The PT Lab focuses on the design and synthesis of boron-containing molecular materials and bioactive compounds, combining concepts from organic, organometallic, materials, and chemical biology. The group’s research aims to develop functional molecular systems with applications in optoelectronics, sensing, imaging, and medicine. Through interdisciplinary approaches, the lab explores how molecular design and structure influence photophysical behavior, reactivity, and biological activity.

A major theme of the group is the development of boron-based luminescent materials, including triaryl and aminoboranes and related chromophores that exhibit unique properties such as fluorescence, delayed emission, aggregation-induced emission, and room-temperature phosphorescence. These properties enable applications in OLED materials, molecular electronics, chemical sensors, and bioimaging probes. The lab also investigates stimuli-responsive photoluminescent systems and chiral molecular materials, which are relevant for advanced photonic technologies and security applications.

In parallel, the PT Lab is engaged in boron-based medicinal chemistry, including the development of boronopeptides and enzyme-targeting inhibitors/activators. These studies exploit the Lewis acidic nature of tricoordinate boron to interact with biological targets, offering opportunities for new therapeutic strategies. The group actively collaborates with biologists at IISc to investigate biological applications such as imaging and enzyme inhibition. In addition, the lab maintains international research collaborations, for advanced characterization and materials development.

The PT Lab welcomes motivated PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and collaborators interested in interdisciplinary research at the interface of chemistry, materials science, and biology. The group is also open to industrial partnerships aimed at translating molecular discoveries into technologies for sensing, photonics, and biomedical applications. Interested researchers and organizations are encouraged to explore collaboration opportunities with the lab.

Representative Publications

• Polymer matrix drives thermal stimulation-caused dynamic phosphorescence in dispersed chromophores
  Subhajit Ghosh, Rajendra Prasad Nandi, Shamil R, Yapamanu Adithya Lakshmanna, Silvano Geremia, Neal Hickey, Abhishek Sirohiwal and Pakkirisamy Thilagar
  Nat. Commun. 17, 2936 (2026)
   
  DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-69664-x
• Probing Excited State Structural Control and Intramolecular Charge Transfer in Aminoboranes by Ultrafast Transient Absorption and Raman Loss Spectroscopy
  Nishant Dhiman, Potla Yedukondalu, Akkarakkaran Thayyil Muhammed Munthasir, Soumen Ghosh, Pakkirisamy Thilagar, Siva Umapathy
  J. Phys. Chem. A 130, 2137 (2026)
   
  DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.5c08610
• Development of small-molecule based human 20S Proteasome Activators: A novel therapeutic target to combat amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease
  Poonam Rani, Nimisha Basavaraj, Reddy Peera Kommaddi, and Pakkirisamy Thilagar
  Alzheimer’s & Dementia 21, e098876 (2025)
   
  DOI: 10.1002/alz70859_098876
• Azobenzene-Tagged Photopeptides Exhibiting Excellent Selectivity and Light-Induced Cytotoxicity in MCF-7 Cells over HeLa and A549.
  Sambit Pradhan, Surajit Sarker and Pakkirisamy Thilagar
  J. Med. Chem. 67, 18794 (2024)
   
  DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c01113
• Understanding Twisted Triarylboranes from Single Crystals to Heterojunction Blends and Their Applications in Organic Photovoltaics
  J. Han, H. Xu, A. Sharma, J. Asatryan, F. Rauch, A. Friedrich, J. Krebs, L. Swoboda, J. Schuster, S. Pagidi, K. Neena; M. Alqurashi, P. Thilagar, N. Schopper, I. Krummenacher, V. Stepanenko, M. Finze, H. Braunschweig, J. Martin, F. Würthner, D. Baran, T. Marder
  J. Am. Chem. Soc. 147, 28694 (2025)
   
  DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c02308
• Axial chirality-induced rigidification in aminoboranes enhances persistent room-temperature phosphorescence and circularly polarized luminescence
  Jusaina Eyyathiyil, Subhajit Ghosh, Arunima Cheran, Silvano Geremia, Jatish Kumar, Neal Hickey, Pakkirisamy Thilagar
  Commun. Chem. 8, 126 (2025
   
  DOI: 10.1038/s42004-025-01529-8
• Crystallization Induced Room-Temperature Phosphorescence and Chiral Photoluminescence Properties of Phosphoramides
  Satyam Jena, Jusaina Eyyathiyil, Santosh Kumar Behera, Maho Kitahara, Yoshitane Imai, and Pakkirisamy Thilagar,
  Chem. Sci. 13, 5893 (2022)
   
  DOI: 10.1039/D2SC00990K
• Renaissance of Organic Triboluminescent Materials
  Sanjoy Mukherjee and Pakkirisamy Thilagar
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 58, 2 (2019)
   
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201811542
• Modulating the Room Temperature Phosphorescence by Tweaking SOC and P = X Interactions (X = O, S, and Se) in Phosphoramides: Magnetic Circularly Polarized Luminescence from Achiral Phosphoramides
  Satyam Jena, Santosh Kumar Behera, Jusaina Eyyathiyil, Maho Kitahara, Yoshitane Imai, Pakkirisamy Thilagar
  Adv. Optical Mater. 11, 2300923 (2023)
   
  DOI: 10.1002/adom.202300923
• Catalyst- and Template-Free Ultrafast Visible-Light-Triggered Dimerization of Vinylpyridine-Functionalized Tetraarylaminoborane: Intriguing Deep-Blue Delayed Fluorescence
  Kalluvettukuzhy K. Neena, Pagidi Sudhakar and Pakkirisamy Thilagar
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 57, 16806 (2018)
   
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201811353