Osmania University, the glorious seat of higher learning established 100 plus years ago, has Chemistry Department as an integral part of the esteemed institution in its stride all through these years since its inception. Chemistry Department currently with 38 faculty members, derives its strength from the core values of visionary founders, nurturing hands of eminent educationists at the inception who laid the platform to bring highest quality education to the reach of one and all. Eminent teaching fraternity of the yesteryears along with successful Alumni made immense contributions in the journey of this august institute and it is equally matched by the earnestness and efficacy of the current academic community and vibrancy of young researchers to continue the legacy and take it to the next level.
The Department of Chemistry, one of the oldest and biggest departments of Osmania University has a glorious history of 100 plus years. It was founded in the year 1917 as an undergraduate (B.Sc.) teaching institution and the department started offering M.Sc. in Chemistry from 1928 onwards. Since then, the Department has grown with time by introducing specializations in Inorganic, Organic, Physical, Physical organic, Analytical, Pharmaceutical, Pharmacoinformatics, Forensic Science besides 5-Year Integrated M.Sc. program. The constituent and affiliated colleges under Osmania University continue to offer the undergraduate B.Sc. program with Chemistry as one of the optional subjects. Currently Osmania University has 5 constituent colleges viz., Nizam College, University College of Science, Saifabad, OU-PG College, Secunderabad, University College for women, (which was a constituent college and currently elevated as Telangana Mahila Viswavidyalayam).3 PG Centres at Mirzapur (Medak district), Jogipet and Narasapur, about 60 private and Government affiliated colleges offering M. Sc. Chemistry and 250 degree colleges offering B. Sc. courses.
The Departmental library holds nearly 11,000 text books, 5 foreign and national journals and houses more than 1000 thesis in different branches of chemistry.
Research activity in the Department started on a modest scale in 1935 under the guidance of Professor M. Qureshi, Professor of Physical Chemistry and the then Head of the Department. Research was mainly in the fields of photochemistry, colloids, magnetic susceptibility measurements, kinetics of solvolytic reactions and electrochemistry. At that time, the department was housed in temporary buildings which are now a part of college of technology. The department was shifted to its present premises in 1947 and has ample space for teaching and research activities in various branches of chemistry. Prof. Syed Hussain, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry was the Head of the Department from 1947 to 1953. The Department is research centre since 1952 onwards catering its services to support research activity in respective areas under pioneered supervisors. The Department is statutory body for research centers such as Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Hyderabad etc. Prof N V Subba Rao took charge as Head of the Department in 1953 and during his tenure as Head (1953-1976) the department made rapid progress in all the branches of Chemistry- Organic, Inorganic and Physical. After the sad and sudden demise of Prof. N. V. Subba Rao who was the Head of the Department of Chemistry and Principal, University College of Science, OU in 1976, Prof. V. R. Srinivasan, Senior Professor in the department took charge as Principal of the college and Prof. T. Navneeth Rao assumed the charge as the Head of the Department. Under their leadership teaching activity of the Department increased several folds. Prof. T. Navneeth Rao relinquished office as Head in 1979 and became Rector in 1983 and later Vice- Chancellor in 1985. The department has flourished in the rich traditions set earlier by Prof. N. V. Subba Rao and Prof. T. Navneeth Rao and carefully nourished by latter heads of the department (List of the Luminaries). From November 2023 onwards the department is headed by Prof. B Manohar.
As stated earlier, in the long history, the Department of Chemistry started teaching Chemistry in B.Sc. in 1917 and M.Sc. Chemistry from 1928 onwards. It had both B.Sc. and M.Sc. students till 1972. Subsequently the the B.Sc. teaching was discontinued in the University Department in view of a number of Degree colleges, both constituent and affiliated, coming up in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and the district centres under the academic jurisdiction of Osmania University.
Post-graduate courses were also started at Nizam College and post-graduate centre, Warangal in 1967. Post-graduate centre, Warangal later became a full-fledged university and is now called as Kakatiya University. Subsequently, Post-graduate centres were opened at Bhiknur (in 1976) to teach M.Sc (Chemistry) with specialization in agrochemicals, fertilizers and pesticides and at Mirzapur (in 1980) with specialization in sugar chemistry and technology. In 1986 post-graduate courses in M.Sc.(Chemistry) were started at Osmania University Women's college, Koti, Hyderabad and Post-graduate College, Saifabad, Hyderabad with inorganic and organic chemistry specializations respectively and later in 1991, it was started in Anwar-ul-uloom college, Hyderabad (one of the affiliated colleges). Subsequently, it was introduced in various other affiliated colleges.
In addition to the usual subject specializations like organic, inorganic and physical chemistry in M.Sc. final year, the department introduced new specializations in Physical-Organic chemistry, physical-inorganic, chemistry, analytical chemistry and Pharmaceutical Chemistry in the final year of the M.Sc. course, with a view to enable the students taking up these courses to develop the capability to teach all branches of chemistry at the under-graduate level and also for carrying out research work in inter-disciplinary areas.
Special elective papers were introduced in M.Sc. final year based on their relevance to research and industries in and around Hyderabad. These include natural products, medicinal chemistry, dyes, drugs and intermediates, bio-organic chemistry, bio-inorganic chemistry, solid state chemistry, catalysis, photochemistry, nuclear fuels, explosives, polymers, environmental chemistry, biophysical chemistry, etc.
