Debobroto Sensharma

Debo is an experimental chemist interested in how metal ions and organic molecules with specific geometries combine to form extended crystalline frameworks (metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs). Understanding how these materials assemble allows chemists to build architectures with sub-nanometre precision that can trap specific molecules, catalyse reactions, and respond to external stimuli.

Debo is from Bengaluru and received his undergraduate education at St. Stephen’s College (University of Delhi), and his PhD at Trinity College Dublin. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Limerick and most recently at the University of California San Diego, where he built MOFs using polymeric and oligomeric organic assemblies.

Selected publications

Journal articles

Pal, S., Sensharma, D., Velasquez, M., Durbin, A., Hamachi, L., & Cohen, S. M. (2026). Probing the External Surface Chemistry of Imine-Based Covalent Organic Frameworks Using Reactive Organic Dyes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, Accepted. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c22900
Li, X., Sensharma, D., Graham, W., Bon, V., Lin, E., Kong, X., He, T., Bezrukov, A. A., Zhang, Z., Kaskel, S., Barbour, L. J., & Zaworotko, M. J. (2025). A Diazo Linker Ligand Promotes Flexibility and Induced Fit Binding in a Microporous Copper Coordination Network. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 64(31), e202507757. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202507757
Sensharma, D., & Cohen, S. M. (2025). Permanently porous oligoMOFs and polyMOFs of MIL-53. Chemical Communications, 61(65), 12163 – 12166. https://doi.org/10.1039/D5CC02626A
O’Hearn, D. J.^#, Sensharma, D.^#, Raza, A.^#, Bezrukov, A. A., Vandichel, M., Mukherjee, S., & Zaworotko, M. J. (2024). Crystal engineering of a new platform of hybrid ultramicroporous materials and their C₂H₂/CO₂ separation properties. Chemical Science, 15(43), 17937 – 17943. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SC05569C (# contributed equally)
Sensharma, D., & Cohen, S. M. (2024). Ligand cross-links as a design element in oligo-and polyMOFs. Chemical Science, 15(48), 20448 – 20456. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SC06109H
Nikolayenko, V. I., Castell, D. C., Sensharma, D., Shivanna, M., Loots, L., Forrest, K. A., Solanilla-Salinas, C. J., Otake, K., Kitagawa, S., Barbour, L. J., Space, B., & Zaworotko, M. J. (2023). Reversible transformations between the non-porous phases of a flexible coordination network enabled by transient porosity. Nature Chemistry, 15(4), 542 – 549. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-022 – 01128‑3
Sensharma, D., O’Hearn, D. J., Koochaki, A., Bezrukov, A. A., Kumar, N., Wilson, B. H., Vandichel, M., & Zaworotko, M. J. (2022}). The First Sulfate-Pillared Hybrid Ultramicroporous Material, SOFOUR-1-Zn, and Its Acetylene Capture Properties. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 61(8), e202116145. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202116145
Sensharma, D.^#, Wilson, B. H.^#, Kumar, N., O’Hearn, D. J., & Zaworotko, M. J. (2022). Pillar Modularity in fsc Topology Hybrid Ultramicroporous Materials Based upon Tetra (4‑pyridyl) benzene. Crystal Growth & Design, 22(9), 5472 – 5480. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.2c00561 (# contributed equally)
Ullah, S.^#, Tan, K.^#, Sensharma, D.^#, Kumar, N., Mukherjee, S., Bezrukov, A. A., Li, J., Zaworotko, M. J., & Thonhauser, T. (2022). CO₂ Capture by Hybrid Ultramicroporous TIFSIX-3-Ni under Humid Conditions Using Non-Equilibrium Cycling. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 61(35), e202206613. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202206613 (# contributed equally)
Mukherjee, S., Sensharma, D., Chen, K., & Zaworotko, M. J. (2020). Crystal engineering of porous coordination networks to enable separation of C₂ hydrocarbons. Chemical Communications, 56(72), 10419 – 10441. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0CC04645K
Sensharma, D., Zhu, N., Tandon, S., Vaesen, S., Watson, G. W., & Schmitt, W. (2019). Flexible metal – organic frameworks for light-switchable CO₂ sorption using an auxiliary ligand strategy. Inorganic Chemistry, 58(15), 9766 – 9772. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b00768

Book chapter

Neuschuler, Z.^#, Sensharma, D.^#, Kim, M., & Cohen, S. M. (2026). Postsynthetic Modification of Metal-Organic Frameworks. In Handbook of Metal-Organic Frameworks (pp. 1 – 35). Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978 – 981-99 – 8242-4_3‑1 (# contributed equally; with an undergraduate mentee).

A full list of Debobroto’s publications is available at https://orcid.org/0000 – 0002-4918 – 0730