CORE FACULTY MEMBERS - NUS Chemistry high 2007 64 revised.pdf · CORE FACULTY MEMBERS Assoc...

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CORE FACULTY MEMBERSAssoc Professor Ang Siau GekResearch Fellow Dr Ang Wee Han Instructor Dr Chanbasha BasheerAsst Professor Ryan PA BettensInstructor Dr Chan Sau Han EdithProfessor Chan Sze On HardyAsst Professor Chan Yin ThaiAssoc Professor Chang Young-Tae

(joint with Biomedical Science Institute)Asst Professor Chen Ping

(joint with Physics, NUS)Research Fellow Dr Chi Chunyan Assoc Professor Chin Wee ShongAssoc Professor Chuah Gaik KhuanAsst Professor Fan Wai YipProfessor Goh Suat HongProfessor Hor Tzi Sum Andy (Head)Asst Professor Huang Dejian Asst Professor Huang Kuo-WeiAsst Professor Huynh Han VinhAssoc Professor Stephan JaenickeAssoc Professor Kang Hway ChuanAssoc Professor Stephan Kasapis Assoc Professor Khor EugeneAssoc Professor Lai Yee HingAssoc Professor Lam Yulin (Assistant Head)Asst Professor Martin J LearLecturer Dr Adrian M LeeProfessor Lee Hian Kee (Deputy Head)Lecturer Dr Leong Lai PengAssoc Professor Leong Weng KeeProfessor Li Fong Yau SamAssoc Professor Li Tianhu

Asst Professor Liu XiaogangAssoc Professor Loh Kian Ping (Deputy Head)Asst Professor Lu Yixin Lecturer Dr Mak Ka Wai KarenResearch Fellow Dr Maung Maung Saw

(joint with Diagnostic Radiology, NUS)Instructor Ms Prabhavathy JanardhanaAsst Professor David G PopovichLecturer Dr Ship Chee PengAsst Professor Sim Wee SunInstructor Dr Bellam SreenivasuluAsst Professor Tan Choon HongInstructor Dr Tan Sue Qing EmelynAsst Professor Toh Chee SengAssoc Professor Valiyaveettil SureshAssoc Professor Jagadese J VittalAssoc Professor Thomas Walcyzk

(joint with Biochemistry, NUS) Research Fellow Dr Weng Zhiqiang Asst Professor Thorsten Wohland Assoc Professor Wong Ming Wah Richard

(Deputy Head)Professor Xu Guo Qin Asst Professor Wu JishanAsst Professor Xu Qing-HuaAsst Professor Xue FengAssoc Professor Yao Shao Qin (Assistant Head)

(joint with Biological Sciences, NUS) Assoc Professor Yip Hon Kay John (Assistant

Head)Asst Professor Zeng HuaqiangResearch Fellow Dr Zhao JinAssoc Professor Zhou Weibiao (Director, Food

Science and Technology Programme)

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Emeritus Professor Ang How GheeEmeritus Professor Huang Hsing HuaEmeritus Professor Kiang Ai Kim

Adjunct Professor Bosco Bloodworth (Health Sciences Authority)Adjunct Asst Professor Anthony Buss (Merlion Pharmaceuticals)Adjunct Asst Professor Mark S Butler (Merlion Pharmaceuticals)Adjunct Asst Professor Chan Ping Kwong Peter (Polymer Coating Technologies)Adjunct Asst Professor Thomas Keller (Novartis Institute of Tropical Diseases)Adjunct Professor Wolfgang Knoll (Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research)Adjunct Assoc Professor Lan Weiguang (Sinomem Technology Ltd) Adjunct Asst Professor Ong Kheng Chuan Peter (OBS Ingredients Pte Ltd/OBS Consulting Pte Ltd)Adjunct Assoc Professor Joseph I RasiahAdjunct Assoc Professor Sun Tak On Eric (S*Bio)Adjunct Professor Tay Ming Kiong Michael (Health Sciences Authority)Adjunct Asst Professor Andrew Wan (Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology)

Visiting Professor Steven Bernasek (Princeton University)Visiting Professor Cheng Xuan (Xiamen University) Visiting Professor Stuart Edelstein (University of Geneva) Visiting Professor Robert Huber (Max-Planck-Institut fhr Biochemie) Visiting Professor Jin Guoxin (Fudan University)Visiting Professor Udo Kragl (Rostock University)Visiting Professor Teoh Siang Guan (Universiti Sains Malaysia)Visiting Professor Christian Wandrey (Forschungszentrum Julich GmbH)Visiting Fellow Dr Xiao Jijun (Nanjing University of Science and Technology) Visiting Senior Fellow Dr Christofora Hanny Wijaya (Bogor Agriculture University)Visiting Assoc Professor David Young (Griffith University)

ADJUNCT FACULTY

VISITING FACULTY

EMERITUS FACULTY

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Assoc Professor ANG Siau GekPh.D., Cambridge Univ., 1987; M.Sc., National Univ. of Singapore, 1984; B.Sc., National Univ. of Singapore, 1981

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/angsg.htm

Email: [email protected]

MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Chevalier in the Order of the Palmes Academiques, French Ministry of Youth, Education and Research,

2004

RESEARCH INTERESTSWe study structures of organic and organometallic compounds using a variety of spectroscopic techniques and other physical techniques including X-ray diffraction methods. Specific foci are:‧ Osmium and ruthenium cluster compounds containing Group 15 ligands‧ Fabrication of organometallic nanostructures

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Acta Crystallographica, E62, m1329-m1331 (2006)

The title compound, [Os(C12F10N3)2(CO)3 has been synthesized by the reaction of C6F5N=NNHC6F5 with H2(Os)3(CO)10. The OsC3N3coordination is octahedral around the Os center. Two bonding modes, chelating and monodentate, are observed for the triazenyl groups.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ B-W Sun, M-S Zhang, G-Y Yang, SG Ang and HG Ang, Decacarbonyl-1κ3C,2κ3C,3κ4C-(μ-pentafluorophenylhydrazine-

1κN:2κN’)-triangulo-triosmium: a hydrazine-edge-bridged triangular triosmium cluster, Acta Crystallographica, E61, m2419-m2420 (2005)

‧ HG Huang, CL Xiang, YS Ning, JY Huang, SG Ang and GQ Xu, Dry synthesis of triple cumulative double bonds (C=C=C=N) on Si(111)-7x7 surfaces, J. Phys. Chem. B, 109(41), 19296-19300 (2005)

