Prof. Nidhi Jain | Faculty Profile | IIT Delhi - Abu Dhabi

Research Areas

C-H bond functionalization Visible Light and Photoredox Chemistry Medicinal Chemistry

Biosketch

Nidhi Jain is a Professor of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India. She joined IIT Delhi as full-time faculty in December 2010, following a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Rhode Island, USA, where her work centered on the chemical carcinogenesis of arylamine–DNA adducts.

At IIT Delhi, Prof. Jain's research group has made significant contributions to C–H bond functionalization in organic synthesis, with a particular emphasis on harnessing such bonds for late-stage functionalization. The group has devised economical and sustainable routes to C–C, C–N, C–O and C–S bonds using palladium and copper catalysis, hypervalent iodine reagents, and visible-light photocatalysis — approaches that open up access to molecules of considerable synthetic and commercial value. This body of work has resulted in over 90 papers in leading international journals (ACS, RSC, Wiley), attracting more than 4,500 citations and an h-index of 28.

Prof. Jain has also played an active part in institution building. She served as Professor-in-Charge of UQIDAR (2020–2021), where she coordinated with international academic partners, and as Associate Dean, Faculty (2021–2024). A member of the Internal Complaints Committee and several other committees advancing gender equality in the workplace, she has been a consistent advocate for welfare at IIT Delhi. She currently serves as Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs at IIT Delhi–Abu Dhabi.

Awards and Recognitions
  • National Award to Teachers (NAT) for HEIs from MoE, 2024
  • CRSI Bronze Medal from Chemical Research Society of India, 2022
  • D.K. Banerjee Memorial Award: IISc Bangalore, 2017
  • Teaching Excellence Award for UG teaching IIT Delhi, 2014
  • Tetrahedron award for the top 50 most cited articles in 2007-2008
  • Best poster award at 232nd ACS meeting, SFO, USA, Sept 2006
  • Gold Medal and T.R. Sheshadri Memorial Award in Chemistry 1999
Recent Publications
  • Oligophenylene Tuning from Monomer to Trimer Enables Ultrafast Excited-State Dynamics and Ultrahigh Emission Cross Sections, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 148 (24), 24711–24720 (2026).
  • Photocatalyzed synthesis of coumarin-3-derivatives from aryl alkynoates and hydrazines, Harsha, Rohit Kumar, and Nidhi Jain*, J. Org. Chem. 90 (37), 13047-13055, (2025).
  • Dual ipso-hydroxylation and para-C-H chalcogenation of arylboronic acids using NDI photocatalyst in visible light, A. Datta, and N. Jain*, Chem. Commun., 61, 8536-8539 (2025).
  • Synthesis of aminated C-3 aryloylated benzofuran, furopyridine, benzothiophene and indole derivatives from 1,6-enyne and N-aminopyridinium salt in visible light, S. Rajput, Rajat, Nitesh, P. Gupta, H. Singh, and N. Jain*, J. Org. Chem., 90, 493-502 (2025).