Personal Information:

Born in Pune, Maharashtra in 1965.

Education:

B.Sc. 1985; M.Sc. 1987 (M.S. University of Baroda, Vadodara)
Ph.D. 1993 (Malti-Chem Research Centre, Nandesari/M.S. University of Baroda; Research Supervisor: Dr Raghavan Soman).

Post Doctoral Research:

  Kyoto University, Uji, Japan (Prof Kaoru Fuji, Monbusho Fellow, 1994-95)
   Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden (Prof Pher Andersson, 1995-1996)
   University of Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan (Prof Kiyoshi Tanaka, JSPS Fellow, 2000-2001)

Research Positions:

  Pool Officer, CSIR (National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, 1997-1999)
  Scientist Fellow, CSIR (Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute, Bhavnagar, 2002-03)
  Visiting Scientist (R & D centre of Takasago Corporation, Hiratsuka, Tokyo, 2003-2005)
   Reader / Associate Professor (Department of Chemistry, M.S. University of Baroda, 2005 onwards)
   Present position : Professor (from December 2011)

Family:

Married to Dr Beena , currently teaching chemistry at St. Kabir School, Vadodara, Ph.D. in conducting polymers from M.S. University, currently pursuing B. Ed. from IGNOU.
Daughter, Sawani , class 11th science, Delhi Public School, Kalali, Vadodara; writes excellent poems and short stories.
Father: Prof V H Bedekar, renowned Museologist. Mother: Usha Bedekar, house maker, loves Indian classical music and enjoys cooking.

Hobbies:

Painting, digital prints, reading (science, evolution, origin of life, humor etc.), watching cricket, chess, listening to Indian classical music etc.

Research Interests:

• “Molecular Architecture” : Architecture is design and construction of structures with aesthetic appeal and functional utility. Our interest in molecular architecture extends this towards preparation of molecules with fascinating structures as well as synthetic utility. Synthesis of HELICAL and ATROPISOMERIC compounds of novel shape and size is one of our objectives. Moreover, these molecules are chiral in nature and it is our endeavor to access them in enantiomerically pure form for further applications in areas such as catalysis, material science and hopefully in medicine.
• “Asymmetric Synthesis” : In this contemporary area we are involved in design and preparation of chiral molecules for asymmetric synthesis and catalysis. A series of chiral amino oxazolines, aminomethyl naphthols, cyclohexyl alcohols, roof-shaped amines etc. are being prepared and investigated for chiral chemistry. Some of the novel chiral derivatives are also being screened for resolution of peaks of racemic compounds in NMR analysis. These types of Chiral Solvating Agents (CSA) work on the basis of supramolecular interactions.
• “Organocatalysis” : Some of the chiral molecules synthesized are being tested as organocatalysts for aldol and Henry reaction with good to excellent enantioselectivity.
• “Bio-catalysis” : Use of biomaterials such as enzymes to bring about chemical conversions with high degree of selectivity interests us. We are using these environmentally compatible systems to access chirally pure molecules and then studying their new applications.
• “One-Pot synthesis” : Performing more than one chemical transformation in a single chemical reaction has many advantages, such as reduction of work-up steps, eliminates the need to isolate the labile intermediates, saves chemicals and time etc. Recently we have explored many such strategies to build important compounds by adopting multistep processes in one-pot method.
• “Green Synthesis and Sunlight Mediated Chemistry” : The geographical location of Gujarat gives us ample Sunlight. For last few years we are exploring several important chemical reactions under the influence of solar radiation. The simplicity of reaction setup and literally free energy supply makes the process environment friendly. We have explored several reactions such as palladium catalyzed Mizoroki-Heck, Suzuki-Miyaura and Sonogashira reaction with great deal of success under the photothermal reaction conditions. Currently, we are extending the application of Sunlight in more useful reactions.
• “Synthesis of conjugated molecules” : Molecules with conjugation have fascinating prospects, basically due to the movement of electrons across the length of the molecular structure. We are involved in the synthesis of many such molecules and study their applications by exploiting their electrical and optical properties.