Most crystal structures of the GPCRs come with drugs attached to

them and therefore they are invaluable starting points for designing more

potent drugs with better safety profiles. The morphine-bound structures are

particularly promising in this regard since finding a safe alternative to

morphine has for decades been a kind of medical crusade with many corpses.

- Dipti Raj

- Int. M.Sc. in Chem (1st year)

We read to know that we are not alone. 77

REALITY BEYOND IMAGINATION!!!

Cholerophobia Town:-

While people in the town of Anderslöv, Sweden were suffering from a strange

epidemic of green hair! People all over started complaining that their hair was

turning green. When confronted with sudden hair changes, people are inclined

to blame the drinking water. Environmental hygiene engineer Johan

Pettersson. He and a team took samples of the local drinking water from

several houses. They immediately suspected ample amount of copper, which

turns thing green. Shiny bright new COPPER piping. When the water sat

overnight in the pipes, and was then exposed to heat from the water heater for

showers in the morning…hello green..!! Pettersson was incredibly proud to get

Ig Noble Prize in 2012 in Chemistry for solving this mystery. And became a local

HERO..!

Miscibly Immiscible

We were always taught that oil and water can never mix. But recently it’s not

true. Eric Adams, lecturer and senior research engineer in the Department of

Civil and Environmental Engineering, and his co-investigators Scott Socolofsky

and Stephen Masutani were awarded the 2010 Ig Nobel Prize in chemistry for

disproving the adage that oil and water don’t mix. They demonstrated that

most oil from a spill in the deep ocean, would in fact mix with water, rather

than rise directly to the surface. The research for which Adams and his co-

investigators won the prize was part of the Deep Spill Joint Industry Project. In

these tests, oil mixed with methane was released near the seafloor at a depth

of 840 meters off the coast, and monitored with an array of instruments

including remotely operated vehicles. The results demonstrated what Adams

and Socolofsky’s laboratory experiments conducted earlier in the project had

already shown. Rather than form a simple plume that would carry the oil

directly to the surface, most of the oil would mix with seawater and stratify

into horizontal layers with water of the same density.

Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love. 78

Test your taste..!

Japanese researchers have succeeded in making the sweet smell of vanilla

come out of the last thing people could imagine -- cow dung. In a world-first

recycling project, a one-hour heating and pressuring process allows cow feces

to produce vanillin, the main component of the vanilla-bean extract, according

to researcher Mayu Yamamoto. The vanillin extracted from the feces could be

used in products such as shampoo and aromatic candles but not in food, said

Yamamoto, who works for the Research Institute of the state-run International

Medical Center of Japan.

Compared with usual vanilla, "this component is exactly the same but it would

be difficult for people to accept it in food, given the recent rules of disclosing

the origins of ingredients," she said. The production cost using dung is less than

a half of making vanillin out of vanilla beans, she added. Yamamoto also

awarded Ig Noble prize for this in 2007.

Swimming in syrup is as easy as in water.

It's a question that has taxed generations of the finest minds in physics: do

humans swim slower in syrup than in water? And since you asked, the answer's

a big NO. Scientists have filled a swimming pool with a syrupy mixture and

proved it.

Edward Cussler and Gettelfinger got Ig Noble Prize in chemistry for this in the

year 2005. He took more than 300 kilograms of guar gum, an edible thickening

agent found in salad dressings, ice cream and shampoo, and dumped it into a

25-metre swimming pool, creating a gloopy liquid twice as thick as water. "It

looked like snot," says Cussler.

The pair then asked 16 volunteers, a mix of both competitive and recreational

swimmers, to swim in a regular pool and in the guar syrup. Whatever strokes

they used, the swimmers' times differed by no more than 4%, with neither

I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you. 79

water nor syrup producing consistently faster times, the researchers report in

the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal.

