Chemical Communications Blog

We are excited to share the success of Sankar Krishnamoorthy’s first-time independent article in ChemComm; “An activity-based probe library for identifying promiscuous amide hydrolases” included in the full milestones collection. 

Read our interview with Sankar below.

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

My research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory focuses on developing and deploying chemical tools to understand biomolecular interactions and their function. After graduate school, in the hope of learning a new skill, I accepted the opportunity to work on materials designed to remove off-target chemotherapeutic drugs such as doxorubicin from blood. That experience opened my eyes to the vast opportunities at the chemistry–biology interface, beyond traditional drug discovery.

At PNNL, my lab develops chemical probes and complementary analytical methods to study enzyme activity, small-molecule–protein interactions, and cellular responses in microbial and mammalian systems. In the bioproducts and bioenergy area, we use probes to investigate enzyme promiscuity and pathway flexibility in engineered microbes to guide the development of more efficient biomanufacturing processes. In the health and neurobiology space, we are developing human iPSC-derived neural platforms to characterize stress responses using multi-omics and neuromodulator-based chemical probes combined with advanced imaging. Across both research areas, we integrate these approaches to map molecular interactions and reveal how chemistry drives biological function.

Can you set this article in a wider context?

Recalcitrant biomaterials surround us—whether natural polymers such as chitin and lignin or synthetic ones like plastics and nylon. Efficiently breaking these materials down into reusable monomers is critical for advancing sustainable biomanufacturing and circular bioeconomy goals. Microbes act as nature’s chemists, producing diverse enzymes capable of depolymerizing these complex substrates and using them as carbon and nitrogen sources.

In this work, we developed an activity-based probe library to uncover microbial enzymes that exhibit substrate promiscuity toward both natural and synthetic amide-containing polymers. While enzymes typically evolve to act on specific substrates, environmental microbes often produce catalysts that can process non-native materials encountered in their surroundings. By exposing microbial proteomes to chemically tagged substrate analogues, this approach reveals hidden catalytic potential and helps prioritize enzyme candidates for functional validation. The resulting insights can guide enzyme engineering and biocatalyst design for more efficient degradation and valorization of recalcitrant biomaterials.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

In the coming year, my goal is to expand our suite of chemical probes and associated analytical methods to advance the understanding of biological systems relevant to biomanufacturing. By integrating probe development with mass spectrometry and imaging, we aim to uncover catalytic and metabolic pathways that can guide the engineering of more efficient enzymes and microbial platforms for sustainable bioproduct production.

In parallel, we are establishing a complementary effort that combines chemical probe design with human iPSC-derived cellular models to investigate molecular processes underlying stress and neuropsychiatric resilience. Together, these directions reflect my interest in using chemical biology to connect molecular-level insight with solutions that impact both the bioeconomy and human health.

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

My Ph.D. research was conducted in the laboratories of Profs. George Olah and Surya Prakash at the University of Southern California, where I developed novel fluoroalkylation methods and designed redox-active organic molecules for aqueous organic redox flow batteries. This work grounded me in synthesis, mechanistic reasoning, and translational chemistry.

I then joined Prof. Robert Grubbs’ group at the California Institute of Technology, where I developed biomedical device materials capable of capturing chemotherapeutic agents such as doxorubicin from biologically relevant samples. This experience opened my eyes to how chemical design could be applied to biological problems.

Seeking to expand that perspective, I moved to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to work with Dr. Aaron Wright on activity-based and photoaffinity probes to label pathogenic bacteria and to profile non-canonical drug targets of anesthetics such as ketamine in human-relevant systems. In 2022, I transitioned to a full-time staff scientist role, dedicating part of my effort to establishing a state-of-the-art chemical biology laboratory and capability within the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), a Department of Energy user facility. Here, my team develops and tests chemical probes to study enzyme function in microbes relevant to biomanufacturing, environmental processes, and critical-metal uptake. Successful probes are deployed in user systems and often co-developed with EMSL collaborators. Since my transition, our work has been supported by EMSL’s intramural science and technology program for novel probe and method development.

