University of Madras Entrance Arch at Chepauk Campus
Mushi Santappa was born on 2 October 1923 in Jonnagiri village in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to Arikeri Basappa-Rajoli couple and graduated in chemistry from the University of Madras in 1943.[10] His master's degree was from Banaras Hindu University in 1946 after which he secured a PhD from the University of London on a Government of India scholarship in 1949, mentored by R. W. West. Staying back in the UK, he obtained another PhD in 1951 from Manchester University, working under the guidance of Meredith Gwynne Evans, a Fellow of the Royal Society; his thesis was based on the physical chemistry of high polymers. Returning to India, he joined the University of Madras as a reader of physical chemistry in 1952 and in 1958, he was transferred to the Madurai Extension Centre (present-day Madurai Kamaraj University) as a professor. He returned to Chennai in 1963 as the head of the department of physical chemistry. Serving as a UGC Senior Professor at the university from 1966 onward, he also worked as a director at Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) from 1972. In 1979, he was appointed as the vice chancellor of Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati and on expiry of his tenure in 1980,[1] he returned to Chennai and took up the assignment as the vice chancellor of the University of Madras in 1981 where he stayed till 1984.[2] While working as the UGC professor, he co-founded Avanti Leather Limited, a public limited company involved in the manufacture and export of leather products, in 1976.[11]
Santappa was married to Lakshmi Devi and the couple has three daughters and two sons. He died on 26 February 2017, in Chennai, at the age of 93.[12]
Legacy
Santappa's early researches during his doctoral studies were related to vinyl monomers.4 and its free radical polymerization using light but later, he shifted his focus to the study of kinetics of vinyl polymerization during his stint at the laboratory of Meredith Gwynne Evans.[10] Through these studies, he propounded that vinyl monomers could be polymerized using photo polymerization. He also demonstrated the synthesis of graft copolymers by simple chain transfer process and also studied oxidation of a number of organic substrates.[13]
His researches have been published in over 350 articles[note 1] and he guided 59 research scholars on the doctoral studies.[7] Moreover, he published a comprehensive text on the State of the Art in Polymer Science and Engineering in India.[14] Together with Santi K. Palit, a known chemist, he promoted research in polymer science at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science and was one of the organizers of the International Symposium on Polymers, under the aegis of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), held in Chennai in 1983.[10] He served as the chair of the Science and Society project of the Department of Science and Technology and has been an adviser to the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. It was during his tenure as the vice chancellor, the University of Madras established department of Energy and department of Polymer Science and Technology. He was also a national professor and member of the University Grants Commission and sat in the council of the Indian National Science Academy.[7]
Ranganathan, Hemalatha; Ramasami, T.; Ramaswamy, D.; Santappa, M. (1986). "Hydrogen bonding and tautomeric equilibria in Schiff bases derived from 2-amino pyridines: electronic spectral evidence for substituent effects". Indian Journal of Chemistry. 25: 127–130. ISSN0376-4710.
Varadalambedu Srinivasan Nithianandam, Kalathur Sabdham Vangepuram Srinivasan, Koithara Thomas Joseph and Mushi Santappa (August 1981). "Immobilization of trypsin on poly(methyl methacrylate-co-2-acryloylamino-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid". Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics. 182 (8): 2193–2200. doi:10.1002/macp.1981.021820808.((cite journal)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Devarajan, R.; Balakrishnan, T.; Santappa, M.; Viswanathan, B. (1982). "Gamma radiation-induced bulk polymerization of some methyl aryloxymethacrylates". Journal of Polymer Science. 20 (8): 1863–1873. Bibcode:1982JPoSA..20.1863D. doi:10.1002/pol.1982.170200718.
Balasubramanian, M.; Nanjan, M. J.; Santappa, M. (1982). "Synthesis, characterization, and fiber studies of certain aromatic polyamides". Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 27 (5): 1423–1432. doi:10.1002/app.1982.070270501.
Rajendra Prasad, D.; Ramasami, T.; Ramaswamy, D.; Santappa, M. (1982). "Kinetics and mechanism of the equilibration reactions of diaquachromium(III)-Schiff base derivatives, Cr(Schiff base)(H2O)2+, and their conjugate bases with thiocyanate, azide, imidazole, pyridine and nicotinic acid as ligands". Inorganic Chemistry. 21 (3): 850–854. doi:10.1021/ic00133a002.
Venkatachalapathi, Kora; Nair, Madhavan Sivasankaran; Ramaswamy, Duraiswamy; Santappa, Muchi (1982). "Binary and ternary complexes of chromium(III) involving iminodiacetic acid, L(+)-aspartic acid, L(+)-glutamic acid, or L(+)-cysteine as ligands". Journal of the Chemical Society. 2 (2): 291–297. doi:10.1039/DT9820000291.
Nair, Madhavan Sivasankaran; Venkatachalapathi, Kora; Santappa, Muchi (1982). "Equilibrium studies of binary and mixed-ligand complexes of zinc(II) involving imidazole, histamine, and L-histidine as ligands". Journal of the Chemical Society. 3 (3): 555–559. doi:10.1039/DT9820000555.