Statue that repelled pigeons:

If you want your statues clean (and your pigeons healthy), you just need to

make them of bronze laced with arsenic. In the Kenroku garden in the city of

Kanazawa, Japan, stands a statue of the legendary hero Yamato Takeru no

Mikoto. There are many things to admire about the statue, but as a scientist,

Professor Hirose was fascinated by how pristine the figure is. Birds rarely visit

it, and seldom bestow the kind of personal gifts they often lavish on statuary.

Hirose analyzed a small sample of the metal. Its composition turns out to be

unusual. The alloy contains copper and lead, which are not uncommon in

statues – but also another element that seems very out of place. The statue's

old bronze is laced with arsenic which repelled crows and pigeons. “When I

gave my lecture, the audience were killing themselves laughing. I still don’t

understand what’s funny about my investigation, “said Hirose when he was

awarded the Ig Noble Prize for the invention of this amazing pigeon repellant

alloy.

- Sandeep Kesh

- Int. M.Sc. in Chem (2nd year)

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library. 80

LAMENTATION FOR ILL- LEARNT LITERATES Spoken words include what we intend to conclude

Neither hard disk of computer can encompass nor can software substitute or

soften our sufferings

Parents pave ways for their offspring with great expectations

To imbibe their qualities to blossom and sustain relations

"Alas!" Parents have become partisans, baby sitters

For comfort call your dear abroad for a while

Wait for his reply, but he is a busy boy no time to smile

"Sunny, I intend to visit you for our grand lad"

"Wait, don't bother why come, set a web cam dad

"But dear would like to have that warm feeling which can’t be seen through the

computer screening"

"Listen, you know this is a cold country, dad"

"Unaware of the warmer feeling though, it is sad"

What is wrong with whom, sense

The sanctity of social state is immense of so called cerebral stalwarts, human

race

Lost the base, bound to face the fate

No strong lace can ever lift you up

Let only destiny undwindle and sum up

Gone were the days when literature meant to illumine

I'm not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens. 81

Now, vague is the source to eliminate the clouds of illusion

Money could seldom straightens the relations

The cravings can never lead us for elation

Shakespeare no more sphere heads students to study stories

Milton thy name is known for homely appliances

Works of words worth weave vs. to wonder

Lost hope, find refuse to muse for men of letters

Tend to repent, mend amend and attend

They pat your back and hold your hand towards mankind

Science and sole are not disjoined fragments

One is the flower and the other is its fragrance....

- Malpath Shraddha Kusum

- Int. M.Sc. in Chem (1st year)

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You. 82

Hope

Walking down on shady lanes,

Full of grief, dearth and pain,

Searching for light of hope,

Fall, that I can cope.

Unchaste soul, violent heart,

Breaking me part by part,

Loser each and every time,

No result, No victory chime.

‘Humanity is immortal,’ true words,

Killing each other with guns and swords,

M knowing nothing of dead end,

Just like destiny of desert sand.

- Nitesh Kumar Gupta

- Int. M.Sc. in Chem (1st year)

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. 83

Hope That Makes A BIG Change In You

The Professor began his class by holding up a glass with some water in it. He

held it up for all to see & asked the students “How much do you think this glass

weighs?”

’50gms!’….. ’100gms!’ …..’125 Gms’ …the students answered.

“I really don’t know unless I weigh it,” said the professor, “but, my question is:

What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?”…. .

‘Nothing’ …..The students said.

‘Ok what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?’ the professor

asked.

‘Your arm would begin to ache’ said one of the students

“You’re right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?”

“Your arm could go numb; you might have severe muscle stress & paralysis &

have to go to hospital for sure!”

….. Ventured another student & all the students laughed

“Very good.

But during all this, did the weight of the glass change?” Asked the professor.

‘No’…. Was the answer.

“Then what caused the arm ache & the muscle stress?”

The students were puzzled.

“What should I do now to come out of pain?” asked professor again.

“Put the glass down!” said one of the students

It takes less time to do the thing right than to explain why you did it wrong. 84

“Exactly!” said the professor.

