Rate My Professor Rasika Dias

Rasika Dias is a Distinguished Research Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Arlington. He earned his B.Sc. (Honors) degree in Chemistry from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Davis, under the guidance of Professor Philip Power, focusing on low-valent and low-coordinate compounds of Group 13–15 elements, including the pioneering discovery of boron–phosphorus analogs of benzene. Following his doctoral work, Dr. Dias spent nearly three years as a Visiting Research Scientist at DuPont Central Research & Development in Delaware, collaborating with Dr. Anthony Arduengo. Their efforts led to the groundbreaking discovery of the first isolable N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs), including IMes, ITol, and IMe(Me)₂, along with insights into electron distribution in NHCs and direct synthetic routes to their adducts with main-group and transition metal elements such as copper, silver, zinc, magnesium, aluminum, germanium, and phosphorus.

Dr. Dias joined the University of Texas at Arlington in 1992 and has served as Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry from 2010 to 2015 and currently. His research spans homogeneous catalysis, ethylene chemistry focusing on olefin-paraffin separation and effects on plants, luminescent materials, isolable models for reactive intermediates, and fluorinated ligand design. Notable findings include isolable ethylene, acetylene, and carbon monoxide complexes of coinage metal ions, tris(ethylene) gold cation, photoluminescent copper pyrazolates, π-acidic silver trimers, silver-mediated C-H and C-Cl bond functionalization, and non-porous materials for olefin-paraffin separation. He has authored or co-authored over 275 peer-reviewed publications, several patents, review articles, and contributions such as the book Nanomaterials for Environmental Protection (2014) and the chapter "Indium and Thallium" in Comprehensive Coordination Chemistry II (2004). His publications have received over 19,900 citations according to Google Scholar. Dr. Dias has earned prestigious honors including Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2025), American Chemical Society Southwest Regional Award (2009), Wilfred T. Doherty Award from the DFW ACS Section (2009), UTA Excellence in Doctoral Student Mentoring Award (2025), Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors (2025), and UTA Research Excellence Awards (2005-2008). He serves on editorial advisory boards of journals including Inorganic Chemistry, Dalton Transactions, and Polyhedron.