Chemistry, Madurai Kamaraj University, India, 2003
M. Sci., Madurai Kamaraj University, India, 2005
Ph.D., CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute, India, 2010
Postdoc., PSL Research University, France, 2012
Postdoc., Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, 2014
Chandrasekar Praveen graduated his Bachelors and Masters in chemistry from the Madurai Kamaraj University (India) on 2003 and 2005 respectively. Immediately, he was placed in Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals (R & D centre), India as a research trainee, where he was engaged in the process development of cephalosporin antibiotics. In 2006, he joined the group of Dr. P. T. Perumal at the CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute, India. Here, his work spanned on late-stage transition metal catalysed cyclization for the synthesis of bioactive heterocycles with a dissertation on ‘‘Synthesis of heterocycles by activation of alkynes tethered nucleophiles catalysed by gold salts.’’ After completing his PhD in 2010, he immediately joined the same institute as a research associate for the feasibility studies on pyrethroid-based agrochemicals. In 2011, he moved to Paris, France for his postdoctoral research at PSL Research University. Here, he worked with Prof. Véronique Michelet and Prof. Virginie-Ratovelomanana Vidal on the enantioselective metallo-organocatalysis for the chiral synthesis of hetero-/carbocycles till 2012. From 2013 to 2014, he worked as a CNRS-Post Doctoral Associate in Prof. Jean-Manuel Raimundo’s laboratory at Aix-Marseille University, Marseille. During this phase, he worked on optoelectronic chromophores for molecular device applications by collaborating with other French institutes like Université de Toulon, Université Paris-Saclay, Ecole Polytechnique and Universite de Pau et des Pays de lAdour. On his return to India in 2015, he started his independent career at CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute. On his sabbatical (2022-2024), he briefly joined the groups of Prof. Carsten Bolm (RWTH-Aachen University, Germany), Prof. Slawomir Szafert (University of Wrocław, Poland) and Dr. Dragos Neagu (University of Strathclyde, Scotland). Presently, he is a visiting researcher at the University of São Paulo sponsored by FAPESP for collaborative activities with Prof. Giuliano Clososki. His research interests are catalytic approaches, donor-acceptor chromophores, and sustainable chemical technologies.
Postdoc Project: Praveen is currently working on developing gold catalysed cyclization approaches for the synthesis of quinolinyl heterocycles. In particular, he is keen on including green and sustainability values in his approach by taking advantage of microwave chemistry. On an application side, formal synthesis of natural products and drug candidates are foreseen in his project. Another objective of his project is the neuropharmacological screening of synthesized molecules for GABAA inhibition by collaborating with other faculties in USP. He is also serving as a joined supervisor for one Master thesis on the metal catalysed cyclization of indolizinyl-alkynes for the generation of hybrid heterocycles.