Life’s problems are something like this.Hold it for a few minutes in your head &

they seem OK.

Think of them for a long time & they begin to ache.

Hold it even longer & they begin to paralyze you. You will not be able to do

anything.

It’s important to think of the challenges or problems in your life, But EVEN

MORE IMPORTANT is to ‘PUT THEM DOWN’ at the end of every day before you

go to sleep…

That way, you are not stressed, you wake up every day fresh &strong & can

handle any issue, any challenge that comes your way!

Moral

So, when you start your day today, Remember friend to ‘PUT THE GLASS

DOWN TODAY!’

- Jyoti Prasad Panigrahi

- Int. M.Sc. in Chem (1st year)

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'! 85

Chocolate

You guys must be wondering what this column on chocolate has to do with the

chemistry dept. Magazine. Well to be true chocolate is one such consumable

chemical that has got a beautiful chemistry about itself. Our world is filled up

with chocolates all around and so now’s the time to take in a dip and indulge

ourselves in knowing a bit more about it.

The very word ‘chocolate’ almost has a magic about it and those who love it

agree unanimously that the taste is quite definitely magical. The remarkable

story of chocolate dates back to 7th century when the cocoa tree,’Theobroma

Cacao’, was cultivated by the Maya civilization of Central America. This

ancient civilization established a flourishing trade, even using the cocoa bean

as a currency. The explorer Christopher Columbus took the cocoa bean to Spain

in 1502, and Herman Cortes, who conquered Mexico for Spain, soon afterwards

got an idea of what to do with this curious object when the Aztec emperor

Montezuma introduced him to xocatlatl, a drink made of crushed, roasted

cocoa beans and cold water. This bitter tasting brew soon evolved into

something more pleasant when it was served hot with a flavouring of vanilla,

spices, honey and sugar.

By the late 17th century, Europe and beyond had fallen under the spell of the

‘Hot Chocolate’ drink. But it is a 19th century Dutch chemist, Coenraad Van

Houten, whom we have to thank for chocolate that we can eat. This veritable

hero invented a method of producing pure cocoa butter and a hard ’cake’ that

could be milled to produce cocoa powder for flavouring. Within a very short

time, the chocolate industry was founded, going from strength to strength as

different countries began to produce smooth, melt in the mouth chocolate

bars.

Today to our delight-there is no end to the creative ways in which chocolate is

used in cooking, puddings, cakes, biscuits, chilled desserts and ice-creams.

They all seem to have extra appeal when they include chocolate.

The difference between genius and stupidity is; genius has its limits. 86

If you are one of the world’s one of the many chocoholics, then after pondering

over this article for the past five minutes you would want to make a fruitful use

of your next upcoming five minutes by trying to grab one chocolate and indulge

yourself in its beautiful feel.

- Tathagata Kundu

- Int. M.Sc. in Chem (1st year)

Everything you can imagine is real. 87

Wake to Sleep

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.

I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know..............? Waking (and sleeping)

occurs under the influence of our brain’s circadian clock. The clock is called the

suprachiasmatic nucleus. The nucleus is located in the hypothalamus, one on each

side, deep in the brain, low behind the ear. By the shift from night to day and back

to night as the earth turns. During sleep the brain energetically nixes

consciousness and sensory perception .The thing about sleep, it’s involuntary. A

person cannot will himself or herself to stay awake, even if life depends on it. For

us mammals, sleep deprivation is torture, resulting in death if forced to continue.

Sleep starts with non-Rapid Eye Movement. At first brain waves slow down, down,

down until they arrive at Delta waves, long and slow. Heart rate slows, respiration

slows, blood pressure sinks. But, dreaming, we are blind. Even when researchers

open a sleeper’s eyelid and place objects in front of the eyeball, the dreamer

cannot see. Sleep disorders such as sleepwalking are the dangerous syndromes in

which the dreamer gets out of bed and bodily enacts the dream are brain

disorders.

