Professional Experience

  • 2024- Current - Professor (AcSIR) & Chief Scientist (G), National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India
  • 2019- 2024 - Professor (AcSIR) & Senior Principal Scientist, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India
  • 2015- 2019 Associate Professor (AcSIR) & Principal Scientist, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India
  • 2012- 2015 Assistant Professor (AcSIR) & Senior scientist, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India
  • 2011-2012 Alexander von Humboldt Fellow (with Prof. Dr. Stefan Mecking), University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
  • 2008-2011 Dutch Polymer Institute Post-doctoral Fellow (with Prof. Dr. Joost Reek), University of Amsterdam, Netherlands 
  • 2003-2008 Ph. D. student (with Prof. Dr. Dietrich Gudat) University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany 

 

Research Experience:

Ph. D. (2003-2007): University of Stuttgart, Germany

  • Established a single step synthesis of supramolecular catechol-phosphine ligands.
  • Demonstrated the self-assembly above ligands that produce bimetallic complexes.
  • Developed a C-C coupling reaction using self-assembled bimetallic complexes

 

University of Amsterdam (2008-2011), The Netherlands

  • Achieved two step synthesis of a hybrid ligand.
  • Demonstrated its implications in asymmetric hydroformylation
  • Developed a new strategy in supramolecular hydroformylation
  • Developed cyclic olefinic monomers from sugars

 

University of Konstanz (2011-2012), Germany

  • Revealed the synthesis of acetal monomers.
  • Established the synthesis of Neutral-palladium complexes
  • Achieved functional olefin polymerization

 

Awards and Honors

·   Fellow of Maharashtra Academy of Science-2024

·   “Scientist of the Year Award 2021-2022”, by NCL-RF, above 40 Years category

·  10th National award for technology innovation in the field of petrochemicals and downstream plastic processing industry, under the category of “Innovation in Polymeric Materials” 2019-2020. Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India.

·   Professor Kaushal Kishore Memorial Award 2019-2020 by Society of Polymer Science, India (SPSI).

  • Alexander von Humboldt short stay award 2019 by Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany.
  • “Scientist of the Year Award 2016-2017”, NCL-RF, under 40 Years category
  • “Young Associate” Maharashtra Academy of Science, 2017
  • “Outstanding Reviewer Award 2015” by Wiley VCH, Weinheim, Germany
  • Best Scientist award 2014 (by North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon) GOLD-CT-2014
  • Ramanujan Fellow (SR/S2/RJN-11/2012 (2013-2018))-DST, Govt. of India
  • Alexander von Humboldt Fellow-Germany (2011-2012)
  • DPI (Dutch Polymer Institute) Postdoctoral Fellow-Netherlands (2008-2011)
  • Summer Fellow, Indian Academy of Science, Bangalore-India (2001)

 

Conference convener/Editor/Board Member:

· Associate Editor: Bulletin of Materials Science (Springer-IASc): From 1st Jan. 2023 till date . (https://www.springer.com/journal/12034/editors) 

· Conference Co-convener, CFPSS- 2025, an international conference titled 3rd International Confernce on “Chemistry for the Future: Poineering Sustainable Solutions” to be held on 7-8 March 2025 at PAH Solapur University, Solapur, MH. 

· Conference Co-convener, SPSI-MACRO-2022, an international conference in polymer science and engineering held 2-4 Nov. 2022. (https://spsi-macro-2022.org/) 

· Magazine Interview: Plexconnect, 23rd Edition, May 2021, Page 8-11. Plexconnect is a magazine published by Plexconcil (Plastic Export Promotion Council, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India). Link: https://issuu.com/plexconnect/docs/plexconnect_-_edition_23  

· Conference Coordinator: Advances in Polymer Science, Organized by Polymer Science and Engineering Division, CSIR-NCL, in association with SPSI Pune Chapter, 7-8 June, 2019. (Link: http://spsi.co.in/pune/)

· Guest-Editor: Journal of Chemical Sciences, 2018, Volume 130, Issue 7 (https://www.ias.ac.in/listing/articles/jcsc/130/07). This journal is managed by Indian Academy of Science and is published by Springer Nature group.

