AKSDr. Amrendra K. Singh
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology Indore
Simrol, Indore 453552, M.P., India
Phone: +91 731 660 3185
Email: aks[AT]iiti.ac.in

Amrendra K. Singh obtained a Ph.D. in 2009 from IIT Bombay under the supervision of Prof. Pradeep Mathur. He was a recipient of the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Fellowship from CSIR, New Delhi, for his doctoral studies. He spent two years (2010-2012) at Lund University, Sweden, as a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Ebbe Nordlander’s lab. Then he moved to Michigan State University in the USA for another postdoctoral position in Prof. Aaron Odom’s lab. He joined IIT Indore as an Assistant Professor in 2016 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2022.

Research Interests

The research activities in my group fall under the broad domain of inorganic and organometallic chemistry and catalysis. My group focuses on designing new pincer and N-heterocyclic carbene ligands and their transition metal complexes capable of the following types of reactivity:

  • Small molecule activation
  • C-H activation and functionalisation

Investigations on fundamental aspects of these activities and their mechanisms are carried out for the potential application in the development of renewable energy and sustainable chemical processes, including the following:

  • CO2 capture, functionalisation, and reduction
  • H2 production, storage, and transportation
  • Development of Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHCs)
  • Catalytic systems for hydrogenation/dehydrogenation reactions
  • Catalytic systems for C-C, C-N, and C-O bond-forming reactions

Selected Publications

  • Kumar, N.; Singh, A.; Jaiswal, V.; Misra, S; Singh, A. K. Light-Controlled Selective Synthesis of fac– and mer-Isomers of Heteroleptic [Ru(CN)(N′N′)(DMSO)(Cl)]+ Complexes. Inorg. Chem., 2026, 65, 10417-10422. (Communication)
  • Yadav, E.; Nath, S.; Saha, A.; Singh, A. K. Structure-Activity Relationships in Ru(II)-Protic-NHC Complexes: β- vs γ-Substituent Effects on Formic Acid Dehydrogenation Performance. Chem. Asian J., 2026, 21, e70621. (Invited article to the special issue: FORCE-IICS)
  • Singh, A.; Jaiswal, V.; Misra, S.; Singh, A. K. Metal-Ligand Cooperativity via Π-Π Interactions Supporting Outer-Sphere Hydride Transfer. Chem. Eur. J., 2025, 31, e202501301.
  • Yadav, E.; Nath, S.; Shahid, N.; Saha, A.; Singh, A. K. Enhanced activity of proton-responsive protic-NHC-Ru(II) bis(pincer) complexes for electrochemical water oxidation. ChemCatChem, 2025, 17, e01003.
  • Bengtsson, P; Liebgott, V; Eriksson, L; Jansson, K; Tai, C.-W.; Singh, A. K.; Martín-Matute, B.; Das, B. Molecularly Designed Cathode for Copper-Benzimidazole-Induced CO2 Reduction to MeOH. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2025, 64, e202504783.
  • Saha, A.; Nath, S.; Yadav, E.; Singh, A. K. Ru(II)-protic-NHC complex catalyzed selective N-alkylation of anilines with primary alcohols: Mechanistic insights and role of salt additives. ChemCatChem, 2025, 17, e202500184. (Editorial Invitation)