Dr. Raghunath O. Ramabhadran

Department of Chemistry

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati

Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh 517507

E-mail: raghurama[at]iisertirupati.ac.in

Brief Bio-sketch

Dr. Raghunath O. Ramabhadran is an Assistant Professor at IISER Tirupati. His broad area of research interest is computational & quantum chemistry involving developments and applications in inorganic, organic and physical chemistry. His current focus of research is computational prebiotic chemistry. Prior to joining IISER Tirupati, he was a post-doctoral fellow at UCLA, working with Prof. K. N. Houk, and received his PhD degree from Indiana University, working with Prof. Krishnan Raghavachari.

APPLICATION OF DENSITY FUNCTIONAL THEORY TO STUDY THE ORIGIN OF LIFE: THE CONVERSION OF FORMALDEHYDE TO GLYCOALDEHYDE IN THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM

Consistent with the theme of ASM 2019, this work explores the application of density application of density functional theory in an exciting area - the origin of biomonomers, which form the building blocks of life. The formose reaction, which offers a feasible chemical pathway for the prebiotic synthesis of sugars, is a well-studied reaction for over two hundred and fifty years. Yet knowledge gaps exist even in the very first step of the formose reaction. In this talk, we provide a new and otherwise unintuitive reaction pathway for the gas-phase conversion of formaldehyde to glycolaldehyde (the first step in the formose reaction) occurring in the interstellar medium (ISM). Employing electronic structure calculations (CCSD(T) and DFT methods), we exhaustively probe the role of various metal ions and small molecules detected in the ISM to propose a new mechanism wherein metal - interactions and hydrogen bonds cooperatively facilitate an otherwise implausible chemical reaction.¹ The implications from this study, and future experimental as well as theoretical scope arising out of this work are subsequently discussed.

References:

1. Sorakayala Thripati and Raghunath O. Ramabhadran, J. Phys. Chem. A, 2017, 121 (45), pp 8659-86