Designation: Professor, Department of Chemistry
Position: Head, Centre for Nanotechnology
Member: INYAS-INSA
Fellow: Indian Chemical Society
Tel: +91-3612583479 (O), +91-3612583051 (O)
Email: akshaikumar@iitg.ac.in, akshaikumara@gmail.com
Akshai Kumar hails from Mangalore. He obtained his B.Sc. in 2002 from Mangalore University. Akshai Kumar is a M.Sc. in inorganic chemistry from Mangalore University and a PhD in Coordination and Organometallic Chemistry from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, After Post-doctoral stints in Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, and at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, US in 2015, he was appointed as Assistant Professor in Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. Subsequently, he served as Associate Professor from 2021 before being appointed as Professor in 2026. Currently, in addition to Professor in Chemistry, he is the Head, Centre for Nanotechnology at IIT Guwahati.
He utilizes his expertise in catalysis (heterogeneous and homogeneous), organometallics and organofluorine chemistry to bring about; (i) Upgradation of light hydrocarbons and their derivatives to fuel grade chemicals. (ii) Utilization of petrochemicals and alkanes to generate aromatics. (iii) Biomass conversion and transformation of waste biomass to value–added fine chemicals (iv) Greenhouse gas to fuels and fine chemicals (v) Synthesis of heteroatom and fluorine doped π-conjugated molecules for material applications (vi) Asymmetric catalysis. The targets are achieved via pincer−metal-catalyzed C−H and C−F activation reactions for the synthesis of fuel chemicals and heteroatom-doped π-conjugated organic materials.
Learn MoreProf. Akshai Kumar has about 21 years of experience in the area of organometallic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, homogeneous catalysis, and heterogenization of molecular catalysts. He has authored 70 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, including one in Chemical Reviews (Impact Factor = 54.301), in addition to 6 book chapters, 4 US patents (granted), 5 INDIAN patent (granted), 5 US patents (filed), and 5 INDIAN patents (filed). He has extensive experience in utilizing organometallic compounds for homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis.
He is a member of Indian Young Academy of Science, Member of Bureau of Indian Standards, and fellow of the Indian Chemical Society. He is a Core member of CO2 India Network: Society for CO₂ Research and Innovation (SCRI) https://www.co2india.org/. From January 2025, he is a PAC member, Prime Minister’s Early Career Research Grant and National Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Anusandhan National Research Foundation, New Delhi. He is also a chairperson of the Special Evaluation Committee of NIRAMAYA (Northeast Incubator for Rapid Acceleration of Medical and Allied Innovations) Program under AAHII & BioNEST Incubator.
Prof. Akshai Kumar Alape Seetharam
Professor, Department of Chemistry
Head, Centre for Nanotechnology
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, INDIA
Tel: +91-3612583479 (O), +91-3612583051 (O)
Email: akshaikumar@iitg.ac.in, akshaikumara@gmail.com
Department of Chemistry, IIT Guwahati
+91-361-2583479 (O), +91-361-2583051 (O)
Email: akshaikumar@iitg.ac.in
Fax: +91-361-2582349
