Ruthenium based organometallic catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation: a decade update
Debashis Chakraborty*, Rima Das*
Inorg. Chim.Acta 2026, 597, 123154.
Department of Chemistry · IIT Madras
Organometallics for a post-petroleum polymer economy.
We design organometallic and metal-free catalysts that convert cyclic esters, epoxides and captured CO2 into biodegradable, recyclable polymers — and we train the chemists who will scale them.
Principal Investigator
0Publications
0Patents
0Ph.D. guided
0Funded projects
The problem we work on
Plastics that do not outlive their purpose.
Petroleum-derived plastics persist for centuries and carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere. Our group treats both as a single catalysis problem: build the metal center and ligand environment precisely enough, and waste streams become feedstocks.
01
Ring-Opening Polymerization
Transition-metal organometallics and simple metal salts as catalysts for the ROP of cyclic esters and lactides, resolving how ancillary ligands on the metal center govern polymerization behavior and tacticity.
Read more 02Metal-Free Catalysis
Phosphorus(V) compounds as metal-free initiators for cyclic ester and lactide polymerization — removing metal residues from biomedical-grade polyesters.
Read more 03CO2 Sequestration & Utilization
Ring-opening copolymerization of epoxides with CO2 and with cyclic anhydrides, converting a waste greenhouse gas into aliphatic polycarbonates.
Read more 04Olefin Polymerization
Design and synthesis of new non-metallocene pre-catalysts for olefin polymerization, extending control over polymer architecture.
Read more 05Wealth From Waste
L/D-lactide recovered from bio-derived lactic acid sourced from food waste, closing the loop between waste streams and biodegradable plastics.
Read more 06Biodegradable Polymers in Medicine
Polyester carriers and biogenic metal nanoparticles developed for drug delivery, in collaboration with biotechnology groups.
Read more
Inside the laboratory
Synthesis, characterization, and the slow work of control.
Air-sensitive organometallic synthesis, polymerization kinetics and full structural characterization, carried out in the Department of Chemistry at IIT Madras.
From the bench
Watch the chemistry happen.
Poly(cyclohexene carbonate) forming by the ring-opening copolymerization of cyclohexene oxide with carbon dioxide — the reaction at the center of our CO2 utilization work.
PCHC synthesis
Recorded in the group's laboratory at the Department of Chemistry, IIT Madras. Carbon dioxide, an abundant and non-toxic C1 feedstock, becomes the backbone of an aliphatic polycarbonate.
Recent work
Latest from the group.
Chiral Proline-derived Zn(II) Complexes as Catalysts for Ring-Opening Polymerization and Ring-Opening Copolymerization Reactions
Ranay Kumar Ray , Manoj Kumari , Kartik Chandra Mondal*, Debashis Chakraborty*
Polym. Chem. 2026, 17, 758-769.
Efficient and Controlled Ring-Opening Copolymerization of Cyclohexene Oxide with Cyclic Anhydrides Catalyzed by Proline-based Chiral Alkyl Al(III) Compounds
Ranay Kumar Ray, P. K. Sudhadevi Antharjanam, Debashis Chakraborty*
Faraday Discuss, 2026, 262, 191–211.
Salen Derivatives of Zr(IV) as Efficient Catalysts for the Ring-Opening Copolymerization of Epoxides with Anhydrides
Sathish Thanigachalam, Ranay Kumar Ray, Madhvesh Pathak*, Debashis Chakraborty*
Eur. J. Inorg Chem. 2026, 0, e202500510.
Join the group.
We take doctoral and master's students with a background in inorganic, organometallic or polymer chemistry, and welcome collaboration on catalysis for sustainable materials.