Dr Bhattacharyya has established a school of research which is recognized for its contributions on terpenes and related natural products, macrocyclic musk compounds and analytical chemistry. His work has led to the elucidation of structures and absolute configurations of many new terpenoids with unusual structural features. Methods for the synthesis of naturally occurring musk odorous compounds, including muscone, civetone dihydrocivetone, exaltone, exaltolide and ambrettolide developed by him are of considerable economic value. By adopting an "organic approach" he has contributed considerably towards the development of new organic reagents for inorganic analysis.