Govt. of West Bengal
Bethune College
Bethune College

Department of Chemistry

Bethune College : Chemistry Department

Course Details

Three year Honours Degree Course (Calcutta University).
U.G. General Course for students with Honours in other Science subjects, viz., Physics, Mathematics, Botany and Zoology.

History of the Department

The history of Chemistry Department dates back to 1923 when the college was first affiliated to Intermediate Science with only one teacher named Sri Santosh Kumar Banerjee. Prof. Ashima Chatterjee, an eminent scientist was a student of I.Sc. course of this college. Prof. Debi Chakroborty, Emeritus Professor (M.Sc., P.R.S., D. Phil (Oxford) C. Chem, FRIC (London)) took charge of the department in the year 1945. In addition to normal teaching in Chemistry, there was a research laboratory attached to the department where PG research work was carried on under her guidance. Some students like Prof. Roma Sur, Dr. Anjali Ghosh got their doctorate degrees from this laboratory. The college was affiliated to B.Sc. pass course in 1958 and in 1961 the department began the Honours course in Chemistry with four staff members, which was increased to fourteen in 1975. During the last five decades many teachers retired and some new teachers joined either by transfer or as fresh appointment. Department of Chemistry passed fifty four successful years which shaped so many young minds in the field of chemistry. The alumni from this department have proved themselves in different academic and non academic fields.

Research and Extension Activities

Dr. Srirupa Banerjee runs a Fast Track DST Project for Young Scientist, entitled "Visible light photoredox catalysis: Towards an environment friendly approach to organic synthesis".

Seminars held

Sl. No. Funding agency Date Seminar/ Conferences/ Workshops speakers
1 UGC-CPE 10th Dec, 2010 One-Day Seminar to Commemorate 150th Birth Anniversary of A.P.C. Ray 1. Prof. Syamal Chakraborty, Dept. of Chemistry, CU

2. Prof. R. N. Majumder, Dept. of Chemical Technology, CU 
2 UGC 15th & 16th Dec, 2011 UGC-Sponsored National Seminar on "Journey of An Atom through 100 Years" to celebrate IYC 1. Dr. Pradipta Bandyopadhyay, Associate Professor, JNU, New Delhi

2. Dr. Manojit Pal, Head, Department of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, Institute of Life Sciences, Gachibowli, Hyderabad

3. Dr. Abhisek Dey, Assistant Professor, IACS, Jadavpur, Kolkata4. Professor Susanta Lahiri, SINP, Kolkata

4. Prof. Susanta Lahiri, SINP, Kolkata
3 UGC-CPE Sep., 2013 Invited Talk on "Stereochemistry: An Overview" and on "Bonding in Boranes" in the Departmental Seminar 1. Prof. Subrata Sengupta

2. Dr. Sanchita Goswami
4 Co-sponsored by RSC Sep. 9, 2016 One-Day National Seminar on "Recent Advances in Life Science in the Light of Chemistry" 1. Dr. Jyotirmayee Dash, Associate Professor, Department of Organic Chemistry, IACS, Jadavpur

2. Dr. Sagar Pal, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Chemistry, ISM Dhanbad (IIT), Jharkhand

3. Dr. Ambika C. Banerjee, Former Corporate Advisor - R & D, East India Pharmaceuticals Works Ltd.

 

Infrastructure

  • LCD projector
  • Laptop
  • Desktop
  • Spectrophotometer UV-Vis
  • pH-meter
  • Conductivity meter
  • Polarimeter
  • Potentiometer
  • Colorimeter
  • Digital Balance (High Precision)
  • Distillation unit

There are a well-maintained Seminar Library of 265 text and reference books as well as a Book Bank having 103 books, from both of which students borrow books regularly.

Departmental Prizes/Scholarships

  1. Santosh memorial Medal (Highest marks in Chemistry Honours in the B.Sc. Examination from this college)
  2. Puspa Das and Dipali Das Memorial Silver Medal (Highest marks in Chemistry Honours Practical in the B.Sc. Examination from this college)
  3. Radharani Bhattacharya Memorial Silver Medal (Highest Proficiency in Chemistry Honours in the B.Sc. Examination from this college)
  4. Special Staff Prize (Students securing first class in the B.Sc. Honours Final Examination from this college)
  5. Shibnarayan Chakraborty Memorial Prize (Highest Proficiency in Chemistry Honours in the B.Sc. Examination from this college)
  6. Kamalabala Mukherjee Memorial Scholarship (award for standing 1st in Chemistry Honours in the B.Sc. Examination from this college)
  7. Netaji Prize (awarded for Highest Proficiency in Chemistry Honours in the B.Sc. Examination from this college)