‧ SG Ang and B-W Sun, Crystal structure and characterization of organic-inorganic hybridized molecules with molecular zipper structures and two-dimensional grid networks, Crystal Growth & Design, 5, 383-386 (2005)

‧ SG Ang, B-W Sun and S Gao, Synthesis, crystal structures and magnetic properties of one- and two-dimensional copper (II) complexes bridged by succinate, Inorg. Chem. Commun., 7, 795-798 (2004)

‧ G-Y Yang, S-G Ang, LL Chng, YW Lee, EW-P Lau, KS Lai and H-G Ang, Synthesis and nonlinear optical absorption of novel porphyrin-osmium-cluster complexes, Chem. Eur. J., 9(4), 900-904 (2003)

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Dr ANG Wee HanPostdoc., Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, in progress; Ph.D., EcolePoly-technique Federale de Lausanne, 2007; B.Sc. (Hons), Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, 1995

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/angwh.html


RESEARCH INTERESTSOur interest is on the study and development of metallopharmaceuticals for cancer therapy and techniques to investigate the interactions of transition metal-based anticancer drugs with their biological targets. Specific foci are:‧ Development of metallopharmaceuticals based on platinum and ruthenium metal centres for targeted cancer therapy ‧ Development of analytical techniques to probe the binding of transition metal-based drugs with biological entities

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: ChemMedChem, in press (2007)

Novel organometallic glutathione-S-transferase inhibitors were prepared by conjugating ruthenium-arenecomplexes to ethacrynic acid which exhibit alternate modes of activity via the organometallic fragment. Not only are they good enzyme inhibitors, they also exhibit high cytotoxicity against human carcinoma cell lines.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ WH Ang, A De Luca, C Chapuis-Bernasconi, L Juillerat-Jeanneret, M Lo Bello and PJ Dyson, Organometallic ruthenium

inhibitors of glutathione-S-tranferase P1-1 as anticancer drugs, ChemMedChem, in press (2007) ‧ WH Ang, E Daldini, L Juillerat-Jeanneret and PJ Dyson, Strategy to tether organometallic ruthenium-arene anti-cancer

compounds to recombinant human serum albumin, Inorg. Chem., in press (2007) ‧ WH Ang and PJ Dyson, Classical and non-classical ruthenium-based anticancer drugs: Towards targeted chemotherapy

(review), Eur. J. Inorg. Chem., 20, 4003-4018 (2006) ‧ WH Ang, S Pilet, R Scopelliti, F Bussy, L Juillerat-Jeanneret and PJ Dyson, Synthesis and characterization of platinum(IV)

anticancer drugs with functionalized aromatic carboxylate ligands: Influence of the ligands on drug efficacies and uptake, J. Med Chem., 48, 8060-8069 (2005)

‧ WH Ang, I Khalaila, CS Allardyce, L Juillerat-Jeanneret, PJ Dyson, Rational design of platinum(IV) compounds to overcome glutathione-S-transferase mediated drug resistance, J. Am.. Chem. Soc., 127, 1382-1383 (2005)

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Dr CHANBASHA BasheerPh.D., National Univ. of Singapore, 2005; M.Sc., Baharathidasan Univ., 1994; B.Sc., Madras Univ., 1992

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/cb.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSAnalytical Chemistry and Novel Materials are important in many emerging and existing scientific fields and technologies. My research area is motivated by an interest in micro analytical techniques in combination with novel materials for environmental applications and reaction engineering based on microfluidic (Lab-on-a-Chip) approaches. Specific foci are:‧ Analytical chemistry/environmental chemistry ‧ Reaction engineering in microfluidics

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ C Basheer, HG Chong, TM Hii and HK Lee, Application of porous membrane-protected micro-solid-phase extraction

combined with HPLC for the analysis of acidic drugs in wastewater, Anal. Chem., 79, 6845-6850 (2007)‧ C Basheer, AA Alnedhary, BSM Rao, S Valiyaveettil and HK Lee, Development and application of porous membrane-

protected carbon nanotube micro-solid-phase extraction (µ-SPE) combined with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, Anal. Chem., 78, 2853-2858 (2006)

‧ C Basheer, M Vetrichelvan, S Valiyaveettil and HK Lee, Ionic-liquid supported oxidation reactions in a silicon-based microreactor, Tetrahderon. Lett., 47, 957-961 (2006)

‧ HSN Lee, C Basheer and HK Lee, Determination of trace level chemical warfare agents in water and slurry samples using hollow fibre-protected liquid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, J. Chromatogr. A. 1124, 91-96 (2006)

‧ C Basheer, S Sindhu, S Valiyaveettil and HK Lee, Development and application of simple capillary-microreactor for the heterogonous catalysis of glucose using porous gold (0) catalyst, Chem. Commun., 3, 409-410 (2005)

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: J. Chromatogr. A., in press (2007)

We have developed a novel analytical technique to detect the wide range of persisting organic pollutants in human ovarian benign and malignant tumor samples.

0.5 cm

2.0 cm HayeSep A/ C18 sorbent enclosed

Porous membrane (heat-sealed at open edges after folding)

Sleeve

Microwave vessel

Temperature probe

(a)

(b)

Magnetic stirrer

(a) Extraction setup (b) enlarged image of extraction device (not drawn to scale)

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Asst Professor Ryan P A BETTENSPostdoc., Australian National Univ., 1999; Postdoc., Ohio State Univ., 1996; Postdoc., ETH, 1994; Ph.D., Monash Univ., 1992; B.Sc., Univ. of Queensland, 1986

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/bettens.htm


PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ Y Fan, LP Leong and RPA Bettens, The conformers of hydroxyacetaldehyde, J. Phys. Chem. A, 111, 5081-5085 (2007) ‧ R P A Bettens and A M Lee, A new algorithm for molecular fragmentation in quantum chemical calculations, J. Phys.

Chem. A, 110, 8777-8785 (2006) ‧ V Thavasi, LP Leong and RPA Bettens, Investigation of the influence of hydroxy groups on the radical scavenging ability

of polyphenols, J. Phys. Chem. A, 110 4918-4923 (2006) ‧ Y Fan, J Ho and RPA Bettens, Approximating coupled cluster level vibrational frequencies with composite methods, J.

