Research Area

Supramolecular Chemistry, Crystal Engineering, Functional Molecular Materials, Self-assembly, Biomaterials

• Supramolecular Chemistry: Our research explores molecular recognition and non-covalent interactions to develop supramolecular architectures with programmable structures and functions. We investigate peptide-based and hybrid molecular systems that exhibit emergent optical, electronic, and biological properties through controlled self-assembly.
• Crystal Engineering: We employ crystal engineering principles to design functional molecular solids, hydrogen-bonded frameworks, and hybrid crystalline materials with tailored physicochemical properties. Our research emphasizes structure–property relationships to enable applications in sensing, electronics, and energy-related technologies.
• Functional Molecular Materials: We develop next-generation molecular materials, including amorphous molecular solids, metal–peptide architectures, and stimuli-responsive materials. By controlling molecular organization, we aim to create materials with tunable optical, mechanical, electronic, and biological functions.
• Self-assembly: Our research investigates the self-assembly of peptides and other bio-molecular building blocks into hierarchical nanostructures across multiple length scales. Understanding the mechanisms governing molecular assembly enables the rational design of advanced functional materials for diverse technological applications.
• Biomaterials: We design bioinspired and peptide-based materials for applications in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, biosensing, drug delivery, and biomedical devices. Our work integrates chemistry, materials science, and biology to develop sustainable materials with enhanced functionality and biocompatibility.

Research Interests

My research aims to advance functional molecular materials through the synergistic integration of supramolecular chemistry, crystal engineering, and molecular self-assembly. The group develops peptide-based and hybrid molecular systems, including hydrogen-bonded frameworks, metal–peptide architectures, amorphous molecular solids, and bioinspired soft materials. By uncovering the fundamental relationships between molecular structures, self-assembly, and material properties, we seek to establish new design principles for functional molecular materials with tailored optical, electronic, mechanical, and biological functions. Combining molecular synthesis, advanced structural characterization, spectroscopy, and computational insights, our research addresses fundamental questions while enabling applications in sensing, energy harvesting, and other emerging technologies, at the interface of chemistry, materials science and biology.

Representative Publications

• Finkelstein-Zuta, G.; Arnon, Z. A.; Vijayakanth, T.; Messer, O.; Lusky, O. S.; Wagner, A.; Zilberman, G.; Aizen, R.; Michaeli, L.; Rencus-Lazar, S.; Gilead, S.; Shankar, S.; Pavan, M. J.; Goldstein, D. A.; Kutchinsky, S.; Ellenbogen, T.; Palmer, B. A.; Goldbourt, A.; Sokol, M.; Gazit, E. "A self-healing multispectral transparent adhesive peptide glass", Nature, 2024, 630, 368–374.
• Aizen, R.; Vijayakanth, T.; Guerin, S.; Cazade, P. A.; Tiwari, O. S.; Xue, B.; Shimon, L. J. W.; Cao, Y.; Thompson, D.; Gazit, E. "Experimental and Computational Investigation of Surface-Responsive Riboflavin-Based Self-Assembled Systems", Chem. Eur. J., 2025, 31, e00726.
• Vijayakanth, T.; Sahoo, S.; Kothavade, P.; Sharma, V. B.; Kabra, D.; Zaręba, J. K.; Shanmuganathan, K.; Boomishankar, R. "A Ferroelectric Aminophosphonium Cyanoferrate with a Large Electrostrictive Coefficient as Piezoelectric Nanogenerator", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2023, 62, e202214984.
• Vijayakanth, T.; Ram, F.; Praveenkumar, B.; Shanmuganathan, K.; Boomishankar, R. "Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting from a Ferroelectric Hybrid Salt [Ph3MeP]4[Ni(NCS)6] Embedded in a Polymer Matrix", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2020, 132, 10454−10459.
• Vijayakanth, T.; Srivastava, A. K.; Ram, F.; Kulkarni, P.; Shanmuganathan, K.; Praveenkumar, B.; Boomishankar, R. "A Flexible Composite Mechanical Energy Harvester from a Ferroelectric Organoamino Phosphonium Salt", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2018, 57, 9054−9058.

Publications (Last 5 Years)

• Gupta, B. D.; Kuiri, R.; Vijayakanth, T.; Ghosh, N.; Konar, R.; Shankar, S.; Gazit, E.; Mondal, S. "Enhancing the antimicrobial potency of self-assembling antibiotics by co-assembly-based aggregation modulation", Macromol. Biosci., 2026.