Students Section

Syllabus :

UG Honours syllabus of Calcutta University

Other Academic Websites :

www.iacs.res.in

www.iitkgp.ac.in

www.iiserkol.ac.in

www.boseinst.ernet.in

www.saha.ac.in 

Students Achievements :

  1. Debarati Das and Sreemoyee Chakraborty secured the First and Third ranks respectively in the B.Sc Part III Final Examination, 2016.
  2. Accompanied by a teacher Dr. Supriti Paul, students of the department Sucheta Biswas & Debleena Ghosh (2nd year) Sampita Paul & Rittwika Pan (1st year) participated in XXX Training Programme on Science on 11.02.17 at Bose Institute, Kolkata jointly organized Indian Science News Association & Vigyan Prasar, DST,Govt. Of India, New Delhi.
  3. Ritobrata De & Rittwika Pan of UG II won the First Prize in the Inter-College Debate organized by Bethune College commemorating the 150th Birth Anniversary Celebrations of Sister Nivedita.
  4. Bishakha Roy and Swatilekha Das were selected in the recruitment drive conducted by WIPRO.
  5. Debapriya Gupta of 3rd Year Chemistry Honours won the 2nd Prize in Poster Competition in Kolkata District Student-Youth Science Fair, 2014 organised by Govt. of WB and BITM during 1st - 2nd September, 2014.
  6. Debapriya Gupta qualified JAM and took admission in IISER, Mohali for pursuing post graduate study.
  7. Shreya Dey and Sucheta Biswas of 1st year Chemistry Honours presented a model/project entitled "Bio-plastic or Bio-based Polymers" in the Model Competition, UG level of Kolkata District Student-Youth Science Fair, 2015 organised by Govt. of WB in collaboration with BITM and JBNSTS during 22nd - 23rd September, 2015 and stood 3rd.
  8. Students of first year actively participated in College Fest AALAP-2015. Following are the individual achievements by them.

    College Fest AALAP - 2015

    Name Event  Position
    Shreya Dey & Swagata Roy Debate 1st
    Kattayani Sarkar Photography 1st
    Swagata Roy & Annesha Chatterjee Antaksari 3rd
    Ritobrata De Creative writing & Painting 1st
    Ritobrata De, Swagata Roy, Kattayani Sarkar,
    Sumana Dhara, Annesha Chatterjee,
    Sucharita Mallick and Parnasha Sen
          		Group Choreography 3rd

    Annual Fest of Scottish Church College (Calidonia)

    Name Event  Position
    Ritobrata De Creative writing 2nd
    Swagata Roy, Annesha Chatterjee Antaksari 1st
  9. In College Annual Sports 2015 our first year students took part enthusiastically.

    Annual Sports - 2015

    Name (Students of first year) Event  Position
    Shreya Dey Slow Cycling 3rd
    Shreya Dey Balance Race 2nd
    Sucheta Biswas Balance Race 3rd
    Shreya Dey Skipping 2nd
    Shreya Dey, Swagata Roy, Sucheta Biswas & Ritobrata De
    		Relay 3rd
    Ritobrata De 100mt run 3rd
    Shreya Dey, Swagata Roy, Sucheta Biswas & Ritobrata De Go as you like 2nd

    Srijana Sharma (first Year) was among the group members who participated in State Level Badminton Championship from our college.
     

  10. The 3rd year students participated in the campus recruitment programme organised by the Career Counseling Cell of Bethune College and four of them were selected.

    Annesha Bhattacharya - TCS
    Avipsa Srimani, Bishakha Roy & Swatilekha Das - Wipro

Department News

Notices :

A One Day National Seminar on "Recent Advances in Life Science in the Light of Chemistry" was organised on 9th September, 2016 by the Department in collaboration with Royal Society of Chemistry (Eastern India Section). Apart from the invited talks delivered by eminent academicians/researchers, a poster competition was also arranged separately among the UG and the PG students and also among the research scholars. A group of 3rd year UG students of the department was awarded the Best Poster.

An Invited Talk, "Learning Chemistry in the Computer Age", was delivered by Professor Uday Maitra, Head and Chairman, Department of Organic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore on the 28th of January, 2016 in the department.

 

Results :

University Results - Part- III Honours

Year of Passing No. of Students Appeared 1st Class Highest Marks (%)
2016 35 23 86.75%
2015 27 19 78.9%
2014 24 19 79%
2013 32 23 77.8%

Debarati Das secured 88% in Part-II Honours Examination, 2015 and became Calcutta University topper. Soumi Kolay secured the 2nd position in Calcutta University scoring 81% marks in Part-I Honours Examination, 2015.