Supported by PNNL’s Early Career Open Call Laboratory Directed Research and Development grant, I also lead a separate line of research that integrates chemical probes with human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neural systems to study stress-related cellular processes. Together, these directions reflect my goal of harnessing chemical biology to bridge molecular discovery with both bioproducts and health applications.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

My dad always emphasized this advice: If you don’t try, you’ll never know whether you had a chance. That lesson has stayed with me and continues to guide both my life and my research. It reminds me to take risks, explore new directions, and embrace opportunities that once felt uncertain and in doing so, I have learned a great deal about persistence, growth, and self-discovery.

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

ChemComm has always been one of my favorite journals because it delivers key research messages in a concise format while maintaining exceptional quality and visibility across the chemistry community. The journal’s timely review process and broad readership make it an ideal venue to showcase interdisciplinary chemical biology research. Our institution’s open-access agreement with the RSC is an added benefit, ensuring that our findings are easily accessible to the global scientific community.

​​​​

​

Sankar Krishnamoorthy is a Staff Scientist in the Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Southern California in 2017 and completed postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology (2019) and PNNL (2021) before joining PNNL as a Scientist in 2022. He has over a decade of experience developing novel organic reaction methods and designing tailored small molecules for materials and biological applications. He currently serves as the Chemical Biology Capability Lead at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), a U.S. Department of Energy user facility at PNNL. His research focuses on developing chemical tools to elucidate biochemical processes relevant to energy, the environment, and human health.

Explore more ChemComm Milestones news and updates on our Bluesky Feed (‪@chemcomm.rsc.org‬) and LinkedIn (ChemComm Journal)

We are excited to share the success of Chao Liu’s first-time independent article in ChemComm; “Precise Heteroatoms Engineering for Iodine Capture Promotion in Porous Organic Cages” included in the full milestones collection. 

Read our interview with Chao Liu below.

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

Our group’s research is currently focused on the design of porous organic cages and covalent organic frameworks and the study their of photocatalytic and adsorption properties. Porous organic materials have attracted extensive research interest due to their structural coordination and wide application prospects. Our goal is to solve practical problems in life and production through chemical innovation.

Can you set this article in a wider context?

In this paper, based on the precise heteroatom engineering strategy, three homogeneous POCs were designed, which greatly improved the iodine adsorption capacity of the material. In addition, the material was also prepared for the first time as a thin film sensor for rapid and repeatable detection of iodine vapor, further expanding the application of porous organic cage materials.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

In the next year, we hope to develop porous organic cages with new topologies and focus on improving photocatalytic performance.

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

I received my Ph.D.in chemistry from the University of Science and Technology Beijing in 2022. During this period, I received basic scientific research training and professional. As the first author or corresponding author, I have published many high-impact papers in JACS, Nature communcation, Chemcal science and other journals. These research experiences have cultivated a strong independent research ability and made me a skilled independent researcher.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

The abnormality of the experimental results may be the beginning of major innovation.

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

ChemComm is an internationally recognized excellent journal that publishes high-quality research work in the entire field of chemical science. And the processing speed of the article is very fast, which is conducive to the rapid presentation of the latest scientific research progress.

​​​​

Chao Liu, a special professor of Hebei University. He obtained a Master’s and Doctor’s degree in Chemistry from Beijing University of Science and Technology. Throughout his academic career, his research interests have focused on the design of porphyrin and phthalocyanine based molecules, the design of porous organic cages and covalent organic framework materials, and the study of photocatalytic and adsorption properties.

