The chemists have a big role to play in every aspect of life; they design new molecular entities to facilitate mankind in terms of better health (both diagnostics as well as new drugs) and better lifestyle (novel materials and devices). To highlight the role of chemists in one of these aspects of life, the Department of Chemistry is organizing the First International Conference on “Luminescent Materials: From Fundamentals to Applications” during March 15-16, 2024. During the two-day conference a number of renowned scientists, from different universities and institutes both from India and abroad will deliver lectures on the contemporary areas of research besides poster presentations by the young researchers. The deliberations will highlight the recent advances in the molecular design of luminescent materials and their use as chemical/biological sensors, in fluorescence imaging, diagnosis, in catalysis, and as thernostics. The organizing committee takes immense pleasure in inviting you and your colleagues to participate in this conference.

The Department of Chemistry was established in 1971 and over a period of time it has emerged as one of the premier departments not only in the university but also has acquired a prestigious status at the national level. The department has been recognized as a by UGC for Supramolecular Chemistry and Materials for Devices. The Department of Science and Technology has funded the department thrice under its "Funds for improvement of S & T Infrastructure in Universities and Higher Educational Institutions (FIST)" The department offers five years integrated course in M.Sc. Chemistry under honours school scheme, M. Sc. Chemistry, M. Sc. (Pharmaceuticals), B. Tech (Textile processing) and Ph. D in frontline areas of chemical science. The semester system with credit based evaluation and grading system is followed for teaching programmes. The research activities of the department focus on supramolecular chemistry, synthetic organic and inorganic chemistry, biological chemistry, chemistry of ionic liquids, electrochemistry, material chemistry, medicinal chemistry surfactant chemistry, oils and fats chemistry, thermodynamics, analytical chemistry etc. The research projects are funded significantly by agencies like CSIR, SERB, UGC, DST, DRDO, DAE and DBT. The role of the department in the development of chemical sciences is evident from a significant number of research papers published/being published in high impact international journals of repute. The department has state of the art instruments like 400 and 500 MHz NMR Spectrometers, HPLC, FTIR, UV-Vis, Fluorescence & Time Resolved Fluorescence Spectrometers, Thermal Gravimetric Analyzer, GLC, HRMS, BET analyzer, SEM, VSM, AFM, Peptide Synthesizer, Loop tracer, Electrochmical Work Station, Microwave Synthesizer, DSC, Tensiometer, Polarized Optical Microscope (POM), Powder X-ray diffractometer , Density Sound Velocity Analyzer, Polarimeter, DLS-Zeta Seizer, Impedance Analyzer, Isothermal Titration Microcalorimeter, Cyclic Voltammeter, Resistivity meter, FPLC, AFM. Several faculty members of the department have exposure to foreign laboratories in the form of post-doctoral fellows or as visiting professors / scientists. A number of faculty members are fellows of academies of national repute and are also recipients of research medals from different research societies of India. The department library has a collection of about 16,500 books and regular subscription to 28 journals in addition to the e-journals available through UGC consortium.

The main objectives of the consortium are to foster collaboration and knowledge-sharing among researchers in India working on luminescent organic materials, to organize workshops and seminars to disseminate the latest research findings and to provide training and educationto new researchers entering the field. The idea is to promote global research collaborations and to enhance the visibility and impact of Indian research in the field. Further, LOCI aim to promote collaboration with industry partners to explore potential commercial applications for the developed materials (optoelectronics, sensors, and bioimaging). For the promotion of interdisciplinary research among members of LOCI, several strategies are proposed such as the use of instruments in collaboration, Joint collaborative basic and applied research among members, helping the members in finding the solution to the problem in their respective fields and support in linkages with Industries for technology development.

Topics for the Conference:

1. Fundamentals of Luminescent Materials
2. Luminescent Materials as chemical and biological sensors
3. Luminescent Materials for catalysis
4. Luminescent Materials for Fluorescence imaging
5. Luminescent Materials for diagnostic applications
6. Luminescent Materials as theranostics and nanomaterials