Ramanathan graduated with M.Sc. (Specialization in Organic Chemistry, 1993) from School of Chemistry, Madurai Kamaraj University and obtained Ph.D. in Synthetic Organic Chemistry under the guidance of Prof. M. Periasamy from School of Chemistry, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad in 2000. Subsequently, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Purdue University (with Prof. H. C. Brown, Nobel Laureate) and then at University of Connecticut (with Prof. A. Makriyannis). He served as a Research Chemist at MAKScientific, LLC., Storrs, USA prior to joining the Pondicherry University in 2005.

ASYMMETRIC CATALYSIS, ORGANIC SYNTHESIS AND DRUG DISCOVERY