In view of the growing importance of computers in every field and more so in chemistry, a one unit course in the basics of computer programming (theory and practical) was introduced at the M.Sc. (Previous) level from the academic year 1990-91.
The class-room teaching and laboratory training are planned and executed by the expert faculty of the department, incorporating latest developments in the areas of Chemistry. The laboratories possess equipment like Powder XRD, Absorption & Emission Spectrophotometer, UV and fluorescence Spectro-photometers, FTIR, Electrochemical workstation, HPLC, Rotary evaporators, Fume Hoods, C,H,N Analyser, Thermo gravimetric balance, Polarographs and Flash Photolysis instruments along with simple analytical instrumentation. The students are trained in theory as well as in experiment in the practical classes to make them ready to cater to industry and academic needs.
All the staff members are directly involved in both teaching and research. Apart from the regular activities, the faculty of the Department are actively involved in collaborative research and teaching with Department of Physics, biochemistry, microbiology, Genetics, CPMB, Botany, Zoology and research organisations. In the last five years, the department has been awarded with 19 major research projects by UGC-CSIR, DST, DBT and various funding agencies worth 5 crores. The department also received financial assistance of 3.5 crores from DST-FIST, UGC-SAP, UGC-CPEPA and DST-PURSE. The department has published 1000 plus publications with an impact factor ranging from 0.6-9.4, delivered more than 600 guest/invited lectures in the last 5 years. The faculty members are awarded with FRSC, Cchem, Eur.Chem, C.Sci, TAS fellowships. Govt. of Telangana awarded Best Teacher award to Prof. M. Vithal in 2016 and Prof Vijjullatha. Prof. B.Sathyanarayana was appointed as Committee Member -UGC regulations for maintenance of standards in higher education in July 2017. Prof M Vithal, Prof Shivraj and Prof D Ashok were granted with UGC-BSR fellowship under Department of Chemistry in August 2017-2023.
Major areas of research undertaken at the Department include
- Heterocycles, Isolation of Natural products, Medicinal and Green Chemistry, Organometallics, Bioinorganic Chemistry and DNA binding studies of metal complexes, Nanomaterials, Photocatalysis, Biomass valorisation, Computational Chemistry, Molecular modeling and drug design.
The focused are being synthesis of bioactive natural products, design, synthesis and DNA interactive studies of heterocycles, study of bioactive transition -metal complexes and their thermodynamic properties, conductive and thermoelectric power studies of Cu-Cd ferrites, Zn ferrites, experimental and computational study of photochromic molecular sensors, bionanomaterials, Dye sensitized solar cells and molecular modeling of various signaling protein molecules.
The faculty are also involved in giving guest lectures, serving as selection committee members, governing body members, subject experts and as resource persons for conducting seminars, conferences and workshops in Osmania University, its constituent and affiliated colleges as well as at other state Universities and other research institutions.
Many of the senior faculty members rendered services in administration as Vice Chancellors, Registrars, Directors, Controller of examinations, Principals, Deans, Coordinators besides the functions of President, Secretary, executive members OUTA (Osmania University Teachers Association), TFUTA in various capacities thus contributing to smooth functioning of different activities at the University.
Student enrolment in post-graduate courses in chemistry progressively increased over the years and selection is now through a common entrance test. The intake of students in M.Sc.(Previous) was 12 until 1952 raised to 36 in 1970 and currently it is 72.
| Name of the College | Intake | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | University College of Science | 72 |
| 2 | Nizam College | 72 |
| 3 | Womens College (Currently Telangana Mahila Vishwavidhyalayam) | 120 |
| 4 | PG College of Science, Saifabad | 62 |
| 5 | PG Centre, Bhiknur | 20 |
| 6 | PG Centre, Mirzapur | 20 |
| 7 | PG Centre, Jogipet | 20 |
| 8 | PG Centre, Narasapur | 20 |
| Grand Total | 406 |
The department is actively engaged in improving and modernizing under-graduate teaching. The UGC sanctioned the College Science Improvement Programme (COSIP), the University Leadership Project (ULP) to the department during 1970-71. The COSIP which ended in 1981 has helped the department to develop the expertise in teaching. Under this programme senior members of the department visited affiliated colleges in the city and districts every year for a day or two to give lectures to B.Sc. students and to discuss with the staff members on various problems connected with the teaching of chemistry. Five COSIP newsletters were printed to provide information about the activity of COSIP-ULP and distributed to all the colleges.
The tradition is carried forward through various UGC assisted schemes like DST-FIST.The class-room teaching and laboratory training are well planned and executed by the expert faculty of the department incorporating latest developments in the areas of Chemistry since its inception.
| S.No | Infrastructural Facilities | Number |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Total number of class rooms | 5 |
| 2 | M.Sc Class rooms with LCD facility | 5 |
| 3 | M.Sc Students laboratories | 8 |
| 4 | Staff rooms with desks, computers, cupboards & Lockers | 20 staff rooms +25 computers |
| 5 | Research Laboratories | 20 |
| 6 | Instrumentation Labs | 3 |
| 7 | Computer Networking Labs(Web Resources Viz.,Scifinder) | 2 along with 30 computers. |
| Broad band high speed Internet available with Wi-Fi facility for all staff and students |