Introduction

Presently the senior most professor in the Department of Chemistry, Gauhati University, Prof. Dibakar Chandra Deka did serve the department as its Head from September/2011 to August/2014. He is presently serving the all India Association Chemistry Teachers (ACT) as its President and would continue untill December 2019. In recognition of his services towards chemistry he has been awarded FRSC by the Royal Society of Chemistry, London in the year 2016. An M.Tech. & Ph.D. of IIT Kharagpur, Prof. Deka is credited to be the 1st D.Sc. in Chemistry from Gauhati University.  He is also one of the Expert Committee Members for Trilingual Science & Technology Terminology (Assamese, Hindi & English) funded by the Commission for Science & Technology Terminology, New Delhi.

                In the research front, Prof. Deka has completed and associated with several research projects funded by different agencies like DST, DBT, UGC, CSIR, The Royal Government of Bhutan, etc. His research interests include natural products isolation and identification from medicinal plants, synthetic organic chemistry, biodiesel, traditional alcoholic beverages and environmental chemistry. Credited with nearly 70 research papers published in reputed international journals, Prof. Deka has successfully supervised 27 Ph.D. Scholars and close to 40 M.Sc. projects. 

Contact : Department of Chemistry, Gauhati University, Guwahati 781014, Assam

                 Mobile:  9864075111, 9101723968

        Email: dcdeka@rediffmail.com;   dcdeka@gauhati.ac.in;  dcdeka1102@gmail.com

         Education

         International/ National Training Programs attended

Teaching : Organic Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Spectroscopy, Food & Nutrition

Research interests include

·         Exploring Traditional Knowledge & Scientific Validation: This includes unfolding compositions of traditionally used khars including kolkhar and their uses. Evaluation of physico-chemical properties of traditionally used alcoholic beverages by ethnic communities of Assam has also been looked after.

·         Natural Products Research: This includes isolation and structural elucidation of phytochemicals present in extracts from traditionally used medicinal plants.

·         Biodiesel: This includes exploring seed oils from plants in the wild. Extraction of oils from seeds of wild plants and their conversion to biodiesel and evaluation of fuel properties of biodiesel are undertaken.

·         Synthetic Organic Chemistry: This includes developing greener synthetic methodology for the synthesis of bioactive heterocyclic molecules in aqueous media and in biodegradable solvents. Uses of eco-friendly catalysts from waste biomass are also being explored.

Research outputs include

ü  Complete unfolding of the composition of kolkhar, and uses of kolakhar in organic reactions including conversion of vegetable oils to biodiesel have been achieved.

ü  Uses of khar ashes from waste biomasses like post-harvest banana plant, water hyacinth and naturally fallen red cotton flowers as catalysts in organic transformations have been established.

ü  Labeling of traditional alcoholic beverages prepared by the ethnic communities of Assam like Ahoms, Bodos, Deuris and Misings with respect to composition and physico-chemical properties have been established.

ü  The structural uncertainty of arborinine (an alkaloid isolated from the plant Glycosmis pentaphylla) has been resolved with single crystal X-ray diffraction. Bioactivity of arborinine including anti-cancer activity has been established.

ü  The seed oil from Yellow Oleander as feedstock for biodiesel industry has been established. It is even better than the widely publicized seed oil of Jatropha (Jatropha carcus).

ü  Several greener methodologies for the synthesis of bioactive organic molecules in water and biodegradable solvents have been developed.

Just published (July 2018): Please link to https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.201801545

Patents :

1.  Catalyst for Transesterification of vegetable oil to biodiesel

      Indian Patent Application No.: 2265/MUM/2013 dated 4/6/2013.

2. Highly efficient catalyst from banana plant for transesterification of vegetable oils to fatty acid methyi esters

      Indian Patent Application No.1669/KOL/08.

3. A method for the isolation of potassium carbonate from banana plants : Patent granted

     Indian Patent No.222135, 2008.

Recent 10 Papers published

1. Antioxidant-activity and physico-chemical indices of the rice beer used by

the Bodo community in North-East India

Anamika Kalita Deka¹, Pranami Handique² and Dibakar Chandra Deka^*

Journal of the ASBC (online 28 February 2018).

2.      A quick micelle catalyzed one-pot synthesis of spiro[indoline-3,4'-pyrano[2,3-c]pyrazoles] in water at room temperature

Jutika Devi, Subarna Jyoti Kalita and Dibakar Chandra Deka*

ChemistrySelect 2018, 3(5), 1512-1516. DOI: 10.1002/slct.201702716

3. 2-Phenyl-2,3-dihydrobenzo[d]thiazole: A Mild, Efficient, and

Highly Active in situ Generated Chemoselective Reducing Agent for the One-Pot Synthesis of 5-Monoalkylbarbiturates in Water

Subarna Jyoti Kalita, Dibakar Chandra Deka* Synlett 2018, 29, 477-482.

DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1591725

4. A Quick, Simple and Clean Synthesis of Spiro[indoline-3,4'-pyrazolo[4',3':5,6]pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidines] in Water through a Novel One-pot Multicomponent Reaction

Subarna Jyoti Kalita, Bidyut Das and Dibakar Chandra Deka

ChemistrySelect (Wiley-VCH) 2017, 2, 5701 – 5706.