Phys. Chem. A, 110, 2796-2800 (2006) ‧ RPA Bettens, Bound state potential energy surface construction: Ab initio zero-point energies and vibrationally

averaged rotational constants, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 125, 584-587 (2003)

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: J. Phys. Chem. A, 111, 5111-5115 (2007)

The nuclear magnetic shielding tensor is a molecular property that can be computed from first principles. In this paper we show that by utilizing the fragmentation approach, one is able to accurately compute this property for a large class of molecules. This is of great significance because the computational expense required in the evaluation of the shielding tensor for all nuclei in a large molecule is now subject to near linear scaling.

RESEARCH INTERESTSMy research area is in the understanding and accurate description, via computational chemistry, of inter-and intra-molecular interactions. Ultimately the understanding and description will be applied to the dynamics of large systems like proteins and nucleic acids. Specific foci are:‧ Accurately describe and predict enzyme-substrate interactions ‧ Performance of first-principle molecular dynamics of an enzyme and substrate

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Dr CHAN Sau Han EdithPh.D., Univ. of Hong Kong, 2007; M.Phil., Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong, 2001; B.Sc.(Hons), Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong, 1999

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/chansh.html


RESEARCH INTERESTSMy research area is to elucidate the structure-activity relationships via the design and synthesis of potentialanti-tumor drugs and the study of in vitro bioassays. Specific foci are:‧ Bioinorganic chemistry/chemical biology ‧ Coordination chemistry

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ SV Pavlova, HL To, ESH Chan, HW Li, TCW Mak, HK Lee and SI Chan, Synthesis, structure and dioxygen reactivity of a

bis(Âµ-iodo)dicopper(I) complex supported by the [N-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxybenzyl)-N,N-di-(2-pyridylmethyl)] amine ligand, J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans., 2232-2243 (2006)

‧ YL Wong, Y Yan, ESH Chan, Q Ying, TCW Mak and DKP Ng, cis-Dioxo-tungsten(VI) and molydenum(VI) complexes with N2O2 tetradentate ligands: Synthesis, structure, electrochemistry and oxo-transfer properties, J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans., 3057-3064 (1998)

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Professor CHAN Sze On HardyPh.D., Univ. of Manchester Inst. of Science & Technology, 1975; B.Sc., Southbank Polytechnic, 1972

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/chanhardy.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMy specific foci are:‧ Functional polymers‧ Organic electronics‧ Nanomaterials

RECENT HIGHLIGHTOur research focuses on the preparation of nanostructured conducting polymers and polymer-metal composites. We prepared the first Y-shape polyaniline nanorods and nanotubes which can be used as building blocks in molecular electronics. We have recently developed a facile route to produce fibrous polyaniline rod - gold nanocomposites. These nanocomposite materials exhibit interesting electrical bistability for use as logic memory devices.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ DM Cheng, HB Xia and HSO Chan, J. Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, 5, 466-472 (2005)‧ HB Xia, C Xiao and HSO Chan, Nanotechnology, 15, 1807-1811 (2004)‧ SC Ng, HF Lu and Chan HSO, Adv. Materials, 12, 1311-1315 (2000)‧ HSO Chan and SC Ng, Progress in Polymer Science, 23, 1167-1231 (1998)‧ PKH Ho, BGT Tan, KL Tan, SC Ng and HSO Chan, J. Am.er Chem. Soc., 117, 8517-8523 (1995)

0 1 2 3 4 50.0

2.0x10-5

4.0x10-5

6.0x10-5

8.0x10-5

1.0x10-4

Cur

rent

Voltage

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Asst Professor CHAN Yin ThaiPostdoc., Stanford Univ., in progress; Ph.D., Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, 2006; B.Sc., Univ. of California at Berkeley, 2001

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/chanyt.html

Email: Not due for allocation

RESEARCH INTERESTSOur research interests primarily lie in: (i) nanoliter-scale multilayer microfluidics and (ii) developing novel nanomaterials and investigating their physical properties using various microscopy and spectroscopy techniques. Specific foci are:‧ Synthesizing colloidal nanoparticles and engineering their surface chemistry for biological applications such as cellular imaging ‧ Automation of chemical and biological processes using multilayer microfluidics

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: J. Am. Chem. Soc., 128, 3146-3147 (2006)

A solvent-stable optically pumped nanocrystal(NC)-based laser was achieved by incorporating highly fluorescent semiconductor nanocrystals into a sol-gel derived silica matrix. These NC-silica composite lasers can potentially be integrated into a microfluidic device, providing the first steps toward a miniaturized nonlinear optical chemosensor.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ Y Chan, PT Snee, J-M Caruge, BKH Yen, GP Nair, DG Nocera and MG Bawendi, , A solvent stable nanocrystal-silica

composite laser, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 128, 3146 (2006) ‧ Y Chan, JS Steckel, PT Snee, J-M Caruge, JM Hodgkiss, DG Nocera and MG Bawendi, Blue semiconductor nanocrystal

laser, Appl. Phys. Lett., 86, 073102 (2005) ‧ Y Chan, JP Zimmer, M Stroh, JS Steckel, RK Jain and MG Bawendi, Incorporation of luminescent nanocrystals into

monodisperse core-shell silica microspheres, Adv. Materials, 16, 2092 (2004) ‧ PT Snee, Y Chan, DG Nocera and MG Bawendi, Whispering-gallery-mode lasing from a semiconductor nanocrystal/

microsphere resonator composite, Adv. Materials, 17, 1131 (2005) ‧ Y Chan, JM Caruge, PT Snee and MG Bawendi, Multiexcitonic two-state lasing in a CdSe nanocrystal laser, Appl. Phys.