Everyone dreams, even if everyone does not remember those dreams. During REM

dreaming, the brain is more active than when awake. Neurons firing in the pons

(located in the brainstem) set off REM sleep, during which the muscles are

paralyzed: it is impossible to move. But the visual association areas and the limbic

lobe—that seat of feeling—are active. So we have vivid dreams, at times full of

feeling. Sleep turns us inward. It relieves us of cognizance and vigilance. Sleeping,

we are deaf. But we may hear our being “dance from ear to ear.”

- Jyoti Prasad Panigrahi

- Int. M.Sc. in Chem (1st year)

I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book. 88

The Chemistry of Love……

Ah, love. In the heady days of a mutual crush, pulses race, knees go weak, and

heads reel. So strong are these feelings, they’ve launched a thousand songs and

poems. When you say you and a romantic partner 'have chemistry' you're right!

There is a lot of chemistry involved in feeling attachment, sweaty palms,

butterflies in your stomach, etc. Have you ever wondered exactly what chemicals

are involved in feeling love?

Hormones converge for the people in love. We already know that falling in love is a

bit like going crazy. Donatella Marazziti of the University of Pisa in Italy showed in

1999 that levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which has a calming effect, dip

below normal in those who say they are in love as well as in people with obsessive

compulsive disorder. Both groups spend inordinate amounts of time obsessing

about something or someone.

When we fall in love, dopamine is released, making couples feel elated and

energetic about each other. "That someone takes on special meaning to you and

you focus on this individual because the dopamine system has been activated," says

Helen Fisher, PhD, a biological anthropologist. “It is what triggers very goal

oriented behaviour, where no one else matters but your new partner.” Dopamine

can be present in both early-stage and long-term romantic love

Another possible ingredient in the love potion is norepinephrine. (It’s still being

studied). This stress hormone increases the heart rate, and may be the reason you

feel hot and flustered when that special person notices you. It also be responsible

for that butterflies-in-your-stomach sensation. “It can cause that awkward

feeling,” and the Sweaty palms, dry mouth as well as fumbling words.

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a set of genes that controls cell-

surface molecules, which the body uses to tell self from foreign invaders. Our

bodies exude MHC levels through sweat and body odour, as well as saliva. There

are a wide variety of MHC types, but they tend to more closely match in people

who are related. Based on scent and taste, studies suggest we can pick up on MHC

levels in other people, and it’s thought that the more you differ in MHC, the

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. 89

stronger the attraction relationship-related obsessions aversion to particular

numbers and nervous rituals.

Although testosterone is thought of as a macho hormone, it helps stoke the fire in

both sexes. Oxytocin is an essential chemical that calms and bonds couples

together by promoting intimacy.

Donatella Marazziti was awarded the Ig Noble Prize for the discovery that,

biochemically, romantic love may be indistinguishable from having severe

obsessive-compulsive disorder. Well, the next time we are with our romantic

partner, it’s just more than the affectionate, caring and emotional feeling we

have.

- Anonymous

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. 90

Scientist of the Issue: Neils Bohr

The Danish physicist

of the 19th century

who received the

first ever Peace

Award(1957) also

made foundational

contributions in the

field of Chemistry,

pioneering his career

with the formula for

the difference of any

two hydrogen energy levels.

Niels Henrik David Bohr, born in Copenhagen on October 7, 1885 grew up in an

atmosphere most favorable to the development of his genius mind. His father,

Christian Bohr, an eminent physiologist was responsible for boosting up his

intellect. He joined the Copenhagen University after his matriculation, and under

the guidance of Professor C Christiansen he took his Master's degree in physics in

1909 and Doctor's degree in 1911.