· Conference Co-convener: MTIC-XVII, 2017 (Modern Trends in Inorganic Chemistry), an international conference. (https://www.ias.ac.in/listing/articles/jcsc/130/07)

· Central Advisory Board: (CAB) Member, Refining and Petrochemicals, ChemTech Foundation, Mumbai (2016-2022)

  • DST-SERB Co-opted member of the Expert Committee for Chemical Sciences
  • SPM fellowship: CSIR-HRDG, committee member
  • Assessment and screening  committee member (HPCL, CSIR labs, etc.)

 

Professional affiliations:

  • Member of Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC No. 548849)
  • Member of American Chemical Society (ACS ).
  • Life member: Society of Polymer Science, India
  • Life member: CRSI
  • Alumina: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany
  • Member of Humboldt Academy, Pune.   

Reviewer

  • Journal of the American Chemical Society
  • Nature Communication
  • Chemistry A European Journal
  • Inorganic Chemistry
  • Macromolecules
  • Polymer Chemistry
  • European Polymer Journal
  • The Journal of Organic Chemistry
  • Chemical Communication
  • Green Chemistry
  • ChemCatChem
  • Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry
  • Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
  • Journal of Applied Polymer Science 
  • RSC Advances

 

Selected Publications

  • Ganeshdev Padhi#, Kishor V. Khopade#, Nageswararao Moyilla, Raghavendrakumar Rangappa, Samir H. Chikkali* And Nagaraju Barsu*, Ruthenium-Catalyzed Deconstruction of Polyolefins: A Strategy to Up-cycle Waste Polyethylene to Value-Added Alkene, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., , e202422609 (2025), DOI:10.1002/anie.202422609 (# GP and KVK contributed equally). 
  • Kishor V. Khopade, Nikhita S. Rajput, Raghavendrakumar Rangappa, Nagaraju Barsu* And Samir H. Chikkali*, Depolymerization of Waste Polyethylene to Linear Alkenes via Sequential Dehydrogenation and Metathesis, Green Chem., , (2024), DOI:10.1039/D4GC03646H.
  • Amol C. Chandanshive, Rajesh G. Gonnade And Samir H. Chikkali*, Thermally Stable P-Chiral Supramolecular Phosphines, their Self-Assembly and Implication in Rh-Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydrogenation, Chem. Eur. J., 30, e202401077 (2024), DOI:10.1002/chem.202401077.
  • Anirban Sen, Tanuja Tewari, Rohit Kumar, C. P. Vinod, Himanshu Sharma, Kumar Vanka And Samir H. Chikkali*, Iron-catalyzed (E)-selective hydrosilylation of alkynes: Scope and mechanistic insights, Catal. Sci. Technol., 14, 2752 - 2760 (2024), DOI:10.1039/D3CY01775C.
  • Rajkumar S. Birajdar, Rajesh G. Gonnade And Samir H. Chikkali*, Regulating the polyethylene microstructure by increasing steric crowding in naphthoxy imine ligated Ni(II) complexes, Polym. Chem., 15, 292 - 302 (2024), DOI:10.1039/D3PY01010D
  • Tanuja Tewari, Rohit Kumar And Samir H. Chikkali*, Iron-Catalyzed Magnesium-Mediated Formal Hydroformylation of Alkynes and Alkenes, ChemCatChem., 15, e202201394 (2023), DOI:10.1002/cctc.202201394
  • Swechchha Pandey, K. Vipin Raj, Dinesh Shinde, Kumar Vanka, Varchaswal Kashyap, Sreekumar Kurungot, Chathakudath Vinod And Samir Chikkali*, Iron Catalyzed Hydroformylation of Alkenes under Mild Conditions: Evidence of an Fe(II) Catalyzed Process, J. Am. Chem. Soc., , (2018), DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b01286.