Lett., 85, 2451 (2004)

NC-silica composite lasing in water (left) and in ethanol (right)

1010

Assoc Professor CHANG Young-TaePost-doc., Univ. of California at Berkeley/Scripps Research Inst., 1997-2000; Ph.D., POSTECH, 1996; M.Sc., POSTECH, 1994; B.Sc., POSTECH, 1991

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/changyt.html


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Career Award, National Science Foundation, USA, 2005‧ Editorial Board Member, Current Chemical Biology, 2006-present‧ Advisory Board Member, QSAR & Combinatorial Science, 2003-present‧ Editor for special issue of “Chemical Genetics/Genomics, Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, 2003

RESEARCH INTERESTSOur research goal is to develop live cell imaging probes & sensors by Diversity Oriented Fluorescence Library Approach (DOFLA) and chemical genetics empowered by molecular evolution & artificial tongue. Specific foci are:‧ Stem cell specific optical probe & regulator development ‧ Protein target identification by tagged small molecule library

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Nat. Chem. Biol., 3, 55-59 (2007)

A mutant of C. elegans was used as diabetic patient model to identify novel therapeutic target enzyme GAPDH. This work not only exemplifies the value of the chemical genetics approach to identify the target protein, but also could lead to a new class of diabetes medications.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ S Wang and YT Chang, Combinatorial synthesis of benzimidazolium dyes and its diversity directed application toward

GTP-selective fluorescent chemosensors, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 128, 10380-10381 (2006) ‧ JW Lee, JS Lee and YT Chang, Colorimetric identification of carbohydrates by a pH indicator/ pH change inducer

ensemble, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed. Engl., 45, 6485-6487 (2006) ‧ DP Walsh and YT Chang, Chemical Genetics, Chem. Rev.,106, 2476-2530 (2006) ‧ Q Li, YK Kim, J Namm, A Kulkarni, G Rosania, YH Ahn and YT Chang, RNA-selective, live cell imaging probes for studying

nuclear structure and function., Chem. Biol. 13, 615-623 (2006) ‧ YH Ahn, JS Lee and YT Chang, Combinatorial rosamine library and application to in vivo glutathione probe, J. Am.

Chem. Soc., 129, 4510-4511 (2007)

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Asst Professor CHEN PingPh.D., Xiamen Univ., 1997; M.Sc., Xiamen Univ., 1994; B.Sc., Xiamen Univ., 1991

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/chenp.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMain areas of interests include hydrogen storage materials, inorganic synthesis, catalysis, and nano-materials, with specific foci on:‧ High capacity hydrogen storage materials ‧ Synthesis of novel inorganic imides and amides

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Adv. Functional Mater., 17, 1137-1142 (2007)

We investigated the interaction between LiAlH4 and LiNH2 and found that more than 9 wt% of hydrogen can be desorbed at mild temperatures.

LiAlH4 + 2 LiNH2 → Li3AlN2 + 4H2

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ Z Xiong, G Wu, J Hu, YF Liu, P Chen, WF Luo and J Wang, Reversible hydrogen storage by a Li-Al-N-H complex, Adv.

Functional Mater., 17, 1137-1142 (2007)‧ G Wu, Z Xiong, T Liu, YF Liu, J Hu, P Chen, YP Feng and ATS Wee, Synthesis and characterization of a new ternary

imide-Li2Ca(NH)(2), Inorg. Chem., 46, 517-521 (2007)‧ J Hu, GT Wu, YF Liu, Z Xiong, P Chen, K Murata, K Sakata and G Wolf, Hydrogen release from Mg(NH2)(2)-MgH2 through

mechanochemical reaction, J. Phys. Chem. B, 110, 14688-14692 (2006) ‧ Z Xiong, GT Wu, J Hu and P Chen, Ternary imides for hydrogen storage, Adv. Mater., 16, 1522-1525 (2004)‧ P Chen, Z Xiong, J Luo, JY Lin and KL Tan, Interaction of hydrogen with metal nitrides and imides, Nature, 420, 302-304

(2002)

MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Temasek Young Investigator Award, Defence Science and Technology Agency, Singapore, 2007‧ Young Researcher Award, National University of Singapore, 2007‧ Best Service Awards, Materials Research Society, 2003

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Dr CHI ChunyanPostdoc., Univ. California at Santa Barbara, 2007; Postdoc., Max-Planck-Inst. for Polymer Res., 2005; Ph.D., Max-Planck-Inst. for Polymer Res., 2004; M.Sc., Chinese Acad. of Sciences, 2001; B.Eng., Qiqihar Univ., 1998

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/chicy.html


RESEARCH INTERESTSWe primarily study the structural design, synthesis and physical properties of the new organic materials with their applications on organic electronic/optoelectronic devices, chemosensors and biosensors, with specificfocus as follows:‧ Design and synthesis of high-performance n-type organic semiconductors for electronic devices

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: J. Am. Chem. Soc., 129, 11134-11145 (2007)

The cationic π-conjugated polyelectrolytes contain a phenylene-fluorene segments copolymerized with 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (BT) units were synthesized. Addition of dsDNA into the polymer in water or buffer results in a change in the color of emission from blue to green. It can be used to generate a calibration curve that indicates DNA concentration.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ C Chi, A Mikhailovsky and GC Bazan, Design of Cationic Conjugated Polyelectrolytes for DNA Concentration

Determination, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 129, 11134-11145 (2007)‧ C Chi, C Im and G Wegner, Lifetime determination of fluorescence and phosphorescence of a series of oligofluorenes, J.

Chem. Phys., 124, 024907, (2006)‧ C Chi, C Im, V Enkelmann, A Ziegler, G Lieser and G Wegner, Monodisperse oligofluorenes with Keto defect as models

to investigate the origin of green emission from polyfluorenes: Synthesis, self-assembly and photophysical properties, Chem. Eur. J., 11, 6833-6845 (2005)

‧ C Chi and G Wegner, Chain-length dependence of the electrochemical properties of conjugated oligofluorenes, Macromol. Rapid Commun., 26, 1532-1537 (2005)

‧ C Chi, J Wu, X Wang, X Zhao, J Li and F Wang, Redoxactive phenylacetylene monodendrons: Rapid solid-phase synthesis and their electrochemical properties, Macromolecules, 34, 3812-3814, (2001)

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Assoc Professor CHIN Wee ShongPostdoc., Univ. of Bristol, 1994; Ph.D., National Univ. of Singapore, 1993; B.Sc., National Univ. of Singapore, 1987

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/chinws.htm


RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Angew. Chem. Int. Edn, 43, 5685 (2004)

An unprecedented preparation of Ag2S nanocrystals, with predictable sizes and shapes, using chemical method starting from an easily prepared silver precursor is reported. Through a careful tuning of several critical thermodynamic and kinetic parameters, well-defined shapes of Ag2S nanocrystals, from nanocubes, faceted or spherical nanocrystals, to nanorods, can be readily produced.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ ZH Zhang, M Lu, H Xu and WS Chin, Shape-controlled synthesis of zinc oxide: A simple method for the preparation of

metal oxide nanocrystals in non-aqueous medium, Chem. Eur. J., 13, 632-638 (2007)‧ WP Lim, CT Wong, SL Ang, HY Low and WS Chin, Phase-selective synthesis of copper sulfide nanocrystals, Chem.

