Information
Designation: Professor (HEC Approved Supervisor)
Specialization: Inorganic Chemistry
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: +92-51-9064-2108
Ph.D.: The University of Auckland, New Zealand with Prof. Dr. L. J. Wright
PhD Research Title: “Development of New Ligands for Transition Metal Homogenous Catalysts”

RESEARCH INTERESTS

·       Spectator Ligand Design: Donor flexible, Redox Active, Non-innocent, Multifunctional & Supramolecules

·       Molecular Synthesis of Coordination Complexes & Organometallics

·      Proton Coupled Electron Transfer (PCET) Catalysis such as CO2 & Proton reduction (HER) & Water Oxidation (OER)

·       Molecular Electro-Catalysis & Artificial photosynthesis, Renewable Energy, Green and Sustainable Chemistry

·       First Row Transition Metal complexes for Small Molecule Activation.

·       Redox Flow Chemistry involving Reduction-Oxidation (redox) Reactions.

·       Transition Metal Complexes as Homogeneous Catalysts for C-C coupling, C-H activation, A3-coupling.

·       Water Soluble Inorganic Complexes of Palladium, Ruthenium and Zinc for Cancer Treatment.

·       Ligand Design for Recovery, Recycling and Separation of Critical Metals.

·       Ligand Design for Chemosensors of Metals, Drugs, Biomacromolecules and Other Analytes


  1. Awards
  2. Courses Taught
  3. Publications
  4. Research Students
  5. Research Projects
  •       BSc: First Position in Science Group (Roll of honor), Gordon College Rawalpindi (Punjab University, Lahore)
  •       MSc: First Position in Inorganic/ Analytical Chemistry, QAU Islamabad.
  •       MPhil: First Position in Chemistry (Chancellor’s Gold Medal) QAU Islamabad.
  •       PhD: Doctoral Award, The University of Auckland, New Zealand.
  •       Cover Articles: Inorganic Chemistry (ACS) & Dalton Transactions (RSC)
  •       Young Scientist Alumnus: Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, Germany (Chemistry)
  •       Research Grant Award: recieved from President of Pakistan at Aiwan-e-Sadr (Presidency Palace)
  •       Member of Scientific Societies: Life time member of CSP (Pak), ACS (US), RSC (UK), NZIC (NZ) & RACI (Aus)
  •       Best Performance Award: QAU (2022-23)


BS/MSc :

  • Inorganic Chemistry-I  (Transition Metal Chemistry; d-block) 
  • Inorganic Chemistry-II (Transition Metal Chemistry; f-block)
  • Organometallics 
  • Coordination Chemistry
  • Analytical Chemistry-I
  • Analytical Chemistry-II (Electroanalytical Techniques)
  • Inorganic/Analytical Chemistry Laboratory-III
  • Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory-I
  • Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory-II
  • Analytical Chemistry Laboratory-I
  • Analytical Chemistry Laboratory-II
  • Advanced Inorganic/Analytical Chemistry Laboratory-IV
  • Research project in Analytical/Inorganic Chemistry

Phil/PhD:

  • Catalysis
  • Review Paper
  • Seminar
  • Research project in Inorganic Chemistry




JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS: Total 87 ISI (Clarivate) research journal publications  with h-index ⟩ 30

Selective Last Five-Year Publications (2025-2020) as Lead/Corresponding Author:

1.    Palladium (II) pyridylidene sulfonamide (PYSA) catalysts featuring Ortho-Substitution allow for improved electrocatalytic CO2 reduction Inorganic Chemistry Communications 173, 2025, 113838. 

2.    Multifunctional Imino-Amido Based Asymmetrical Ligands with Pd(II) for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Journal of molecular structure 2025, 1334, 14182. 

3.    Water-Soluble Palladium Complexes Bearing NNN-Pincer Ligands: Synthesis, DFT Modeling, cT-DNA Interactions and in Vitro Cytotoxicity Studies Against Breast Cancer Cell Lines Dalton Transaction 2025, 54, 9236. 

