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 UGC-CPE 28th January, 2016 Lecture on "Learning Chemistry in the Computer age" in the Departmental Seminar Prof. Uday Maitra, IISC, Bangalore
5 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.
6 Sponsored by Academy of Sciences Nov. 17-18, 2017 Science Academies' Lecture Workshop entitled ‘Fundamentals of Chemistry'
  1. Dr. Sayam Sengupta, Chemical Sciences, IISER, Kolkata
  2. Prof. Chaitali Mukhopadhyay, University of Calcutta, Kolkata
  3. Prof. Prasanta K. Das, Dept. of Biological Chemistry, IACS, Kolkata
  4. Prof. Parthasarathi Dastidar, Dept. of Organic Chemistry, IACS, Kolkata
  5. Prof. Uday Maitra IISc, Bangalore

 

Infrastructure

  • Smart class room with ICT facility
  • 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 :

Students qualifying in competitive exams (NET/SET/GATE etc), also mention scholarships/fellowships, if any:

  1. Debarati Das (2013-2016): qualified JRF CSIR-NET (June 2017) and secured 11th rank.
  2. Puja Ghosh (2012-2015): qualified JRF CSIR-NET (June 2017).
  3. Rituparna Nandi (2012-2015): qualified JRF IIT-ISM Entrance and also 1st Class First in M.Sc. in Chemistry from Bidhannagar College and is pursuing Ph.D. in IIT-ISM Dhanbad.
  4. Juheli Sadhukhan (2012-2015): qualified JRF IIT-ISM Entrance and is pursuing Ph.D. in IIT- ISM Dhanbad.\
  5. Debapriya De (2012-2015): qualified JRF CSIR-NET and is pursuing Ph.D. in IISER Mohali.
  1. Shreya Mukherjee and Soumoshree Sengupta (1st year) are recipients of JBNSTS Scholarships - 2017 (16/12/17 at Science City Auditorium).
  2. Ritobrata De (3rd Year) secured the 1st position in Bengali Essay Writing in the State Levelof All India Essay Writing Event 2017, organised by Babuji Memorial Ashram, Shri Ram Chandra Mission Road, Manapakkkam, Chennai in collaboration with the United Nations Information Centre for India and Bhutan (UNIC) and the Heartfulness Institute.
  3. Debarati Das and Sreemoyee Chakraborty secured the First and the Second ranks respectively in the B.Sc. Part-III Final Examination, 2016.
  4. Accompanied by a teacher Dr.Supriti Paul, students of the department Sucheta Biswas & Debleena Ghosh (2nd Year) Sampita Paul & Rittwika Pan (1stYear) 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.
  5. Ritobrata De (3rdYear) & Rittwika Pan (2ndYear) 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.
  6. Debarati Das (2013-2016) received Principal's Award for achieving the highest proficiency among all the B.Sc. honours students from Bethune College in the CU Part-III Exam, 2016.
  7. Ritama Kar (2014-2017) was awarded the Nalini Das Award for best all round performance by Part II student (B.A & B.Sc.).
  8. Ritobrata De (3rdYear) received RabindraSatobarshikiPuroskar in 2016.
  9. Debleena Ghosh, Ritobrata De and Priya Bhandari (all from 3rd Year) participated in the 21st All India Chemiquiz organized by Department of Chemistry, Presidency University on 18th April, 2017 and secured the second position in the said quiz competition.
  10. 1st Year students Rittiwika Pan, Sreshtha Ganguly & Bartika Sanyal have performed as Bethune Choir Member in various cultural events held during 2016-17.
  11. An excursion was organised for departmental teachers, staff and students at Jawaharkunj Garden, Barrackpore, Cantonment. Kolkata - 700 120 on 18th December, 2017.
  12. Saptaparna Banerjee, Sarani Biswas, Nilakshi Paul & Ritushree Mondal (2nd year) and Ritobrata De & Sanandita Hazra (3rd Year) are the recipients of INSPIRE Scholarship-2017. Soumi Ghosh, Plabani Manna, Sanchaita Pal and Srijita Basu (2014-2017) were the recipients of INSPIRE Scholarship-2016.
  13. Shreyasree Saha and Sampreeti Roy (2014-2017) were recruited by the Tata Consultancy Services through our campus recruitment programme.
  14. Students of first and second year actively participated in various Co-Curricular and Extra-Curricular Activities held within and outside the campus. Following are the individual achievements by them.