Mater., 18, 6170-6177 (2006)‧ TP Ang and WS Chin, Dodecanethiol-protected copper/silver bimetallic nanoclusters and their surface properties, J.

Phys. Chem. B, 109, 22228 (2005) ‧ WP Lim, HY Low and WS Chin, IR-luminescent PbS-polystyrene nanocomposites Prepared from random ionomers in

solution, J. Phys. Chem. B, 108, 13093 (2004) ‧ WP Lim, Z Zhang, HY Low and WS Chin, A neat preparation of Ag2S nanocrystals with predictable shapes and sizes,

Angew. Chem. Intl. Edn, 43, 5685 (2004)

RESEARCH INTERESTSOur research focus on the field of nanostructures and their assemblies. The targets include finding good methodologies to synthesize size-, shape- and phase-controllable nanocrystals, understanding their properties and developing methods to assemble them into novel nanostructures for applications. Specific focuses are:‧ Nanostructural materials and their assembly‧ Surface and spectroscopy

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Assoc Professor CHUAH Gaik KhuanPostdoc., Fritz-Haber-Instituet, 1987; Ph.D., Texas A&M Univ., 1987; B.Sc., Univ. of Singapore, 1984

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/chuahgk.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSOur main research area is on heterogeneous catalysis, with specific foci as follows:‧ Applications of zeolites in fine chemicals synthesis ‧ Synthesis and applications of materials with tunable textural properties

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: J. Catal., 246, 223-231 (2007)

The hydrogenation of 4-tert-butylphenol and p-cresol was investigated over Zr-beta-supported rhodium catalysts. By designing a suitable bifunctional catalyst, the intermediate, 4-alkylcyclohexanone, formed by metal-catalysed hydrogenation of 4-alkylphenol, could be reduced via the highly stereoselective Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reduction over zirconium Lewis acid sites. Hence, in the presence of 2-propanol as solvent and MPV reductant, a high stereoselectivity to cis-4-alkylcyclohexanol was observed. Over 0.5 % Rh/Zr-beta, 4-tert-butylphenol and p-cresol were hydrogenated to the cis-alcohols with 95 % and 89 % stereoselectivity, respectively.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ YT Nie, WL Niah, S Jaenicke and G-K Chuah, A tandem cyclisation and hydrogenation of (±)-citronellal to menthol over

bifunctional Ni/Zr-Beta and mixed Zr-Beta & Ni/MCM-41, J. Catal., 248, 1-10 (2007) ‧ YT Nie, S Jaenicke, H van Bekkum and G-K Chuah, Stereoselective cascade hydrogenation of 4-tert-Butylphenol and p-

cresol over Zr-Zeolite beta-supported rhodium, J. Catal., 246, 223-231 (2007) ‧ YT Nie, G-K Chuah and S Jaenicke, Domino-cyclisation and hydrogenation of citronellal to menthol over bifunctional

Ni/Zr-Beta and Zr-beta/Ni-MCM-41 catalysts, Chem. Commun., 790- 792 (2006) ‧ GK Chuah, S Jaenicke and BK Pong, The preparation of high surface area zirconia Part II: Influence of precipitating agent

and digestion on the morphology and microstructure of hydrous zirconia, J. Catal., 175, 80-92 (1998) ‧ GK Chuah and S Jaenicke, The preparation of high surface area zirconia – influence of precipitating agent and

digestion, Appl. Catal. A, 163, 261- 273 (1997)

OH

R

OH

R

O

R

OH

R

OH

R

2H2

enolads

ketoneR = tert-butyl or methyl trans-alcoholcis-alcohol

Rh+

iPrOH

Zr

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Asst Professor FAN Wai YipPostdoc., Univ. of California at Berkeley, 2000; Ph.D., Univ. of Cambridge, 1998; M.Sc., Univ. of Toronto, 1996; B.Sc., Univ. of London, 1994

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/fanwy.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSEmphasis of the research is on the organometallic reactions and homogeneous catalysis using transition metal carbonyl complexes and the preparation and functionalization of nanomaterials. Specific foci are:‧ Nanomaterial functionalization for photochemical and biological applications ‧ Ruthenium and rhenium-based homogeneous catalysis and mechanism studies

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ E Ye, B Liu and WY Fan, Preparation of graphite-coated iron nanoparticles using pulsed laser decomposition of

Fe3(CO)12 and PPh3 in hexane, Chem. of Mater., 19, 3845 (2007) ‧ CH Ng and WY Fan, Facile synthesis of novel, single-crystalline γ-CuI nano-tetrahedrons and their induced

transformation to tetrahedral CuO nanocages, J. Phys. Chem. C, 111, 9166 (2007) ‧ CH Ng and WY Fan, Controlled synthesis of β-AgI nanoplatelets from selective nucleation of twinned Ag seeds in a

tandem reaction, J. Phys. Chem. C, 111, 2953 (2007)

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: J. Phys. Chem. C, 111, 9166 (2007)

We report the facile synthesis of uniform single-crystalline γ-CuInanotetrahedrons from the reaction between CuSO4 and KI under ambient conditions. Nanotetrahedrons grow from single-crystalline seeds whose growth has been promoted by iodide-induced oxidative etching of twinned seeds. Removal of excess free I- in solution initiates the dissolution of CuI nano-tetrahedrons and its simultaneous oxidation to CuO nanocages.

