Amolak Chand Jain

Amolak Chand Jain (27 December 1928 – 23 May 2021) was an Indian natural product chemist, academic and the head of the department of chemistry at Delhi University, University of Jammu and Himachal Pradesh University. He is known for his studies on polyphenols, flavonoids and isoflavonoids and their syntheses. He is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences, India and a life member of the International Academy of Physical Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1969, for his contributions to chemical sciences.

Biography Amolak Chand Jain, born on 27 December 1928 to Jugal Kishore Jain and Kala Wati in the Indian capital of Delhi, graduated in chemistry (BSc hons) in 1948 from the University of Delhi and passed his master's degree from the same university in 1950. It was during this period, he worked on the biogenesis of chlorophylls and developed new protocols for the synthesis of polyphenols. Later, he focused on the chemistry of flavonoids and isoflavonoids and is reported to have achieved the synthesis of a number of such products. He has published his research findings by way of over 275 articles published in peer-reviewed journals and has authored a text book on organic chemistry. He guided 30 MPhil and 30 PhD students in their studies.

A senior scientist of the Indian National Science Academy from 1995 to 2000, Jain contributed to the restructuring of academic courses during his tenure at Delhi University from 1985 to 1991. and the Chemical Research Society of India. He was a UGC National Professor in 1976 and is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences, India. The University of Delhi have instituted an annual scholarship, Professor A. C. Jain Fellowship, to recognize academic excellence in organic chemistry among post-graduate students.

Jain died on 23 May 2021, at the age of 92.

Selected bibliography