TMCnet News
INTERVIEW: Zaozao Qiu [ChemPlusChem](ChemPlusChem Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Date of birth: March 11, 1981 Position: Associate Professor, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: http://sourcedb.cas.cn/sourcedb sioc cas/en/expert/201208/t20120822 3631238.html Education: 1998-2002: BSc. Lanzhou University, China; 2002-2005: MS. with Prof. Peng-Fei Xu, Lanzhou University (P. R. China); 2005-2006: Research Assistant with Prof. Biao Yu, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, (P. R. China); 2006-2010: PhD in Chemistry; 2010-2012: Postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Zuowei Xie, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, (P. R. China) Awards 2014: Lu Jiaxi Young Talent Award from the Chinese Academy of Sciences; 2013: Shanghai Pujiang Talent from the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality; 2012: Springer Thesis Award Current research: Carborane and carboryne chemistry: Development of new methodologies for carborane functionalization, synthesis of carborane-containing functional materials, investigation of new reactivities of carborynes. Interests: Swimming, travelling, DIY wool felt craft My favorite molecule is carborane because... this 12-vertex cage has many reaction sites. My most exciting discovery to date has been ... the discovery of transition metal-catalyzed B-H bond activation for carborane fluorination. If I were not a scientist, I would be ...a painter. This year I saw Monet's paintings for the first time and they were amazing. What has been your biggest influence/motivation? The best motivator in my chemistry career is curiosity. Throughout my research career, I have been fortunate to be guided by excellent professors in different research fields. My MS supervisor (Prof. P.-F. Xu), who is an organic chemist, taught me patiently. I received fundamental training in scientific research that influenced my career choices. My PhD supervisor, Prof. Z. Xie, is a creative and ambitious scientist, who led me into the fascinating area of organometallic and carborane chemistry. The research attitude and skill I learnt from him greatly benefit me to this day. How was your research enhanced by taking a multidisciplinary approach? Carboranes represent a class of boron hydride clusters in which one or more BH vertices are replaced by CH units. We profit from organic and organometallic synthetic methodologies for the development of new carborane derivatization methods. In view of the unique structure and electronic property of carborane molecules, we collaborate with material chemists to develop new carborane-based functional materials for organic semiconductors, solar cells, and fluorescent agents. A multidisciplinary approach combining inorganic, organic, and materials chemistry will lead to multidirectional research and applications of carboranes. What are the main challenges for the broad area of your research? Carborane is an electron-deficient molecule with "superaromatic" character. Functional carboranes are finding applications in materials science as building blocks and in medicine as potent boron neutron capture therapy agents. However, their unique structures make derivatization difficult. The main challenge is to design various functionalized carboranes and find their potential applications. On the other hand, compared with the well-established cage-C substitution methods, there are limited approaches for the preparation of B-derivatives. Thus, development of efficient synthetic methods through direct B-H activation is of great importance. My three top papers: 1. "Palladium-Catalyzed Selective Fluorination of o-Carboranes": J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 12192. (A regioselective palladium(II)-catalyzed direct fluorination of carboranes through B-H activation.) 2. "Nickel-Catalyzed Regioselective [2+2+2] Cycloaddition of Carboryne with Alkynes": Angew. Chem. 2010, 122, 4753; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 4649. (The first catalytic version of o-carboryne reactions.) 3. "Nickel-Catalyzed Three-Component [2+2+2] Cycloaddition Reaction of Arynes, Alkenes, and Alkynes": Angew. Chem. 2009, 121, 5839; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2009, 48, 5729. (A very good example not only showing how to control chem- and regio-selectivity among alkenes and alkynes, but also demonstrating that the method developed for carboryne chemistry can be employed in regular organic reactions.) The researcher presented on this page was nominated for the Early Career Series by Prof. Kuiling Ding. (c) 2014 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. |