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Highlights

A few papers worth a closer look, in plain English.

EES Solar
🔥 Hot Article

Solar-driven strategies in carbon capture technologies

A review surveying how sunlight can power carbon capture directly, with Sudipta Nayak, a predoctoral researcher in the group, as first author, now published in EES Solar and selected as a Hot Article.

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J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2026
9 citations

Solar air-to-fuel technologies for a circular carbon economy

A roadmap for turning the CO2 already in the air into fuel using nothing but sunlight, surveying what's working in the field, what isn't, and where solar-powered carbon conversion needs to go next.

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Nature Energy 2025
149 citations

Direct air capture of CO2 for solar fuel production in flow

A reactor that pulls CO2 straight out of ordinary air at night using a solid adsorbent, then uses concentrated sunlight by day to convert it into syngas, a key fuel building block, while breaking down plastic waste as the other half of the reaction.

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Joule 2023
93 citations

Integrated capture and solar-driven utilization of CO2 from flue gas and air

Captures CO2 from either smokestack emissions or thin air and converts it into fuel-precursor gas using sunlight alone, with no electricity input, while upcycling waste plastic on the other side of the reaction.

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Nature Catalysis 2021
221 citations

Highly efficient additive-free dehydrogenation of neat formic acid

A robust catalyst that releases hydrogen gas from formic acid, a liquid that's far easier and safer to store and transport than hydrogen gas itself, and kept working continuously for over a month without degrading.

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J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020
288 citations

Hydroxide-based integrated CO2 capture from air and conversion to methanol

Shows that ordinary alkali hydroxides, cheaper and simpler than the amine chemistry the field usually relies on, can capture CO2 straight from air and be converted efficiently into methanol fuel.

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A full list is on Google Scholar.

From IIT Kanpur 2

1
Solar-driven strategies in carbon capture technologies
Sudipta Nayak and Sayan Kar*
EES Solar, 2026 Hot Article
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2
Solar air-to-fuel technologies for a circular carbon economy
Sayan Kar* and Erwin Reisner*
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2026, 148, 10267-10285
9cites
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Postdoc, University of Cambridge 2

3
Direct air capture of CO2 for solar fuel production in flow
Sayan Kar, Dongseok Kim, Ariffin Bin Mohamad Annuar, et al.
Nature Energy 2025, 10, 448-459
149cites
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4
Integrated capture and solar-driven utilization of CO2 from flue gas and air
Sayan Kar, Motiar Rahaman, Virgil Andrei, et al.
Joule 2023, 7, 1496-1514 equal contribution
93cites
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Postdoc, Weizmann Institute of Science 11

5
Oxidation of organic compounds using water as the oxidant with H2 liberation catalyzed by molecular metal complexes
Sayan Kar, David Milstein*
Acc. Chem. Res. 2022, 55, 2304-2315
64cites
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6
Sustainable catalysis with fluxional acridine-based PNP pincer complexes
Sayan Kar and David Milstein*
Chem. Commun. 2022, 18, 3731-3746
53cites
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7
Catalytic furfural/5-HMF oxidation to furoic acid/FDCA with H2 production using alkaline water as the formal oxidant
Sayan Kar, Quan-Quan Zhou, Yehoshoa Ben-David, and David Milstein*
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 1288-1295
137cites
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8
Dehydrogenative ester synthesis from enol ethers and water with a ruthenium complex catalyzing two reactions in synergy
Sayan Kar, Jie Luo, Michael Rauch, et al.
Green Chem. 2022, 24, 1481-1487
15cites
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9
Highly efficient additive-free dehydrogenation of neat formic acid
Sayan Kar, Michael Rauch, Gregory Leitus, Yehoshoa Ben-David, and David Milstein*
Nature Catalysis 2021, 4, 193-201
221cites
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10
Efficient base-free aqueous reforming of methanol homogeneously catalyzed by ruthenium with acceleration by added catalytic thiol
Jie Luo, Sayan Kar, Michael Rauch, et al.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 17284-17291
68cites
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11
Manganese-pincer-catalyzed nitrile hydration, alpha-deuteration, and alpha-deuterated amide formation via metal-ligand cooperation
Quan-Quan Zhou, You-Quan Zou, Sayan Kar, et al.
ACS Catal. 2021, 11, 10239-10245
41cites
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12
Manganese catalyzed hydrogenation of azo (N=N) bonds to amines
Uttam Kumar Das, Sayan Kar, Yehoshoa Ben-David, Yael Diskin-Posner, David Milstein*
Adv. Synth. Catal. 2021, 363, 3744-3749
27cites
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13
Near-ambient-temperature dehydrogenative synthesis of the amide bond: mechanistic insight and applications
Sayan Kar, Yinjun Xie, Quan-Quan Zhou, et al.
ACS Catal. 2021, 11, 7383-7393
39cites
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14
Metal-ligand cooperation facilitates bond activation and catalytic hydrogenation with zinc pincer complexes
Michael Rauch, Sayan Kar, Amit Kumar, et al.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 14513-14521
92cites
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15
Selective room-temperature hydrogenation of amides to amines and alcohols catalyzed by a ruthenium pincer complex
Sayan Kar, Michael Rauch, Amit Kumar, et al.
ACS Catal. 2020, 10, 5511-5515
61cites
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PhD, University of Southern California 15

