Tashkent: Debadatta Priyadarshi from Bhubaneswar in Odisha is among the four Indian students to win gold at the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) 2026 held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from July 10 to 19.
The other students are Harshit Singla from Mandi Gobindgarh, Punjab, Kabeer Chillar from Delhi and Sandeep Kuchi from Hyderabad, Telangana.
India was placed in first position in the country-wise medals tally, jointly with China and Vietnam. This year’s IChO had 363 students from 93 countries, making it the biggest event till date. This is India’s best performance in IChO with the first-ever all-gold haul, a statement released by the Department of Atomic Energy said.
The competition had both experimental and theoretical components.
The theoretical exam had 9 problems on identifying composition of a blue solution made from plant extracts and a yellow stone from a coal deposit (apparently also found in Avicenna’s lab); kinetics of oscillatory BZ reaction; making porous framework materials (called COFs) using different functionalized organic compounds; estimating the mass of Uranium used in historic 1966 detonation to put off the natural gas fire in Urtabulak (after a blaze of 3 years); decoding structure of a chiral cardiolipin (a kind of phosphoester, part of intracellular membranes) having four identical fatty acid residues; using novel carbon allotropes —cyclocarbons — to form nanosized molecular belt by stabilizing it with a macrocyclic metal complex; nitrogen fixation in ammonia production plants using transition metal catalysts; catalytic reduction of atmospheric CO2 along with use of photosensitizers for enhanced efficiency; and reactions of synthetic analogues of cyclodextrins, testing students on stereochemical and regio-specific transformations.
The experimental exam consisted of 3 problems involving synthesis of a metal complex using given (unknown reagents) and analysis of its composition by qualitative analysis and complexometric titration; identifying 20 given mixtures of biochemicals (such as glucose, urea, uric acid, cholestrol’s ester and a oil) by using given 5 enzyme mixtures through microscale tests; and identifying compositions of 3 acid mixtures through pH-metric titrations followed by analysis of two indicator solutions (one natural indicator from red cabbage and another mixture of two indicators) through pH-metry.
“We congratulate the students and the rest of the delegation for their excellent performance! The Chemistry Olympiad cell of HBCSE and the resource pool of external teachers and mentors deserve appreciation for preparing the team well during the orientation and pre-departure camps held at HBCSE,” the statement said.
This was the 27th appearance of India at the IChO. In all these years, 32% of the students have got gold medals, 51% silver, and 17% bronze. In the last ten appearances, the percentages of gold and silver medals have been 43% and 53%, respectively.