Former University of Hyderabad professor Gautam R. Desiraju has won the 14th Ewald Prize for his pioneering work in crystal engineering and molecular interactions.
Understanding how molecules interact to form crystals has earned structural chemist Prof. Gautam R. Desiraju the 14th Ewald Prize, one of the highest honours in crystallography. The International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) recognised him for pioneering crystal engineering and the supramolecular synthon concept, and for establishing the importance of weak hydrogen and halogen bonding in molecular crystals and biology.
The prize, awarded once every three years, was presented during the opening ceremony of the 27th IUCr Congress in Calgary on August 11. Desiraju is a Professor Emeritus at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and a former president of the IUCr. Prof. Desiraju worked at the School of Chemistry, University of Hyderabad (UoH), from 1979 to 2009, before joining IISc.
He is also associated with the Cambridge Structural Database, where a structure entry carries the GAUTAM refcode in his honour, according to the information provided by UoH. Desiraju delivered the Ewald Prize Lecture at the Congress opening ceremony.
His work has helped scientists understand that even relatively weak interactions between molecules can influence how crystals form and behave, according to a statement. This has implications for fields including structural chemistry, supramolecular chemistry and pharmaceutical research. His research has also extended to halogen bonding and to work on internationally accepted definitions of hydrogen and related bonds.
Prof. Desiraju has published more than 475 research papers, with over 80,000 citations, and has an h-index of about 105, according to the IUCr. He also served as IUCr president from 2011 to 2014. The International Union of Crystallography and the World Academy of Sciences also list his UoH tenure in their biographical records.