 

Annual Sports-2017

Sl. No. Name Year Event  Position
1 Barnika Chakraborty,
Chandrika Ghosh, Sayani Banerjee		 II
I 		Relay Race 3rd
2 Anasuya Maji I Balance Race 1st
3 Shabnam Serin Islam I Long Jump 1st
4 Barnika Chakraborty II Javelin Throw 3rd
5 Sreshtha Ganguly II Javelin Throw 3rd
6 Sreshtha Ganguly
Chandrika Ghosh		 II
I		 Go As You Like 2nd
7 Sreshtha Ganguly II Carrom Tournament 1st
8 Ankita Sinha I Badminton Tournament 2nd

 

INTRA-2017

INTRA College competitions-2017 (Department of Chemistry Received the BEST DEPARTMENT prize) for the following achievements
 

Annual Sports-2017

Sl.
No.		 Name Year Event  Position
1 Ritobrata De, Shaswati Maji, Kattayani Sarkar
Puja Pal, Rittwika Pan, Priyasha Dey		 III
II		 Drama and Best Acting 3rd
2 Annesha Chattterjee & Sucheta Biswas III Antakshari 1st
3 Ritobrata De & Sucheta Biswas III Educational Model 1st
4 Ritobrata De III Bengali Creative Writing 1st
5 Ritobrata De III Short Film 3rd
6 Ritobrata De
Rittwika Pan		 III
I		 Treasure Hunt 1st
7 Swagata Roy III Extempore 3rd
8 Swagata Roy & Shaswati Maji III Treasure Hunt 2nd
9 Rittwika Pan II Western Vocal 2nd
10 Rittwika Pan II Debate
Death Penalty should be abolished
(for the Motion)		 3rd
11 Rittwika Pan II Rabindra Sangeet 2nd
12 Puja Pal II Debate
Death Penalty should be abolished
(Against the Motion)		 3rd
13 Puja Pal II Extempore 3rd
14 Bartika Sanyal II Rabindra Sangeet 2nd
15 Priyasha Dey & Srestha Ganguly II Treasure Hunt 3rd
16 Shreya Mukherjee I Rangoli 1st
17 Anasuya Maji I Poster Making 2nd
18 Aditi Das I Short Film 2nd
         

AALAP-2017

Sl. No. Name Year Event  Position
1 Rohi Naushin I Mehendi 2nd
2 Puja Pal II Extempore 3rd
3 Sreshtha Ganguly II Nail Art 3rd

 

INTER COLLEGE COMPETITION-2017

Sl. No. Name Event  Position
1 Science Model :
  1. Shreya Mukherjee, Aditi Goswami & Trina Mukherjee (Gems: Myth or Logic)
  2. Anwesha Dutta, Banashree Ray, Ankita Bhattacharya, Ayantika Chakraborty (Piezoelectric Effect)
  3. Ditirima Roy, Papiya Mandal, Chandrika Ghosh ( Biopolymer)

Cultural Programme :

  1. Aditi Das (Music, Rabindra Sangeet)
  2. Ankita Konar (Bengali Recitation)

(All 1st year Students)
 

 Academic and Cultural Programme in the Acharya Satyendranath Basu Smarak, ‘Bigyan O Projukti Mela - 2018' at Hedua Park, Kolkata on 11-14 January, 2018 2nd
2 Ankita Sinha (1st Year) Fashion Show in Rhapsody - 2017 on 11.09.17 (Calcutta Medical College Fest) 1st
       

 

INTRA-2016

Sl. No. Name Year Event  Position
1 Bortika Sanyal 1st Eastern Vocal 3rd
2 Rittwika Pan 1st Western Vocal 2nd
3 Sanandita Hazra 2nd Eastern Dance 3rd
4 Annesha Chattterjee & Annesha Datta 2nd Antakshari 1st
5 Gargi Day & Debleena Ghosh 2nd Antakshari 3rd
6 Swagata Roy 2nd Recitation 3rd
7 Ritobrata De & Sucheta Biswas 2nd Quiz 2nd
8 Ritobrata De & Sucheta Biswas 2nd Treasure Hunt 1st
9 Ritobrata De 2nd Bengali Creative Writing 1st
10 Ritobrata De 2nd Painting 1st
11 Swagata Roy 2nd Debate 1st

College Fest AALAP - 2016

Sl. No. Name Year Event  Position
1 Rohi Naushin 1st Mehendi 3rd
2 Ritobrata De 1st Extempore 3rd

Annual Sports-2016

Sl. No. Name Year Event  Position
1 Ankita Sinha 1st Shot Put 3rd
  Ankita Sinha 1st Long Jump 3rd
2 Sucheta Biswas 2nd 100mt Run 2nd

 

  1. Apart from taking part in different in-house events, our students also participated enthusiastically in various cultural as well as sports activities outside the campus. Following is the list of such achievements worth mentioning.