  • K. Patel, Satej Deshmukh, Dnyaneshwar Bodkhe, Manoj Maneb, Kumar Vankab, Dinesh Shindec, Pattuparambil R. Rajamohananc, Shyamapada Nandid, Ramanathan Vaidhyanath And Samir H. Chikkali*, Secondary Interactions Arrest the Hemiaminal Intermediate to Invert the Modus Operandi of Schiff Base Reaction: A Route to Benzoxazinones, J. Org. Chem., , (2017), DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.7b00352.
  • V. S. Koshti, S. Thorat, R. G. Gonnade And S. H. Chikkali*, The impact of modular substitution on crystal packing: The tail of two urea's, CrystEngCommun., 18 (2016), 7078-7094. 
  • B. S. Rajput, U. Chander, K. Arole, F. Stempfle, S. Menon, S. Mecking And S. H. Chikkali*, Synthesis of Renewable Copolyacetals with Tunable Degradation, Macromol. Chem. Phys., (2016), DOI:10.1002/macp.201600071
  • Swechchha Pandey And S. H. Chikkali*, Highly regioselective isomerizing hydroformylation of long-chain internal olefins catalyzed by rhodium bis-phosphite complex, ChemCatChem., 7(2015), 3468 - 3471.
  • Shahaji Gaikwad, Satej Deshmukh, Rajesh Gonnade, P. R. Rajamohanan And Samir H. Chikkali*, Insertion Copolymerization of Di-functional Polar Vinyl Monomers with Ethylene, ACS Macro Lett., 4 (2015), 933 - 937.
  • Vijay S. Koshti, Nilesh R. Mote, Rajesh G. Gonnade And Samir H. Chikkali*, Highly Enantioselective Pd-Catalyzed Synthesis of p-Stereogenic Supramolecular Phosphines, Self-assembly, and Implication, Organometallics., 34 (2015), 4802 - 4805.
  • B. S. Rajput, S. R. Gaikwad, S. K. Menon, Samir H. Chikkali*, Sustainable polyacetals from isohexides, Green Chem. 16 (2014) 3810-3818.
  • Vijay Koshti, Shahaji Gaikwad, Samir H. Chikkali*, Contemporary avenues in catalytic P-H bond addition reaction: A case study of hydrophosphination, Coord. Chem. Rev. 265 (2014) 52-73.
  • Samir H. Chikkali*, Jarl I. van der Vlugt*, Joost N. H. Reek*, Hybrid Diphosphorus Ligands in Rhodium Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydroformylation, Coord. Chem. Rev. 262 (2014) 1-15.
  • Shahaji Gaikwad, Satej Deshmukh, Samir H. Chikkali*, Pd-Phosphinesulfonate Bravely Battles the "Vinyl Halide Insertion Copolymerization" Barricade, J. Polym. Sci. Part A: Polym. Chem. 52 (2014) 1-6. DOI: 10.1002/pola.26968.
  • Samir Chikkali, Florian Stempfle, Stefan Mecking, Long-chain Polyacetals from Plant Oils, Macromol. Rapid Commun. 33 (2012) 1126-1129
  • Samir Chikkali, Rosalba Bellini, Bas de Bruin, J. I. van der Vlugt, Joost, N. H. Reek, Highly Selective Asymmetric Rh-catalyzed Hydroformylation of Heterocyclic Olefins, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134 (2012) 6607-6616
  • R. Bellini, S. Chikkali, G. Berthon, J. N. H. Reek, Supramolecular Control of Ligand Coordination and Implications in Hydroformylation Reactions, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 50 (2011) 7342-7345
  •  S. Chikkali, M. Nieger, D. Gudat, Stoichiometry Controlled Self-assembly of Tri- and Octa-nuclear Palladium-Yttrium Complexes, New J. Chem. 34 (2010) 1348-1354 
  • S. H. Chikkali, R. Bellini, G. Berthon, J. I. van der Vlugt, B. De Bruin, J. N. H. Reek, Highly enantioselective hydroformylation of dihydrofurans catalyzed by hybrid phosphine phosphonite-rhodium complexes, Chem. Commun. 46 (2010) 1244-1246
  • S. Chikkali, D. Gudat, F. Lissner, M. Niemeyer, T. Schleid, M. Nieger, Template controlled assembly of ditopic catechol phosphines: A strategy for the generation of complexes of bidentate phosphines with different bite angles Chem. Eur. J. 15 (2009) 482-491