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Vijay Nair (Chemist)

G. Vijay Nair (born 1941) is an Indian organic chemist and the former director of the CSIR laboratory, National Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram, India. He is renowned for his work in diverse areas of organic synthesis such as cycloadditions, organocatalysis, one-electron oxidations and multicomponent reactions.

Education and Career

After his early education in Konni (Republican High School) and Trivandrum (Intermediate College) he joined Catholicate College Pathanamthitta for B.Sc degree. Subsequently he obtained M.Sc (1962) and Ph.D (with Professor. R. H. Sahasrabudhey) degrees from Banaras Hindu University. Dr. Nair has a second Ph.D (1969) from the University of British Columbia (with Prof. J. P. Kutney). He has held post-doctoral fellowships with Prof. Josef Fried at the University of Chicago, Prof. Peter Yates at the University of Toronto, and Professor Gilbert Stork  at Columbia University. After a sixteen year career with Lederle Laboratories (Division of American Cyanamid Company) in Pearl River, New York, he returned to India and joined the CSIR-Regional Research Laboratory, (recently renamed as National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, NIIST) as its Deputy Director in 1990. During 1997-2001 Dr. Nair was the Director of the Institute. After the completion of his tenure as Director, he continued to serve the Institute in various capacities; Director Grade Scientist, CSIR Emeritus Scientist, Senior Associate of JNCASR and DST- Raja Ramanna Fellow. Concurrently he was an Honorary Professor (Environmental Sciences) at CUSAT for several years. Presently, Dr. Nair is an Honorary Scientist at NIIST.

Work

A large body of notable work in various areas of organic synthesis has originated from Vijay Nair’s laboratory in NIIST in the last three decades. In particular, he has made important contributions to the chemistry of 1,2-quinones, chemistry of zwitterions, oxidations using cerium ammonium nitrate (CAN), multicomponent reactions, nucleophilic carbenes,   and N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) catalysis. He has authored more than 250 publications in major international journals. More than 50 organic chemists have completed their PhD under his guidance in NIIST. In addition Dr. Nair has mentored several postdoctoral fellows, and nearly 100 M.Sc project students as well as project fellows supported by DST and other funding agencies.

Awards and Honours

Vijay Nair is a fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences. He was the recipient of an outstanding scientist award in 1981 from American Cyanamid Company. DST, India awarded a Raja Ramanna Fellowship to him. Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) honored Vijay Nair with both the CRSI silver medal as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award (CRSI Gold medal- 2018).

Family

He is married to Dr. Sita V. Nair, a well-known Consultant Pediatrician. They have two daughters; Dr. Vinita Nair, a pediatrician, and Dr. Neelima Nair, a chemist.