• Aizen, R.; Vijayakanth, T.; Guerin, S.; Cazade, P. A.; Tiwari, O. S.; Xue, B.; Shimon, L. J. W.; Cao, Y.; Thompson, D.; Gazit, E. "Experimental and Computational Investigation of Surface-Responsive Riboflavin-Based Self-Assembled Systems", Chem. Eur. J., 2025, 31, e00726.
• Yuan, H.; Tang, Y.; Naranjo, E.; Cazade, P. A.; Yao, Y.; Vijayakanth, T.; Yang, R.; Rencus-Lazar, S.; Thompson, D.; Shimon, L. J. W.; Wei, G.; Chen, X.; Gazit, E. "Discrete Actuation of Water-Responsive Crystalline Metal–Peptide Frameworks", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2025, 64, e202513629.
• Abhishek, M.; Shreyada, S.; Susmita, S.; Abhijith, K.; Sumit, B.; Vijayakanth, T.; Mayurika, L.; Jagannath, M.; Shilpy, S.; Pinaki, T. "A Pyrrole-linked Benzimidazolyl Hydrazone Self-Assembles to Form HCl Channel and Induces Apoptosis in Cancer Cells", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2025, 64, e202505019.
• Pophali, Salil.; Dan-Dan, S.; Rudra, A.; Vijayakanth, T.; Nandi, S.; Jain, R.; Shimon, L. J. W.; Rajkumar, R.; Mihail, B. "Metal Directed Self-assembly of Minimal Heterochiral Peptide into Metallo-supramolecular β-helical Tubules for Artificial Transmembrane Water Channels", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2025, 147, 17404−17415.
• Veloso, S. R. S.; Vijayakanth, T.; Shankar, S.; Hilliou, L.; Rodrigues, P. V.; Moura, C.; Ferreira, P. M. T.; Correa-Duarte, M. A.; Gazit, E.; Castanheira, E. M. S. "Self-assembly pathway influence on dehydropeptide-based gels properties and drug release", Macromol. Biosci., 2025, 25, 70003.
• Ahmad, M.; Roy, N. J.; Mondal, D.; Vijayakanth, T.; Lahiri, M.; Talukdar, P. "Illuminating apoptosis: Visible light-activated chloride carrier for chloride transport and cell death", J. Mater. Chem B, 2025, 13, 5957–5966.

• Finkelstein-Zuta, G.; Arnon, Z. A.; Vijayakanth, T.; Messer, O.; Lusky, O. S.; Wagner, A.; Zilberman, G.; Aizen, R.; Michaeli, L.; Rencus-Lazar, S.; Gilead, S.; Shankar, S.; Pavan, M. J.; Goldstein, D. A.; Kutchinsky, S.; Ellenbogen, T.; Palmer, B. A.; Goldbourt, A.; Sokol, M.; Gazit, E. "A self-healing multispectral transparent adhesive peptide glass", Nature, 2024, 630, 368–374.
• Vijayakanth, T.; Dasgupta, S.; Ganatra, P.; Rencus-Lazar, S.; Bajpayee, N.; Desai, A. V.; Nandi, S.; Jain, R.; Bera, S.; Nguyen, A. I.; Gazit, E.; Misra, R. "Peptide hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks", Chem. Soc. Rev., 2024, 53, 3640–3655.
• Gupta, B. D.; Halder, A.; Vijayakanth, T.; Ghosh, N.; Konar, R.; Mukherjee, O.; Gazit, E.; Mondal, S. "A broad-spectrum antibacterial hydrogel based on the synergistic action of Fmoc–phenylalanine and Fmoc–lysine in a co-assembled state", J. Mater. Chem. B, 2024, 12, 8444−8453.
• Bajpayee, N.; Pophali, S.; Vijayakanth, T.; Nandi, S.; Desai, A. V.; Kumar, V.; Jain, R.; Bera, S.; Shimon, L. J. W.; Misra, R. "Metal-driven folding and assembly of a minimal β-sheet into a 3D-porous honeycomb framework", Chem. Commun., 2024, 60, 2621−2624.
• Sahu, I.; Wang, Z.; Tang, Y.; Naskar, S.; Vijayakanth, T.; Adole, V. V.; Wei, G.; Chakraborty, P. "Bioinspired functional hydrogels from a minimalistic dipeptide building block", J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024, 12, 4169–4183.
• Yuan, H.; Cazade, P. A.; Zhou, S.; Shimon, L. J. W.; Yuan, C.; Tan, D.; Liu, C.; Fan, W.; Vijayakanth, T.; Cao, Y.; Thompson, D.; Yan, X.; Yang, R.; Xue, B.; Gazit, E. "Molecular Engineering of Ordered Piezoelectric SulfonicAcid-Containing Assemblies", Small, 2024, 20, 2309493.

