Debobrata Sheet

Assistant Professor

B.Sc. Chemistry (Hons), Jadavpur University, India, (2005-2008).

M. Sc. Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India, (2008-2010).

Ph.D. Chemistry, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Jadavpur University, India, (2010-2016).

Post-doctoral research. Institute of Condensed Matter and Nanosciences, Universite catholique de Louvain (IMCN/UCL), Belgium, 18 months BELSPO post doctoral Fellowship, (Feb, 2017- Aug, 2018).

I did my Ph.D from Indian Association for Cultivation of Science, under the supervision of Prof. Tapan Kanti Paine. My doctoral research title was, "Nonheme Iron Complexes for Bioinspired Oxidations with Dioxygen: Enhanced Reactivity through Immobilization on Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles". During this period I was engaged in developing functional models of Nonheme iron(II) enzymes for oxidation reactions. A part of my work also involved immobilization of these functional models on gold nanoparticles for catalytic selective oxidation reactions.

Then I moved to Belgium at the Universite catholique de Louvain (IMCN/UCL), for my post-doctoral research after receiving BELSPO postdoctoral Fellowship (18 months). Here I worked with Prof. Sophie Hermans and Prof. Olivier Riant. The work involved functionalization of carbon nanotubes for developing (organometallic/bio-inspired) catalysts with higher density of functional sites.

My research theme has been on designing molecular catalyst for mimicking the activities of some selected Non heme Iron enzymes. I have further developed some coordination complexes of 1st row transition metals. Another part of my core area is to immobilized molecular complexes on solid nanostructured support for developing heterogenous catalyst for organic transformation.

Now, our group is working on to develop heterogeneous photocatalyst for organic transformation and water remediation process.

UG Courses:

Atomic Structure

Industrilaly important inorganic chemical compounds

s & p block chemistry

Spectroscopic Techniques such as FTIR, UV, TGA

PG Courses:

Principle of symmetry in Chemistry and Group Theory

Inorganic Rings, Cages & Clusters

Nanochemistry 

Students interested to work in the field of heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis, photocatalysis and bio-inorganic chemsitry may contact me or apply through University portal for Ph.D positions (when notified).

Our Lab is well equipped with synthetic inorganic and organic chemistry. We work on desiging molecular metal complexes, hybrid and immobilized catalyst and use them in organic transformation and enivironmental remediation processes.

Lab instruments: Rotary Evaporator, Centrifuge, Hot Air Oven, Ultrasonic Bath, Weighing Balance, Photocatalytic Reacter, Gas Chromatography (GC-SCION), High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC-Scion).

Email: debobrata.chem@presiuniv.ac.in

11. Iron (ii)-α-keto acid complexes of tridentate ligands on gold nanoparticles: the effect of ligand geometry and immobilization on their dioxygen-dependent reactivity. A Bera, D Sheet, TK Paine*. Dalton Transactions, 2023, 52 (4), 1062-1073

10. "Nickel complexes of ligands derived from (o-hydroxyphenyl) dichalcogenide: delocalised redox states of nickel and o-chalcogenophenolate ligands". S. Banerjee, D. Sheet, S. Sarkar, P. Halder, T. K. Paine* . Dalton Trans; 2019, 48, 17355-17363, Impact Factor (2018) = 4.052

9.  “Carbon-Nanotube-Appended PAMAM Dendrimers Bearing Iron(II) α-Keto Acid Complexes: Catalytic Non Heme Oxygenase Models.” D. Sheet, A. Bera, Y. Fu, A. Desmecht, O. Riant*, S. Hermans*, Chem.- Eur. J. 2019, 25, 9191 – 9196, Impact Factor (2018) = 5.160

8.  “Oxidizing Ability of a Dioxygen-Activating Nonheme Iron(II)-Benzilate Complex Immobilized on Gold Nanoparticles.” D. Sheet, A. Bera, R. D. Jana, T. K. Paine*, Inorg. Chem. 2019, 58, 4828-4841, Impact Factor (2018) = 4.850

7. “Covalent Grafting of BPin functions on Carbon Nanotubes and Chan-Lam-Evans Post-Functionalization.” A. Desmecht, D. Sheet, C. Poleunis, S. Hermans*, O. Riant*, Chem.- Eur. J. 2019, 25, 1436-1440; Impact Factor (2018) = 5.160

6.  “Aliphatic C-H Bond Halogenation by Iron(II)-α-Keto Acid Complexes and O2: Functional Mimicking of Nonheme Iron Halogenases.”, R. D. Jana, D. Sheet, S. Chatterjee, T. K. Paine*, Inorg. Chem. 2018, 57, 8769-8777; Impact Factor (2018) = 4.850

5.  “Aerobic Alcohol Oxidation and Oxygen Atom Transfer Reactions Catalyzed by a Nonheme Iron(II)-α-Keto Acid Complex.” D. Sheet, T. K. Paine*, Chem. Sci. 2016, 7, 5322-5331. Impact Factor (2018) = 9.556

4.  “Dioxygen Activation and Two Consecutive Oxidative Decarboxylations of Phenylpyruvate by Iron(II) Complexes: Functional Models of Hydroxymandelate Synthase (HMS) and CloR.”, D. Sheet, T. K. Paine*, Chem. Commun. 2015, 51, 7681-7684; Impact Factor (2018) = 6.164

3.  “Enhanced Reactivity of a Biomimetic Iron(II)-α-Keto acid Complex through Immobilization on Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles.” D. Sheet, P. Halder, T. K. Paine*, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 13314-13318. Impact Factor (2018) = 12.257

2.  “Catalytic and RegiospecificExtradiol Cleavage of Catechol by a Biomimetic Iron Complex.” S. Chatterjee, D. Sheet, T. K. Paine*, Chem. Commun. 2013, 49, 10251-10253. Impact Factor (2018) = 6.164

1.   “Iron(II)-Mediated Reductive Cleavage of Disulfide and Diselenide Bonds: Iron(III) Complexes of Mixed O, X, O and O, X (X = S, Se) Donor Ligands.”, T. K. Paine*, D. Sheet, T. Weyhermüller, P. Chaudhuri*,  Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2011, 5250-5257; Impact Factor (2018) = 2.578