5. L-Proline-Catalysed One-Pot Regio- and Diastereoselective Synthesis of Spiro[2,3-d]pyrimidin-2-amines-6,5'-pyrimidines] in Water

Subarna Jyoti Kalita, Bidyut Das and Dibakar Chandra Deka

SynOpen 2017, 1, 45-49.

6. An Expeditious Synthesis of 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones in Aqueous Medium Using Thiamine Hydrochloride (VB1) as a Mild, Efficient and Reusable Organocatalyst

Jutika Devi, Subarna J. Kalita & Dibakar Chandra Deka

Synthetic Communications 2017, 47(17), 1601–1609 (online 8 June 2017) DOI: 10.1080/00397911.2017.1337149

7. Evaluation of Anticancer and Antimicrobial Activity of Arborinine from Glycosmis pentaphylla

Moon Moon Das & Dibakar Chandra Deka

Journal of Biologically Active Products from Nature, 2017, 7(2), 131-139, DOI: 10.1080/22311866.2017.1329666

8. Single crystal X-ray diffraction in structure elucidation of arborinine from Glycosmis pentaphylla

Moon Moon Das, Dibakar Chandra Deka* and Ranjit Thakuria

The Natural Products Journal, 2017, 7, 1-7.

9. Metal profile of traditional alcoholic beverages prepared by the ethnic communities of Assam, India

Pranami Handique, Anamika Kalita Deka and Dibakar Chandra Deka*

Journal of the Institute of Brewing 2017, 123(2), 289-295.

10. A new, convenient and expeditious synthesis of 4-alkyl-5-methyl-1H-pyrazol-3-ols in water through a multicomponent reaction

Subarna Jyoti Kalita, Rajarshi Bayan, Jutika Devi, Sanfaori Brahma, Hormi Mecadon, Dibakar Chandra Deka*

Tetrahedron Letters, 2017, 58, 566-569.

Awards & Honours

1.      Elected President of All India Association of Chemistry Teachers for 3 years (Jan 2017 to Dec 2019).

2.      Awarded FRSC by the Royal Society of Chemistry in Sep 2016.

3.      UNESCO Research Fellow in Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo for one year (Oct 1989 to Sep 1990).

4.      Commonwealth Visiting Fellow in the University of Manchester, UK for one year (Oct 1997 to Sep 1998).

5.      First D.Sc. in Chemistry awarded by Gauhati University (awarded March 2012).

6.      Organizing Committee Member, Global Conference in Catalysis, Las Vegas, USA, October 2017.

7.      Member, The Research Board of Advisors, The American Biographical Institute, USA.

8.      Bharat Jyoti Award by India International Friendship Society, New Delhi (2016).

9.      Leading Educationist Award by Friendship Forum of India, New Delhi (2018).

 For conversation with Rajya Sabha TV (Eureka Video) please link to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5D8JWC6K_8

Ph.D. awarded

1.         Dr. Bhaskar Kumar Choudhury (1999)

2.         Dr. Ruli Borah (2000)

3.              Dr. Naba Jyoti Deka (2001)

4.              Dr. Hari Sankar Kakati (2004)

5.              Dr. Biswajit Purkayastha (2004)

6.              Dr. Diganta Kumar Choudhury (2007)

7.              Dr. Nripendra Nath Talukdar (2008) 

8.              Dr. Maumita Paul (2008)

9.              Dr. Pankaj Kalita (2012)

10.           Dr. Kumari Sukanya (2012)

11.           Dr. Dhiresh Chakraborty (2012)

12.           Dr. Sanjay Basumatary (2012)

13.           Dr. Tiluttama Mudoi (2012)

14.           Dr. Vimal Kumar (2012)

15.           Dr. Monmi Saikia (2014)

16.           Dr. Pankaj Saikia (2014)  

17.           Dr. Satya Ranjan Neog (2014)

18.           Dr. Swarnali Pathak (2014)

19.           Dr. Kajal Dutta (2014)

20.           Dr. Abdul Halim Shah (2015)

21.           Dr. Priyanka Baruah (2015)

22.           Dr. Pranita Das (2017)

23.           Dr. Mostafa Momin (2017)

24.       Dr. Subarna Jyoti Kalita (2017)

25.       Dr. Pranami Handique (2018)

26.        Dr. Moon Moon Das (2019)

27.        Dr. Anjumani Talukdar (2019)

28.        Dr. Anamika Kalita Deka (2019)

 Presently Working:

1.   Mr. Diganta Sarma

2.   Ms. Jutika Devi

3.   Md. Yunus Sheikh

4.   Ms. Gitashree Choudhury

5.   Mr. Bhaskar Jyoti Bhattacharya

6.   Ms. Nilakhy Saikia

7.   Ms. Bandana Singha

8.   Ms. Manalee Paul (Botany, Co-guidance)

9.   Ms. Sneha Dey (Botany, Co-guidance)