• Vijayakanth, T.; Shankar, S.; Finkelstein-Zuta, G.; Rencus-Lazar, S.; Gilead, S.; Gazit, E. "Perspectives on Recent Advancements in Energy Harvesting, Sensing and Bio-Medical Applications of Piezoelectric Gels", Chem. Soc. Rev., 2023, 52, 6191–6220.
• Vijayakanth, T.; Xue, B.; Guerin, S.; Rencus-Lazar, S.; Fridman, N.; Thompson, D.; Cao, Y.; Gazit, E. "Heteroatom-Directed Supramolecular Helical-rich Architectures in N-terminal Protected Pyridyl Aromatic Amino Acids", J. Mater. Chem. C, 2023, 11, 5174–5181.
• Bajpayee, N.; Vijayakanth, T.; Rencus-Lazar, S.; Dasgupta, S.; Desai, A. V.; Jain, R.; Gazit, E.; Misra, R. "Exploring Helical Peptides and Foldamers for the Design of Metal Helix Frameworks: Current Trends and Future Perspectives", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2023, 62, e202214583.
• Vijayakanth, T.; Sahoo, S.; Kothavade, P.; Sharma, V. B.; Kabra, D.; Zaręba, J. K.; Shanmuganathan, K.; Boomishankar, R. "A Ferroelectric Aminophosphonium Cyanoferrate with a Large Electrostrictive Coefficient as Piezoelectric Nanogenerator", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2023, 62, e202214984.
• Ahmad, M.; Roy, N. J.; Singh, A.; Mondal, D.; Mondal, A.; Vijayakanth, T.; Lahiri, M.; Talukdar, P. "Photo-controlled activation of doubly ONB-protected small molecule benzimidazoles leads to cancer cell death", Chem. Sci., 2023, 14, 8897–8904.
• Mondal, A.; Barik, G. K.; Sarkar, S.; Mondal, D.; Ahmad, M.; Vijayakanth, T.; Mondal, J.; Santra, M. K.; Talukdar. P. "Nontoxic Artificial Chloride Channel Formation in Epithelial Cells by Isophthalic Acid-Based Small Molecules", Chem. Eur. J., 2023, 29, e202202887.

• Vijayakanth, T.; Liptrot, D. J.; Gazit, E.; Boomishankar, R.; Bowen, C. R. "Recent Advances in Organic and Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Materials for Piezoelectric Mechanical Energy Harvesting", Adv. Funct. Mater., 2022, 32, 2109492.
• Nayak, M. K.; Sarkar, P.; Elvers, B. J.; Mehta, S.; Zhang, F.; Chrysochos, N.; Krummenacher, I.; Vijayakanth, T.; Narayanan, R. S.; Dolai, R.; Roy, SB.; Malik, V.; Rawat, H.; Mondal, A.; Boomishankar, R.; Pati, S. K.; Braunschweig, H.; Schulzke, C.; Ravat, P.; Jana, A. "A bis-NHC–CAAC dimer derived dicationic diradical", Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 12533−12539.
• Misra, R.; Tang, Y.; Chen, Y.; Chakraborty, P.; Netti, F.; Vijayakanth, T.; Shimon, L. J. W.; Wei, G.; Abramovich, L. A. "Exploiting Minimalistic Backbone Engineered γ-Phenylalanine for the Formation of Supramolecular Co-Polymer", Macromol. Rapid Commun., 2022, 43, 2200223.
• Misra, R.; Vijayakanth, T.; Shimon, L. J. W.; Abramovich, L. A. "Atomic insight into short helical peptide comprised of consecutive multiple aromatic residues", Chem. Commun., 2022, 58, 6445−6448.
• Ahmad, M.; Mondal, D.; Roy, N. J.; Vijayakanth, T.; Talukdar, P. "Reversible stimuli-responsive transmembrane ion transport using phenylhydrazone-based photoswitches", ChemPhotoChem, 2022, 6, e202200002.
• Sahoo, S.; Vijayakanth, T.; Kothavade, P.; Dixit, P.; Zaręba, J. K.; Shanmuganathan, K.; Boomishankar, R. "Ferroelectricity and Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting of Hybrid A2BX4-Type Halogenocuprates Stabilized by Phosphonium Cations", ACS Mater. Au, 2022, 2, 124–131.