1616

Professor GOH Suat HongD.Sc., National Univ. of Singapore, 1993; Ph.D., Univ. of Akron, 1971; M.Sc., Univ. of Akron, 1966; B.Sc., Nanyang Univ., 1964

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/gohsh.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ National Science Award, National Science and Technology Board, Singapore, 1997 ‧ Staff Achievement Award, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 1998 ‧ Achievement Award, ASEAN Committee of Science and Technology, 1998 ‧ FACS Citation Award, Federation of Asian Chemical Societies, 2003 ‧ Outstanding Alumni Award, University of Akron, 2007

RESEARCH INTERESTSMy interests lie on polymer/materials science with specific foci as follows:‧ Polymer/carbon nanotube nanocomposites‧ Fullerene-end-capped polymers

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Nanotechnology, 18, 125606 (2007)

The stiffness, strength, ductility and toughness of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) were significantly improved by the addition of phenoxy-grafted multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Curve 1: PEO; curves 2-6: PEO/phenoxy-grafted MWNTs composites; curve 7: PEO/pristine MWNTs composite.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ BX Yang, KP Pramoda, GQ Xu and SH Goh, Mechanical reinforcement of polyethylene using polyethylene-grafted

multiwalled carbon nanotubes, Adv. Funct. Mater., 17, 2062-2069 (2007) ‧ BX Yang, JH Shi, KP Pramoda and SH Goh, Enhancement of stiffness, strength, ductility and toughness of poly(ethylene

oxide) using phenoxy-grafted multiwalled carbon nanotubes, Nanotechnology, 18, article 125606 (2007) ‧ M Wang, KP Pramoda and SH Goh, Reinforcing and toughening of poly(vinyl chloride) with double-C60-end-capped

poly(ethylene oxide), Macromolecules, 39, 4932-4934 (2006) ‧ J Li, C Yang, H Li, X Wang, SH Goh, JL Ding, DY Wang and KW Leong, Cationic supramolecules composed of multiple

oligoethylenimine-grafted β-cyclodextrins threaded on a polymer chain for efficient gene delivery, Adv. Mater., 18, 2969-2974 (2006)

‧ Y Liu, DC Wu, WD Zhang, X Jiang, CB He, TS Chung, SH Goh and KW Leong. Polyethylenimine-grafted multiwalledcarbon nanotubes for secure noncovalent immobilization and efficient delivery of DNA, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed., 44, 4782-4785 (2005)

1717

Professor HOR Tzi Sum AndyPostdoc., Yale Univ., 1984; D.Phil., Univ. of Oxford, 1983; B.Sc.(Hons), Imperial College of Science and Technology, 1979

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/hor.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ D.Sc., University of London, 1999‧ ASEAN Achievement Award (Sciences), ASEAN Business Forum, 1994‧ Member, International Advisory Board, Chemistry: An Asian Journal, VCH/Wiley, 2006-present‧ Member, International Advisory Board, Inorganica Chimica Acta (Elsevier), 2003-present‧ Jackson Memorial Fellow, Griffith University, 2007‧ Wilsmour Fellow, University of Melbourne, 2004‧ Inorganic Foundation Professor & Frances Lion Memorial Lecturer, University of Sydney, 2003‧ Anthony Mason Fellow, University of New South Wales, 1999 ‧ Chair-Designate, 41st International Conference on Coordination Chemistry, 2014

RESEARCH INTERESTSWe apply synthetic organometallic chemistry methodologies to design new catalysts, functional materials and molecular imaging systems. In catalysis, we focus on ethylene oligomerization, C-C cross-coupling and environmental detoxification. Our materials research encompasses supramolecular assembly and heteromultinuclear syntheses. Specific foci are:‧ Homogeneous and environmental catalysis ‧ Heterometallic syntheses and applications

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Chem. Commun., 22, 2225-2227 (2007)

The combinative use of Au(I), a skeletally flexible diphosphine and a bifunctional spacer with tunable and directional donor properties has resulted in a series of structurally distinctive ensembles and Au2 metalloligands. This work was featured on the front cover of the Chemical Communications in its 14 June 2007 issue. A cascade of Au6 triangle with Jurong Island as the background symbolizes the advancement of basic chemical science research amidst the rapid growth of the chemical industry in Singapore.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ ZQ Weng, SH Teo and TSA Hor, Metal unsaturation and ligand hemilability in Suzuki coupling, Acc, Chem. Res., 40,

676-684 (2007) ‧ ZQ Weng, SH Teo, ZP Liu and TSA Hor, A strange Ni(I)-Ni(0) binuclear complex and its unexpected ethylene

oligomerization, Organometallics, 26, 2950-2952 (2007) ‧ PL Teo, LL Koh and TSA Hor, General formation of trigonal-prismatic [Ag6X5(dppf)3]+ (X = Cl, Br, I) through an unusual

ligand migration from NiX2(dppf) to AgOTf, Chem. Commun., in press (2007) (advanced article 20 June 07) ‧ SH Chong, W Henderson and TSA Hor, Stable diplatinum complexes with functional thiolato bridges from dialkylation

of [Pt2(µ-S)2(P-P)2], Dalton Trans., 4008-4016 (2007) ‧ KE Neo, YY Ong, HV Huynh and TS Hor, A single-molecular pathway from heterometallic MM ' (M = Ba-II, Mn-II; M ' =

Cr-III) oxalato complexes to intermetallic composite oxides, J. Mat. Chem., 17, 1002-1006 (2007)

1818

Asst Professor HUANG DejianPostdoc., Massachusetts Inst. Techno, 2001; Ph.D., Indiana Univ. Bloomington, 1999; M.Sc., Chinese Acad. of Sciences, 1990; B.Sc., Fujian Teachers Univ., 1987

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/huangdj.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMy group focuses on chemistry of transition metal complexes, functionalized fluorescent quantum dots for sensing of reactive oxygen species in food and biological systems, and evidence-based functional foods development. Specific foci are:‧ Synthesis and SOD-like activity of metal complexes with polydentate ligands derived from epicatechins‧ Design and fabrication of functional semiconductor quantum dots for sensing reactive oxygen species

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ KX Hay, VY Waisundara, Y Zong, M-Y Han and D Huang, CdSe nanocrystals as peroxide scavengers: a new approach to

highly sensitive quantification of lipid hydroperoxides, Small, 3, 290-293 (2007) ‧ C Fu, AEK Loo, FPP Chia and D Huang, Oligomeric proanthocyanidins from mangosteen pericarps, J. Agric. Food

Chem., 55, 7689-7694 (2007) ‧ D Huang, B Ou and L Ronald, Prior the Chemistry behind antioxidant assays, J. Agri. Food Chem., 53, 1841-1856 (2005) ‧ D Huang, KB Renkema and KG Caulton, Cleavage of F-C(sp2) bonds by MHR(CO) (PtBu2Me)2 (M = Os and Ru; R = H, CH3

or Aryl): Product dependence on M and R, Polyhedron, 25, 459-468 (2006)‧ D Huang, PR Koren, K Folting, ER Davidson and KG Caulton, Facile and reversible cleavage of C-F Bonds. Contrasting

thermodynamic selectivity for Ru-CF2H vs F-Os=CFH, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 122(37), 8916-8931 (2000)

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Small, 3, 290-293 (2007)

Reaction of CdSe nanocrystals with H2O2 or lipid peroxide leads to quenching of fluorescence with LOD at 4.0 nM and LOQ at 14.0 nM. We observed a regain of fluorescence after reaction with peroxides with an emission peak blue-shifted by as much as 15 nm indicating shrinkage of size of CdSe nanocrystals due to oxidation and separation of oxidized layer from the CdSe core.

