National Conference on Green and Sustainable Chemistry takes off at BITS Pilani

Feb. 20, 2010 - PRLog -- The significance of this conference will be evident if one recalls the well known quote "It is not important if you can predict the future or not, it is important that you are prepared for the future".

Green and sustainable chemistry is an important interdisciplinary area of innovation aimed at conservation of natural resources and the protection of environment. Sustainable development has become the accepted goal of governments, industry, and the public. The focus of the conference is on the role of Green Chemistry in sustainable development and on specific innovations and technical aspects that are bringing us closer to a sustainable development. Experts from academia and industry working at the forefront of green chemistry have converged at Pilani to present their research findings.

This conference also aims to provide an avenue for researchers to develop cross-disciplinary collaborations, and update the delegates with the latest advances in research on environmentally sustainable chemical processes. The broad areas of the conference include catalysis, alternate reaction media, novel reactor technology, eco-friendly materials, pharmaceuticals, nanotechnology, industrial chemistry and environmentally benign synthesis. The conference has been organized by the Chemistry Group of Birla Institute of Technology and Science - BITS Pilani. Prof G Sundar Dean Practice School Division BITS Pilani is the Chairman for the conference while Dr Dalip Kumar is the Convener and Dr Anil Kumar is the Co-Convener.

The Chemistry group of the Institute was established in the year 1944 and the programmes offered include M.SC (Hons), M.Phil and PhD. Apart from Green Chemistry, research focus of the group cover a wide spectrum of areas such as organic, inorganic, physical, bioinorganic, medicinal, photophysical, computational, nanomaterials and X-ray crystallography. The group has state of the art instrumentation facility, library and research laboratories. Faculty members of the group have been publishing quality research papers in high impact journals of national and international repute. In the recent past, the group has organized several national and international scientific events. The group has been recognized under DST-FIST and UGC-SAP programmes. The Chemistry group is a recipient of funds for research projects from a number of agencies such as CSIR, DST, UGC and DRDO.

The conference was inaugurated on 20 February 2010 in the Lecture Theatre complex of BITS Pilani. The Chief Guest for the function was Dr Sudershan K Arora President R&D Ranbaxy Research Laboratories. The key note address for the conference was delivered by Prof Asit K Chakraborti from National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali Punjab. The keynote address unlocked new concepts, reaction mechanisms and synthetic methodologies in the pursuit of sustainable and green chemistry. Prof LK Maheshwari Vice Chancellor BITS Pilani gave the welcome address and Prof SC Sivasubramanian Chief of Computer Assisted Housekeeping Unit proposed the vote of thanks.

Apart from the Ministry of Earth Sciences Government of India; UGC and CSIR, several industries have come forward to sponsor the conference. The deliberations of this conference is bound to be a milestone in the field of Green and Sustainable Chemistry.

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About BITS Pilani: The Birla Institute of Technology and Science - BITS Pilani is a Deemed to be University established vide Sec.3 of the UGC Act, 1956 under notification No. F.12-23/63.U-2 of June 18, 1964. NAAC - National Assessment and Accreditation Council reaccredited BITS with 3.71 CGPA out of 4 and awarded "A" grade "Very Good" status. It is indeed a matter of pride that for the year 2009, BITS Pilani has been ranked among the top ranking universities along with IITs in various Magazine surveys such as India Today, Outlook, LiveMint DataQuest etc. BITS offers degrees in various disciplines presently at Pilani, Dubai, Goa and Hyderabad campuses. BITS Pilani has done pioneering work in industry university collaborations in terms of Practice School and Work Integrated Learning Programmes. Alumni of the Institute who are Proud to be BITSians and ambassadors for Brand BITS Pilani are spread across all continents from Australia to America.