Research Overview

I am an atmospheric chemist as well as an experimental physical chemist with extensive experience in laboratory-based investigations of atmospheric chemical processes related to air quality and climate change.  In the Ice core and atmospheric chemistry laboratory, I plan to work with atmospheric and ice core samples to understand trends in methane (CH₄), a major greenhouse gas as well as hydroxyl (OH) radical which is the main atmospheric oxidant.  My research will also include measuring kinetic isotope effect for OH+CH₄ reaction to improve model uncertainties in CH₄ budget.  I shall also be involved in atmospheric monitoring of key greenhouse gases.  In future, I plan to study chemistry of atmospheric pollutants and emerging greenhouse gases in the laboratory as well.

Research Interests

• Atmospheric chemistry: air quality and climate change
• Global methane (CH4) budget
• Hydroxyl (OH) radical abundance in the past and modern atmosphere
• Gas kinetics, photochemistry, and spectroscopy
• Ice cores
• Atmospheric monitoring

Selected Publications

• A. Chattopadhyay, V. C. Papadimitriou, J. B. Burkholder*, OH reaction rate coefficients, infrared spectra, and climate metrics for (E)- and (Z)- 2-perfluoroheptene (2-C₇F₁₄) and 3-perfluoroheptene (3-C₇F₁₄), Int. J. Chem. Kinet. 2023, 55, 392-401.
• A. Chattopadhyay, Y. Bedjanian, M.N. Romanias, A.D. Eleftheriou, V.S. Melissas, V.C. Papadimitriou, J. B. Burkholder*, The OH radical and chlorine atom kinetics of substituted aromatic compounds: 4-chlorobenzotrifluoride (p-ClC₆H₄CF₃), Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2022, 126, 5407-5419.
• A. Chattopadhyay, T. Gierczak, P. Marshall, V.C. Papadimitriou, J. B. Burkholder*, Kinetic fall-off behavior for the Cl + Furan-2,5-dione (C₄H₂O₃, maleic anhydride) reaction, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2021, 23, 4901-4911.
• A. Chattopadhyay, V. C. Papadimitriou, P. Marshall, J. B. Burkholder*, Temperature dependent rate coefficients for the gas-phase OH + Furan-2,5-dione (C₄H₂O₃, maleic anhydride) reaction.Int. J. Chem. Kinet. 2020, 52, 623-631.
• A. Chattopadhyay*, M. Samanta, K. Mondal, T. Chakraborty*, Mid-infrared quantum cascade laser spectroscopy probing of the kinetics of an atmospherically significant radical reaction, CH₃O₂ + NO₂ + M → CH₃O₂NO₂ + M, in the gas phase.J. Chem. Sci. 2018, 130, 54.
• A. Chattopadhyay*, P. Chatterjee, T. Chakraborty*, Photo-oxidation of Acetone to Formic Acid in Synthetic Air and Its Atmospheric Implication.J. Phys. Chem. A. 2015, 119, 8146−8155.

Past Appointments

Research Scientist, NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory and CIRES, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA. 2018-2023

Memberships

• Member, American Geophysical Union, USA (AGU), 2019 – present.
• Member, Royal Society of Chemistry, UK (MRSC), 2020 - present.
• Associate Member, Royal Society of Chemistry, UK (AMRSC), 2016 - 2020.

Awards

• Researcher Development Grant, 2022, by the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK.
• Newton International Fellowship Award, 2018, by the Royal Society, UK, and SERB, India (declined).
• International Travel Grant from the SERB, Govt. of India for attending the 24^th International Symposium on Gas Kinetics and Related Phenomena 2016 at the University of York, UK.
• Best Poster Presentation Award at the National Symposium on Radiation and Photochemistry (NSRP) 2015 held at IIT Kanpur, India.
• Best Poster Presentation Award at the National Symposium on Radiation and Photochemistry (NSRP) 2013 held at NEHU, Shillong, India.
• CSIR - Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) 2011 through NET by CSIR, Govt. of India for pursuing Ph.D. in Universities and Research Institutes in India.