1919

Asst Professor HUANG Kuo-WeiPostdoc., Brookhaven National Laboratory, 2006-2007; Ph.D., Stanford Univ., 2005; B.S., National Taiwan Univ., 1997

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/huangkw.html


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Gertrude and Maurice Goldhaber Distinguished Fellowship, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 2004-2007‧ Regina Casper Stanford Graduate Fellowship, Stanford University, 2002-2004‧ Dr. Yuan T. Lee Fellowship in Chemistry, CTCI Foundation, Taiwan, 1993-1997

RESEARCH INTERESTSMy interests lie on physical organometallic chemistry of small molecule activations and functionalizations, synthetic and mechanistic organometallic chemistry, polymer chemistry, and DFT studies and modelling of transition metal catalysis. Specific foci are:‧ Development of new strategies for photoreduction of carbon dioxide and photogeneration of hydrogen ‧ Mechanistic studies and design of novel catalysts for unprecedented olefin polymerizations

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Organometallics, 26, 508-513 (2007)

We demonstrated the first theoretical evidence for CO2 reduction by hydrogen using a complex lacking a metal-hydride bond. These observations suggest that CO2 reduction does not necessarily require a metal hydride precursor as long as a hydride intermediate is thermodynamically accessible.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ K-W Huang, JH Han, CB Musgrave and E Fujita, Carbon dioxide reduction by pincer rhodium η2-dihydrogen complexes:

Hydrogen binding modes and mechanistic studies by density functional theory calculations, Organometallics, 26, 508-513 (2007)

‧ K-W Huang, JH Han, CB Musgrave and RM Waymouth, Density functional calculations on Ti-TEMPO complexes 2: Influence of ancillary ligation on the strength of the Ti-O bond, Organometallics, 25, 3317-3323 (2006)

‧ J Zhang, DC Grills, K-W Huang, E Fujita and RM Bullock, Carbon-to-metal hydrogen atom transfer: Direct observation using time-resolved infrared spectroscopy, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 127, 15684-15685 (2005) - Editors’ Choice in Science, 310, 748 (2005)

‧ K-W Huang, JH Han, AP Cole, CB Musgrave and RM Waymouth, Homolysis of weak Ti-O bonds: Experimental and theoretical studies of titanium oxygen bonds derived from stable nitroxyl radicals, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 127, 3807-3816 (2005)

‧ K-W Huang and RM Waymouth, Coordination chemistry of stable radicals: Homolysis of a titanium-oxygen bond, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 124, 8200-8201 (2002)

2020

Asst Professor HUYNH Hanh VinhDr. rer. nat., Univ. Muenster (WWU), 2002; Dipl. Chem., Univ. Muenster (WWU), 1999

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/huynh.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2003-2004

RESEARCH INTERESTSWe study organometallic chemistry and catalysis. Specific foci are:‧ Transition metal complexes of N-heterocyclic carbenes and their applications ‧ Bioactivities of organometallic compounds

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Chem. Commun., 1089-1091 (2007)

The first pyrazolin-4-ylidene complexes of palladium(II) have been synthesized by oxidative addition of 4-iodopyrazolium salts to Pd2(dba)3/PPh3 and were fully characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopies, ESI mass spectrometry and X-ray diffraction studies.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ HV Huynh, CH Yeo and GK Tan, Hemilabile behavior of a thioether-functionalized N-heterocyclic carbene ligand, Chem.

Commun., 3833-3835 (2006) ‧ HV Huynh, TC Neo and GK Tan, Mixed dicarboxylato-bis(carbene) complexes of palladium(II): Synthesis, structures,

trans-cis isomerism and catalytic activity, Organometallics, 25, 1298-1302 (2006) ‧ HV Huynh, Y Han, JHH Ho and GK Tan, Palladium(II) complexes of a sterically bulky, benzannulated N-heterocyclic

carbene with unusual C-H‧‧‧Pd and Ccarbene‧‧‧Br interactions, Organometallics, 25, 3267-3274 (2006) ‧ Y Han, HV Huynh and GK Tan, Mono- vs bis(carbene) complexes: A detailed study on platinum(II)-benzimidazolin-2-

ylidenes, Organometallics, 26, 4612-4617 (2007) ‧ HV Huynh, C Holtgrewe, T Pape, LL Koh and E Hahn, Synthesis and structural characterization of the first

bis(benzimidazolin-2-ylidene) complexes of nickel(II), Organometallics, 25, 245-249 (2006)

Synthetic pathway for the preparation of Palladium(II) pyrazolin-4-ylidene complexes

2121

Assoc Professor Stephan JAENICKEPostdoc., Max Planck Society, 1988; Postdoc., Michigan State Univ., 1983; Ph.D., Dr. rer. nat., Univ. of Karlsruhe, 1981; B.Sc., Diplomchemiker, Univ. of Cologne, 1976

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/jaenicke.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSThe research in my group centers around two topics: catalytic reactions and process integration. Nature provides enzymes which are unsurpassed as catalysts for very specific reactions. We try to enhance the substrate acceptance of enzymes, and work on methods to use these enzymes in a continuous flow reactor (enzyme membrane reactor) for stereoselective transformations. Other unconventional systems include reactions in fluorous medium and in ionic liquids. There, we are particularly interested in selective oxidation reactions. Specific foci are:‧ Heterogeneous catalysis (zeolites and mesoporous materials) ‧ Enzyme catalysis and whole cell fermentation as route to chiral synthons

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Chem. Eur. J., 13, 541-547 (2007)

