Dr. Rajesh Kunjanpillai
Rajesh Kunjanpillai completed his schooling from GHS Kizhakkupuram, Enathu and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV), Pathanamthitta. He completed his undergraduate studies in Chemistry at St. Stephen’s College, Pathanapuram, in 2001. He obtained a B. Ed. Degree in Physical Science from MGUCTE, Pathanamthitta in 2003 after which he did his post-graduation in Chemical Sciences from the Department of Chemistry, Pondicherry Central University in 2005. He also cleared UGC CSIR (JRF-NET) and GATE. After his M. Sc., he got a selection as Research Associate in Shasun Research Centre (presently Strides Pharma Science Ltd), a Public Ltd pharmaceutical company in Chennai where he was actively engaged in drugs research, under the guidance of Dr. K. K. Balasubramanian, former Professor of IIT Madras. In 2006, he was promoted to Research & Development Officer at Shasun and garnered experience in pharma pilot plants. After more than 3 years of industrial experience, he joined as a Senior Research Fellow under Prof. Irishi N. N. Namboothiri, Department of Chemistry, IIT Bombay. In 2009, with a Ph.D. scholarship from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), he moved to the University of Zürich, Switzerland (Nobel Laureates from the University of Zürich), where he was awarded his Doctoral Degree (D. Sc.) in late 2013, under the supervision of Prof. Heinz Berke. The title of his doctoral thesis was “Homogeneous Hydrogenations and Related Reductive Reactions Catalyzed by Rhenium Complexes.” He is also a recipient of the Swiss Chemical Society/Swiss Academy of Sciences Chemistry Travel Award 2012. In 2014, he joined as an Adjunct Faculty in IIRBS, M. G. University Kottayam, but later that year moved to IIT Bombay as an Institute Post-Doctoral Research Fellow.
Dr. Kunjanpillai was awarded the DST-SERB Govt. of India Young Scientist Fellowship and in July 2015, he joined as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, St. Albert’s College, Ernakulam. He has been serving as a visiting faculty, IIRBS, M. G. University since 2016. Dr. Kunjanpillai successfully completed a 3 year SERB research project and supervised a project assistant during that time. With the support from SERB and the Management of St. Albert’s College, Dr. Kunjanpillai set up a research laboratory with provisions for doing air and moisture sensitive reactions to a certain extent. He was recognized as a research guide by M. G. University, Kottayam in 2019. He is currently supervising three Ph.D. students. Dr. Kunjanpillai has more than 17 years of research experience and has published many research articles in reputed international journals. Notable work in his research include the nuclear bromination of deactivated aromatics using NBS. He has also developed a versatile strategy for the Claisen-Tishchenko reaction. Both the reactions are part of the UG and PG Chemistry Syllabus of universities/institutes in many parts of the world. His research interest includes organic synthesis, organometallics and homogeneous catalysis, activation of small molecules, developing atom economic and greener strategies for chemical synthesis etc.
During 2016-20, he had been serving as Secretary, Office of the Dean, Research and was the in-charge of the DST-FIST Facility of the College. Since 2020, he has been serving as the Dean, Research, & Academic Council member of the college.
Other Subjects of Interest
RK’s interest extends to gather theories and knowledge with regard to the origin and fate of the universe, evolution of life on earth, anthropology etc.
Interest is also keen in exploring the Vedic, Maurya, Sangam and the Vijayanagara literature, art and science.
Other than these, Carnatic music (both vocal and instrumental) is also a subject of interest.