Explore more ChemComm Milestones news and updates on our Bluesky Feed (‪@chemcomm.rsc.org‬) and LinkedIn (ChemComm Journal)

We are excited to share the success of Rajendra Kumar Konidena’s first-time independent article in ChemComm; “A streamlined steric-shielding approach toward efficient narrowband (FWHM ∼ 18 nm) ultra-violet emitters for OLEDs” included in the full milestones collection. 

Read our interview with Rajendra below.

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

Replacing traditional metal-based functional materials with purely organic alternatives in energy-related optoelectronic devices and biomedical applications is one of the current key goals of chemical sciences research. Despite their advantages in cost-effectiveness and environmental sustainability, achieving high performance demands a deep understanding of the interplay between molecular structure and functional properties. Driven by this challenge, our group — the Organic Materials Laboratory (OM-Lab) at IIT Patna — is dedicated to designing and synthesizing innovative organic building blocks and exploring their structure–property correlations and device performances. Our long-term vision is to develop efficient organic materials that can enable real-world devices with significant technological and societal impact.

Can you set this article in a wider context?

Developing metal-free, purely organic narrowband ultraviolet (UV) emitters with emission < 380 nm remains a significant challenge. UV emitters are not just important in lighting and display technologies— they also play key roles in sterilization, sensing, photocatalysis, and biomedical imaging. Traditional approaches often rely on complex boron-based systems, which limit scalability and sustainability. Our work addresses this gap by introducing a simple, yet versatile, molecular design by combining two rigid organic building blocks — indolocarbazole and carbazole — in a sterically controlled, non-conjugated fashion. This design unveiled a new molecule that produces sharp, color-pure UV emission with an impressively narrow bandwidth. This study highlights how smart molecular engineering can lead to cost-effective, sustainable, and high-performance organic materials that could power the next wave of optoelectronics.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

The group has now grown to a substantial size, and individual research projects are gaining momentum. In the coming year, I hope our lab will continue to explore new molecular designs and synthesize new heterocyclic building blocks that challenge the boundaries of what organic materials can do. My vision is that each discovery from our lab should bring us a step closer to being both scientifically exciting and technologically impactful.

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

There have been many crucial moments that have shaped my journey to where I am today, and I am deeply grateful to the many people who have supported me along the way—especially my supervisors. Their invaluable guidance and mentorship have played a central role in shaping me into the scientist I am today.

I earned my Ph.D. in 2017 under the guidance of Prof. K. R. Justin Thomas at IIT Roorkee, where I developed a keen interest in functional organic materials for optoelectronic applications. Following my Ph.D., I held a NRF-sponsored Postdoctoral Fellowship in Prof. Jun Yeob Lee’s group at Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea, where I explored advanced organic emitters for modern displays. I then worked with Prof. X. L. Feng at TU Dresden, Germany, and later with Prof. Jangwook Park in South Korea. Subsequently, I joined Prof. Takuma Yasuda’s group at Kyushu University, Japan, where I developed multiresonant TADF materials for OLEDs.  Across these experiences, I gained deep expertise in the rational design, synthesis, and structure–property studies of organic functional materials, which have become the foundation of my research philosophy. Motivated to translate these experiences into a distinct research vision, I established the independent research group, named OM-Lab at IIT Patna in 2024.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

I’ve been fortunate to receive valuable advice from many mentors, but the quote immediately come to mind while reading this is from my Ph.D. advisor, Prof. Justin: “Keep trying until you succeed” It continues to shape my approach to research and life.

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

I chose ChemComm for its strong reputation in publishing high-quality, interdisciplinary, and cutting-edge research. Its broad and diverse readership also provides an excellent platform to maximize the visibility and impact of our work