    INTER COLLEGE COMPETITION-2016

    Sl. No. Name (Students of first year) Year Event  Position
    1 Ankita Sinha 1st Badminton (Single)
    Scottish Church College Fest    		 2nd
    2 Ritobrata De 1st Creative Writing (Inter College Creative Writing Competition by Writers' Block "REFULGENCE" 2nd
    3 Ritobrata De & Rittwika Pan 2nd Debate (Celebration of Sister Nivedita's 150th Birth Anniversary)
    Against the motion & For the motion     		1st
    Both 1st
    4 Sayantika Bhakta, Srijita Basu & Tiyasha Mondal 3rd Poster Competition of undergraduate level (Topic : Hydrogen Bond) in the One Day National Seminar held in Chemistry Department organised on 09.9.2016 1st
    5 Rittwika Pan, Puja Pal and Bortika Sanyal 1st Quiz competition held in Cultvision -17 organised by Research Scholars Association (IACS) on 24th - 25th March, 2017 3rd
    6 Rittwika Pan 1st Creative writing (Topic: Cinema) held in Cultvision  - 17 organised by Research Scholars Association (IACS) on 24th-25th March, 2017 1st

     

  2. 1st Year students Rittiwika Pan, Sreshtha Ganguly & Bartika Sanyal have performed as Bethune Choir Member in various cultural events held during 2016-17.
  3. An excursion was organised for departmental teachers, staff and students at Garh Mirzapur, Howrah on 14th January, 2017.
  4. Soumi Ghosh, Plabani Manna, Sanchaita Paul and Srijita Basu of 3rd year were among the recipients of INSPIRE Scholarship in 2016.
  5. Shreyasree Saha and Sampreeti Roy, students from the 2017 pass out batch, have been recruited by the Tata Consultancy Services through our campus recruitment programme.
     

Department News

Science Academies' Lecture Workshop entitled 'Fundamentals of Chemistry' was organised by the Department of Chemistry, Bethune College, Kolkata, on November 17-18, 2017.
The Workshop was sponsored jointly by Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore), Indian National Science Academy (New Delhi) and The National Academy of Sciences, India (Allahabad).

Day-1 (17.11.2017)
Lecture 1: "The Discovery of Elements" by Prof. Sayam Sengupta, IISER, Kolkata
Lecture 2: "Chemical Kinetics" by Prof. Chaitali Mukhopadhyay, University of Calcutta.
Lecture 3: "Biocatalysis Beyond Aqueous Medium"by Prof. Prasanta K. Das, IACS, Kolkata.
Lecture 4: "Learning Chemistry with Fun! - Part 1" by Prof. Uday Maitra, IISc, Bangalore.

Day-2 (18.11.2017)
Lecture 1: "What are Orbitals?" by Prof. Sayam Sengupta, IISER, Kolkata
Lecture 2: "Playing with Salt" by Prof. Parthasarathi Dastidar, IACS, Kolkata
Lecture 3: "Learning Chemistry with Fun! - Part 2" by Prof. Uday Maitra IISc, Bangalore.

Interactive Session: A few UG Teachers shared individual experience in UG teaching highlighting their innovative views on teaching-learning procedure. A few students gave their feedback.
 

 


Results :

University Results - Part- III Honours

Year of Passing No. of Students Appeared 1st Class Highest Marks (%)
2017 34 17 74.5%
2016 35 23 86.75%
2015 27 19 78.9%
2014 24 19 79%
2013 32 23 77.8%

Debarati Das and Sreemoyee Chakraborty (2013-2016) became First Class First and Second, respectively in the B.Sc. Chemistry (Hons.) Examination, 2016 of Calcutta University. Soumi Kolay (2014-2017) secured the 2nd position in Calcutta University scoring 81% marks in B.Sc. Part-I Honours Examination, 2015.

 

Contact us

Contact us : chemistry.bethune@gmail.com