16
Hydroxide-based integrated CO2 capture from air and conversion to methanol
Raktim Sen, Alain Goeppert, Sayan Kar, and G. K. Surya Prakash*
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 4544-4549 coverhighlighted in C&EN
288cites
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17
Integrated CO2 capture and conversion to formate and methanol: connecting two threads
Sayan Kar, Alain Goeppert, and G. K. Surya Prakash*
Acc. Chem. Res. 2019, 52, 2892-2903
380cites
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18
Catalytic homogeneous hydrogenation of CO to methanol via formamide
Sayan Kar, Alain Goeppert, and G. K. Surya Prakash*
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 12518-12521
70cites
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19
Combined CO2 capture and hydrogenation to methanol: amine immobilization enables easy recycling of active elements
Sayan Kar, Alain Goeppert, and G. K. Surya Prakash*
ChemSusChem 2019, 12, 3172-3177 invited
95cites
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20
Mechanistic insights into ruthenium-pincer-catalyzed amine-assisted homogeneous hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol
Sayan Kar, Raktim Sen, Jotheeswari Kothandaraman, et al.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 3160-3170
235cites
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21
A carbon-neutral CO2 capture, conversion and utilization cycle with low-temperature regeneration of sodium hydroxide
Sayan Kar, Alain Goeppert, Vicente Galvan, et al.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 16873-16876 cover
148cites
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22
Integrative CO2 capture and hydrogenation to methanol with reusable catalyst and amine
Sayan Kar, Raktim Sen, Alain Goeppert, and G. K. Surya Prakash*
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 1580-1583
341cites
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23
Advances in catalytic homogeneous hydrogenation of carbon dioxide to methanol
Sayan Kar, Jotheeswari Kothandaraman, Alain Goeppert, and G. K. Surya Prakash*
J. CO2 Util. 2018, 23, 212-218
245cites
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24
Structural parameters in selecting silica supports for PEI-based CO2 solid adsorbents: importance of pore size
Hang Zhang, Alain Goeppert, Sayan Kar, and G. K. Surya Prakash*
J. CO2 Util. 2018, 26, 246-253
52cites
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25
Advances in homogeneous catalysis for low-temperature methanol reforming in the context of the methanol economy
Jotheeswari Kothandaraman, Sayan Kar, Alain Goeppert, Raktim Sen, and G. K. Surya Prakash*
Top. Catal. 2018, 61, 542-559
79cites
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26
Regioselective deuteration of alcohols in D2O catalysed by homogeneous manganese and iron pincer complexes
Sayan Kar, Alain Goeppert, Raktim Sen, Jotheeswari Kothandaraman, and G. K. Surya Prakash*
Green Chem. 2018, 20, 2706-2710
48cites
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27
Nucleophilic difluoromethylation of aromatic aldehydes using TMSCF3
Sankarganesh Krishnamoorthy, Sayan Kar, Jotheeswari Kothandaraman, and G. K. Surya Prakash*
J. Fluor. Chem. 2018, 208, 10-14
27cites
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28
Manganese-catalyzed sequential hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol via formamide
Sayan Kar, Alain Goeppert, Jotheeswari Kothandaraman, and G. K. Surya Prakash*
ACS Catal. 2017, 7, 6347-6351
286cites
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29
Efficient reversible hydrogen carrier system based on amine reforming of methanol
Jotheeswari Kothandaraman, Sayan Kar, Raktim Sen, et al.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 2549-2552 highlighted in Nat. Rev. Chem.
154cites
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30
Direct S-difluoromethylation of thiols using the Ruppert-Prakash reagent
G. K. Surya Prakash*, Sankarganesh Krishnamoorthy, Sayan Kar, and George A. Olah
J. Fluor. Chem. 2015, 180, 186-191
44cites
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Book Chapter 1

31
Catalytic homogeneous hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol
Sayan Kar, Alain Goeppert, and G. K. Surya Prakash*
In CO2 Hydrogenation Catalysis (Y. Himeda, Ed.), Wiley, 2021
9cites
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