​​​​

Dr Rajendra Kumar Konidena is an accomplished chemist with a strong academic and research background in organic chemistry and functional materials. He earned his Ph.D at IIT-Roorkee in 2017 under the guidance of Prof. K. R. Justin Thomas. Then, he undertook a postdoctoral fellowship sponsored by the NRF at Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea, in Prof. Jun Yeob Lee group. He then joined the TU- Dresden, Germany, for a short postdoctoral stint. In July 2021, he began his tenure as a Research Professor at Kyung Hee University, Korea until March 2022. Subsequently, he moved to Kyushu University, Japan, where he served as a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow until April 2023. During his journey, he has been received prestigious fellowships, including the National Postdoctoral Fellowship, Ramanujan Fellowship (SERB, India), NRF Postdoctoral Fellowship (South Korea), JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship, Marie-Curie ERA Fellowship. In May 2024, Dr Konidena joined the Department of Chemistry at IIT Patna as Assistant Professor. His research interests lie in the design and synthesis of innovative organic functional materials for applications in optoelectronics and biomedical sciences.   Group webpage: https://rkonidena531.wixsite.com/organic-materials–1

Explore more ChemComm Milestones news and updates on our Bluesky Feed (‪@chemcomm.rsc.org‬) and LinkedIn (ChemComm Journal)

We are excited to share the success of Hongbing Wang’s first-time independent article in ChemComm; “Surface acidity as the decisive descriptor for hydroxyl-mediated hydrogen spillover in hydrogen isotope exchange” included in the full milestones collection. 

Read our interview with Hongbing below.

What are the main areas of research in your lab and what motivated you to take this direction?

My group at Chengdu University of Technology focuses on computational catalysis and materials design. We use first-principles calculations to understand reaction mechanisms at the atomic level and to design novel, efficient catalysts for sustainable chemical processes. I was motivated by the urgent global need for clean energy solutions, and I believe that fundamental, theory-driven research can accelerate the discovery of materials for critical applications like hydrogen energy and CO₂ valorization.

Can you set this article in a wider context?

This work on hydrogen isotope exchange is crucial for advancing hydrogen energy technologies. Efficiently separating hydrogen isotopes like deuterium and tritium is vital for heavy water production in nuclear reactors and for fuel processing in future fusion power plants. Our paper reveals that surface acidity is a key factor, providing a clear design principle for developing better catalysts for these important, large-scale applications.

What do you hope your lab can achieve in the coming year?

In the coming year, I hope to grow my research team by recruiting talented graduate students. We aim to expand our research from fundamental understanding to tackling more complex catalytic systems described in our article. Securing new funding and establishing strong collaborations with experimental groups will also be a key focus, as we want to bridge the gap between theoretical predictions and real-world applications.

Describe your journey to becoming an independent researcher.

My journey began with my undergraduate studies in chemical engineering at Chengdu University of Technology. My master’s at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and my PhD at the Institute of Materials, CAEP, provided me with a solid foundation in catalysis and materials science. I was fortunate to have excellent mentors who encouraged curiosity and independent thinking. The desire to pursue my own research ideas and to mentor the next generation of scientists was the driving force behind my decision to start my own lab.

What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?

The best piece of advice I’ve received is “Focus on the important problems.” In research, it’s easy to get lost in minor details. This advice constantly reminds me to step back, look at the bigger picture, and direct my efforts toward questions that could truly make a difference in our field.

Why did you choose to publish in ChemComm?

ChemComm is a prestigious journal with a broad readership across all areas of chemistry. We chose it because we wanted our findings on a fundamental aspect of catalysis to reach a wide and diverse audience quickly. The journal’s reputation for publishing timely and significant research made it the perfect venue for our first independent work.

​​​​

Hongbing Wang is a  Associate Professor  at Chengdu University of Technology. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Chengdu University of Technology, followed by a master’s degree in the same field from the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was awarded his PhD from the Institute of Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics. Throughout his academic career, his research interests have focused on heterogeneous catalysis, with specific expertise in interface catalysis, zeolite-mediated transformations, C1 chemistry, and solar-driven interfacial evaporation.

Explore more ChemComm Milestones news and updates on our Bluesky Feed (‪@chemcomm.rsc.org‬) and LinkedIn (ChemComm Journal)