4.    Palladium (II) Pyridylidene Sulfonamides (PYSAs) for Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2 Journal of Molecular Structure 2025, 1322 (4),140582. 

5.    Harnessing Cd(II)-based Efficient Photocatalyst with Nitrogen Gas Adsorption: A Green Approach Towards Environmental Remediation Inorganic Chemistry Communications 2025, 182, 115227. 

6.    Exploring the Antitumor Effects of Pd(II) Complexes with Nitrogen Donor Ligands towards Breast Carcinoma Biometals 2025 38(4):1235-1254. 

7.    Synergistic Antiproliferative Activity of newly Synthesized Benzimidazole Based Silver (I) Complexes on MCF-7 and T47D Cell Lines, CT-DNA Interactions Supported by Computational Studies ACS Omega 2025,10(13),13278-13295. 

8.    Unveiling the multifaceted nature of terpyridine-based metal complexes: a synergistic study of their photophysical and electrochemical behavior with computational insights RSC Advances 2025, 15, 10825-10850. 

9.    Biological Effects of p-PYA Ligands on Certain Trace Elements of Group-12 Towards DNA Binding and Cytotoxicity Potency Biometals 2025. 

10. ONO-Pincer Zn(II) & Cd(II) Complexes: Synthesis, Structural Characterization, Hirshfeld Surface Analysis and CT-DNA Interactions Journal of Molecular Structure 2024, 1295 (2), 136571. 

11. Pincer Shaped N-Mesoionic Pyridylidene Amide (PYA) for Palladium Catalyzed CO2 Reduction J. Mol. Str. 2024,1318, 139347. 

12. Preliminary Anticancer Evaluation of New Pd(II) Complexes Bearing NNO Donor Ligands Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal 2024, 32, 101915. 

13. Design of Efficient Benzimidazole-Derived N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ag (I) Catalysts for Aldehyde-Amine-Alkyne Coupling Journal of Molecular Structure 2024, 1318(1), 139239. 

14. Plausible PEPPSI Catalysts for Direct C-H Functionalization of Furans and Pyrroles J. Mol. Str. 2024, 1295, 136679. 

15. Zn(II) and Cd(II) Pincer Complexes Bearing Meta Alkylated Pyridinium Amidates; Synthesis & Preliminary Anticancer Evaluation New Journal of Chemistry, 2023, 47, 21845. 

16. Benzimidazol-2-ylidene ruthenium complexes for C-N bond formation through alcohol dehydrogenation Turk. J. Chem. 2023, 47, 1209. 

17. Palladium Anchored Donor Flexible Pyridylidene Amide (PYA) Electrocatalysts for CO2 Reduction RSC advances, 2023, 13, 13817. 

18. Coordination Behavior, Structural, Statistical and Theoretical Investigation of Biologically Active Metal Based Isatin Compounds Chemical Papers 2022, 76, 3705–3727.  (Q2)

19. Metal incorporated sulfonamides as promising multidrug targets: Combined enzyme inhibitory, antimicrobial, anti-oxidant and theoretical exploration Journal of Molecular Structure 2022, 1251, 131933. 

20. Benzimidazole-based N-Heterocyclic Carbene Silver Complexes as Catalysts for the Formation of Carbonates from Carbon Dioxide and Epoxide Molecular Catalysis 2022, 526, 112369. 

21. New organosulphur metallic compounds as potential drugs: Synthesis, molecular modeling, spectral, antimicrobial, drug likeness and DFT analysis Molecular Diversity 2022, 26, 51–72. 

22. Corrigendum to “Efficient palladium (II) electrocatalysts with thiophene anchored pyridinium amidates for CO2 reduction” [J. CO2 Util. 44 (February) (2021) 101384 – 101393]  Journal of CO2 Utilization  2021, 49, 101560. 

23. Design, facile synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, and medicinal probing of metal-based new sulfonamide drugs: A theoretical and spectral study Applied Organometallic Chemistry 2021, 35, 1, 6054. 