In the year of 1911, he assisted Sir JJ Thompson and Professor Rutherford in their

experimental work in the Cavendish laboratory at Manchester. His further analysis

on the Rutherford theory of atomic nucleus made him successful in improving it. In

1913-1914, Bohr joined as a lecturer in Physics at Copenhagen University and later

joined at Victoria University, Manchester. In 1916 he was appointed as the

professor of Theoretical Physics at Copenhagen University and from 1920 until his

death he served there as the head of Institute of Theoretical Physics. Earlier in

1912, Bohr married Margrethe Norlund. He laid the foundation for the very famous

Quantum Theory. Niels Bohr proposed a model for the hydrogen atom where the

negatively charged electron is attracted to the positively charged proton.

Niels Bohr's greatest contribution to chemistry was, arguably, to be the first to

develop a physics-based model of the atom. He explained that how spectral series

emerge. When an atom is heated up, it begins to emit energy, but only at

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. 91

particular frequencies. Bohr's activities in his Institute were more and more

directed to research on the constitution of the atomic nuclei, and of their

transmutations and disintegrations. He pointed out that in nuclear processes the

smallness of the region in which interactions take place, as well as the strength of

these interactions, justify the transition processes to be described more in a

classical way than in the case of atoms.

A liquid drop would, according to this view, give a very good picture of the

nucleus. This so-called liquid droplet theory permitted the understanding of the

mechanism of nuclear fission, when the splitting of uranium was discovered by

Hahn and Strassmann, in 1939, and formed the basis of important theoretical

studies in this field.

In September 1943, Bohr entered upon a new venture, Manhattan project at Los

Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico. In this project he was basically focused upon his

social ethics regarding the 'nuclear arms race'. Thus, the intellectual legacy of this

genius scientist was passed on after his death in 1962, in Copenhagen as a result of

heart failure and was buried in Assistens Kirkegard in Copenhagen.

Among Professor Bohr's numerous writings (some 115 publications), three

appearing as books in the English language may be mentioned here as embodying

his principal thoughts: The Theory of Spectra and Atomic Constitution, University

Press, Cambridge, Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature, University Press,

Cambridge, The Unity of Knowledge, Doubleday & Co., New York.

Bohr was very much influenced by the works of Sir Albert Einstein and hence spent

some of his years working with him. The discussions between Bohr and Einstein are

famous all over and referred to as the Einstein-Bohr Debates.

During the Nazi occupation of Denmark in World War II, Bohr escaped to Sweden

and spent the last two years of the war in England and America, where he became

associated with the Atomic Energy Project. Until the end, Bohr's mind remained

alert as ever. During the last few years of his life he had shown keen interest in

the new developments of molecular biology. The latest formulation of his thoughts

on the problem of Life appeared in his final (unfinished) article, published after his

death: "Licht und Leben-noch einmal", (in English: "Light and Life revisited").

The Scars of others teach us caution. 92

Chemicross

Down Across

1 Gustav Holst would have regarded this as a magical element. 2 A distributor of traffic tickets

3 Chemical element could sound bit like a famous London theatre.

5 A heavy element named after Thor, Norse god of thunder.

4 Julius Caesar would have divided into 3 parts. 5 Element belonging to the queen of fairies. 6 Twenty for a dollar 9 Element is named after Swedish village near where it was discovered in 1878. 7 Supreme ruler of the periodic table.

10 A confused ring tone. 8 A popular gift for your mom.

12 Found in an arbor one supposes. 11 Someone who loves mp3 players, computers and cell phones.

14 Don't make a meal of it u n l e s s you need your insides examined.

13 The messenger of the God.

16 The Lone Ranger's horse. 15 A gift that a man gets in trouble for. 17 What a doctor tries to do with his patients. 19 Useful when taking a dog for a walk. 18 Police protection for our security. 20 Take supper with one of the Jupiter's moon.

Positive attitude changes everything. 93

Inquizzire

1. “Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour, Sit with a

pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute” – famous explanation by which

scientist to explain his theory?

2. There are two elements in the periodic table whose names are directly related to

Niels Bohr. One of them is the element Bohrium (At. No. - 107) named after him.

Which is the other element and what is the connection of that element with Bohr?

3. I am sure the air in heaven must be this wonder working gas of delight". So wrote

poet Robert Southey for this gas. It appears capable of destroying physical pain,

and may probably be used with advantage during surgical operations in which no

great effusion of blood takes place. This compound involves the combination of

two non-metals that belongs to one period and two consecutive group of the

periodic table. If u ever have been to any carnival u might have viewed a public

show where the public would pay a small price to inhale a minute's worth of the

gas. It even works as boost for the fast car. It is even popular agent still utilized by

dentists today. Guess the gas.

4. Used as a laxative for a long time but has been stopped now due to carcinogenic

concerns. Used to test blood sample along with hydrogen peroxide. It’s important

as it is non-destructive. It is used in vanishing ink and some Barbie doll hair dye.

But it has important scientific use very famous within us. What am I talking about?

5. Due to X’s work, X’s papers dating from the far end of the 19th century are

considered too dangerous to handle. They have to be kept in lead lined boxes, and

can only be handled using protective clothing. Id X.

6. The word in Homeric Greek means "pure, fresh air" or "clear sky", imagined in

Greek mythology to be the pure essence where the gods lived and which they

breathed, analogous to the air breathed by mortals. It corresponds to the concept

of Akasha in Hindu philosophy and is linked to Brihaspati (or the planet Jupiter)

and the center direction of the compass. This word and the concept it stood for

was very influential in the Greek (and hence the whole) scientific world. What

word?

7. X is both a philosophy and a practice with an aim of achieving ultimate wisdom as

well as immortality, involving the improvement of the Xist as well as the making of

Good leaders were first great followers. 94

several substances described as possessing unusual properties. The practical aspect

of X generated the basics of modern inorganic chemistry, namely concerning

procedures, equipment and the identification and use of many current substances.

What is X ?

8. Identify the person in the pic.

9. The first Z was held in 1911. During the fifth Z in 1927, the topic being Electrons

and Protons, the following debate took place regarding Heisenberg’s Uncertainty

Principle:

X: “_________________________”

Y: "X, stop telling God what to do."

Id X, Y and give the quote.

10. Niels Bohr, Pierre and Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, Ernest Lawrence,

Lise Meitner, Dmitri Mendeleev, Alfred Nobel, Wilhelm Roentgen, Ernest

Rutherford, Glenn T. Seaborg. Give the common link between all these scientists.

Practice does not make a man perfect but right practice does. 95

TRIVIA

• The lowest temperature reached in the laboratory is 7 nanokelvins, very near to

absolute zero. The temperature was reached when helium was cooled to become a

superfluid -- a fluid that could defy gravity.

• Mole Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated among chemists and chemistry

students on October 23, between 6:02 AM and 6:02 PM making the date 6:02 10/23

in the American style of writing dates.

• The element Californium is often called the most expensive substance in the world

as much as $68 million for one gram.

• When helium is cooled to a critical temperature of 2.17 K called its lambda point,

a remarkable discontinuity in heat capacity occurs, the liquid density drops, and a

fraction of the liquid becomes a zero viscosity "superfluid". Super fluidity arises

from the fraction of helium atoms which has condensed to the lowest possible

energy and it even defies gravity.

• Mosquitoes like the scent ofestrogen, hence, women get bitten by mosquitoes

more often than men do.

• People used to drink radioactive water from a device called the “Revigator.” It

was considered to be a healthy drink.

Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects. 96

Solution for Chemicross

Solution for Inquizzire

1. Einstein

2. Hafnium

3. Nitrous oxide ( Laughing gas)

4. Phenolpthalein

5. Marie curie

6. Ether

7. Alchemy

8. Schrodinger

9. X: Einstien, Y: Bohr, Quote: God does not play dice. 10. Elements are named in the periodic table after their name.

Enthusiasm without knowledge is like running in the dark. 97

Laugh-a-thon

It is better to be faithful than famous. 98

- Credits to the original sources.

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