24. Direct arylation (Hetero-coupling) of Heteroarenes via Unsymmetrical Palladium-PEPPSI-NHC type Complexes Polyhedron 2021, 208, 115412. 

25. Synthesis of New Pd(NHC)-PEPPSI Type Complexes as Catalysts toward C-C Cross-Coupling Reactions Journal of Molecular Structure 2021, 1243, 130883. 

26. 2-Benzylidenebenzofuran-3 (2 H)-ones as a new class of alkaline phosphatase inhibitors: synthesis, SAR analysis, enzyme inhibitory kinetics and computational studies RSC Advances, 2021, 11, 35077. 

27. New 3-D Mn(II) Coordination Polymer with Redox Active Oxalate Linker; An Efficient and Robust Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction Inorganica Chemica Acta 2021, 514,  2021, 119982. 

28. Synthesis, characterization, and biological screening of metal complexes of novel sulfonamide derivatives: Experimental and theoretical analysis of sulfonamide crystal: Synthesis and Biological Screening of Metal Complexes Applied Organometallic Chemistry 2020, 34, 5623. 

29. Synthesis, characterization, geometric optimization and multi-target therapeutic evaluation of new homoleptic and heteroleptic Cd(II) carboxylates J. Mol. Str. 2020, 1212, 128088.

30. Efficient synthesis, characterization and invitro bactericidal studies of unsymmetrically substituted triazole-derived Schiff base ligand and its transition metal complexes Monatshefte für Chemie 2020, 151, 549-557.  

31. Dinuclear Nickel (II) Complex with ONO-Pincer and Coordinated Aquo Ligands as a Robust Homogenous Water Oxidation Catalyst Russian Chemical Bulletin 2020, 69, 2121–2128. 

32. Terpyridine-metal complexes: Effects of different substituents on their physico-chemical properties and DFT studies Royal Society Open Science 2020, 7 (11), 201208. 

Selective PhD Publications as Lead Author:

33.     Extending the Range of Neutral N-Donor Ligands Available for Metal Catalysts: N-[1-Alkylpyridin-4(1H)-ylidene]amides in Palladium-Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Reactions Inorganic Chemistry 2011, 50, 21, 10522-10524. (Cover Article). 

34.     Controlled translocation of Pd(II) within a 22-ring atom macrocyclic ligand Dalton Transactions 2014, 43, 17006-17016. (Cover Article). 

35.     Synthesis, Characterization, DNA-Binding, Enzyme Inhibition and Antioxidant Studies of New N-methylated Derivatives of Pyridinium Amine JMS 2017, 1137, 84-96. 

36.     Synthesis, Characterization, and Anti-Cancer Evaluation of New Water-Soluble PYE Ligands and their Palladium (II) Complexes Dalton Transactions 2019, 48, 15408. (Cover Article). 

37.     Synthesis of New Pro-PYE Ligands as Co-Catalysts toward Pd-Catalyzed Heck-Mizoroki Cross Coupling Reactions RSC Advances, 2019, 9(65), 37986. 

38.     Pd(II) complexes with chelating N-(1-alkylpyridin-4(1H)-ylidene)amide (PYA) ligands: Synthesis, characterization and evaluation of anticancer activity Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 224, 2021, 111590. 

  •       PhD First Batch (Completed): Zahid Nawaz, Afshan Khurshid, Shazia Hussain, Sara Masood & Naima Munir 

  •       PhD Second Batch (In Process): Faysal Nawaz,  Sameen Fatima, Farah Chaudhry &  Ayesha Chaudhry

  •       PhD Positions: OPEN (1) Synthesis of  Inorganic & Organic Molecules or Inorganic Materials).  (2) Back ground research in any of the following field will also be considered : Catalysis, Electrochemistry,  Medicinal Chemistry. Energy or Computational chemistry)

  • ·         Total Research Students Supervised: Above 50

·         Won Number of Research Grants: 

        National: NRPU & URF. 

        International: MOHE/UMT, Malaysia &  British Council, UK