Hydrophobic zeolite beta containing Al was found to be a good catalyst for the racemization of 1-phenylethanol. Combined with an immobilized lipase from Candida antarctica, the dynamic kinetic resolution of 1-phenylethanol to the (R)-phenylethylester can be achieved with high yield and selectivity. By using high molecular weight acyl transfer reagents such as vinyl butyrate or vinyl octanoate, a high enantiomeric excess of the product esters of 92 % and 98 %, respectively, could be achieved.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ YZ Zhu, KL Foo, GK Chuah and S Jaenicke, Dynamic kinetic resolution of secondary alcohols combining enyzme-

catalyzed transesterification and zeolite-catalyzed racemization, Chem. Eur. J., 13, 541-547 (2007)‧ N Qafisheh, S Mukhopahdyay, AV Joshi, Y Sasson, GK Chuah and S Jaenicke, Potassium phosphate as a high

performance solid base in phase transfer catalyzed alkylation reactions, Ind. Eng. Chem Res., 46, 3016-3023 (2007) ‧ X Wang, JLC Lee, Y Nie and S Jaenicke, Evaluation of multiphase microreactors for the direct formation of hydrogen

peroxide, Appl. Catal. A: General, 317, 258-265 (2007)‧ YZ Zhu, GK Chuah and S Jaenicke, Selective Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley reduction of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes

over Zr-zeolite beta, J. Catal., 241, 25-33 (2006) ‧ S Jaenicke, Characterization of heterogeneous catalysts by use of model reactions, Catal. Surveys from Asia, 9, 173-

185 (2005)

OH

OH

OO

O

O

(R)-1-phenylethanol

(S)-1-phenylethanol

(inside microchannels of zeolite beta)

Acyl donor

Lipase

racemization catalyst

2222

Assoc Professor KANG Hway ChuanPh.D., Caltech, 1989; B.Sc., Yale Univ., 1983

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/kanghc.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSSurface chemistry and physics and computational chemistry are my main interests. My specific foci include:‧ Silicon-germanium surfaces/interfaces‧ Sputtering dynamics

RECENT HIGHLIGHTMy research focuses upon the use of simulations grounded in statistical and quantum mechanics to provide molecular scale "pictures" of physical and chemical processes in molecules, clusters, surfaces and bulk materials. We are interested in modelling the kinetics of catalytic reactions, the structure and properties of solid and cluster surfaces, reaction energetics, the interactions and reactions of molecules adsorbed on surfaces, and the energetics of defects on surfaces and in the bulk.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ J Shi, ES Tok and HC Kang, The dissociative adsorption of silane and disilane on Si(100)-(2×1) surface, J. Chem. Phys.,

in press (2007)‧ SW Ong, ES Tok and HC Kang, Sputter-roughening of inhomogeneous systems: Impurity-pinning and nanostructure

shape-selection. Phys. Rev. E, 75, 061607 (2007) ‧ Q Li, ES Tok, J Zhang and HC Kang, A reassessment of the molecular pathways for H2 thermal desorption from Si(1-

x)Gex(100)-(2×1) surfaces, J. Chem. Phys., 126, 44706 (2007) ‧ FCH Lim, ES Tok and HC Kang, Decomposition of SiH3 to SiH2 on Si(100)-(2×1), Phys. Rev. B, 74, 5333 (2006) ‧ J Shi, HC Kang, ES Tok and J Zhang, Evidence for hydrogen desorption through both interdimer and intradimer paths

from Si(100)-(2×1), J. Chem. Phys., 123, 034701 (2005)

2323

Assoc Professor Stefan KASAPISPostdoc., Cranfield Univ., 1993; Ph.D., Cranfield Univ., 1991; M.Sc., Univ. of London, 1988; B.Sc., Aristotle Univ., 1986

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/sk.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Editor, Food Hydrocolloids, 2006-present ‧ Member of the Editorial Board, Carbohydrate Polymerism, 2005-present ‧ Organizer, 9th International Hydrocolloids Conference, 2008

RESEARCH INTERESTSGeneral research interest lies on Structure-function relationships in hydrocolloids. Specific foci are:‧ Gelatin, fat, sugar replacing in food products for improved sensory perception and health ‧ Glass transitions and the kinetics of active compound release in foods and pharmaceuticals

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Biomacromolecules, 7, 1671-1678 (2006)

The prevalent analytical framework traditionally employed to follow the transition from the rubbery to glasslike consistency in biomaterials is that of the free volume theory in conjunction with the WLF equation. Increasingly, the combined WLF/free volume approach is challenged by the coupling model which is able to provide additional insights into the physics of intermolecular interactions in synthetic materials at the vicinity of Tg. The model in the form of the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts function described well the spectral shape of the local segmental motions of gelatin/co-solute at Tg. The analysis provided the intermolecular interaction constant and apparent relaxation time, parameters which depend on chemical structure. Results appear to be encouraging for further explorations of the dynamics of densely packed biomaterials at the glass transition region.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ S Kasapis, Building on the WLF / free volume framework: Utilisation of the coupling model in the relaxation dynamics

of the gelatin / co-solute system, Biomacromolecules, 7, 1671-1678 (2006) ‧ SL Tay, S Kasapis, CO Perera and PJ Barlow, Functional and structural properties of 2S soy protein in relation to other

molecular protein fractions, J. Agricultural and Food Chem., 54, 6046-6053 (2006) ‧ IM Al-Marhoobi and S Kasapis, Further evidence of the changing nature of biopolymer networks in the presence of

sugar, Carbohydrate Res., 340, 771-774 (2005) ‧ S Kasapis and IM Al-Marhoobi, Bridging the divide between the high- and low-solid analyses in the gelatin / k-

carrageenan mixture, Biomacromolecules, 6, 14-23 (2005) ‧ S Kasapis, Definition of a mechanical glass transition temperature for dehydrated foods, J. Agricultural and Food

Chem., 52, 2262-2268 (2004)

2424

Assoc Professor KHOR EugenePh.D., Virginia Tech, 1983; B.Sc., Lakehead Univ., 1979

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/khore.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Associate Editor, Biomaterials, 2005‧ International Committee, 7th Asia Pacific Chitin Chitosan Symposium, 2006

RESEARCH INTERESTSGeneral research interest lies on chitin and chitosan for biomedical applications. Specific foci are:‧ Developing bone cement ‧ Developing anticoagulant

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Biomacromolecules, 6, 80-87 (2005)

A methodology was developed to produce chitin derivatives under homogeneous conditions. This has widespread implications for producing a myriad of chitin derivatives for various applications.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ Y Zou and E Khor, Preparation of C-6 substituted chitin derivatives under homogeneous conditions,

Biomacromolecules, 6, 80-87 (2005)‧ Z Ge, A-S Baguenard, LY Lim, A Wee and E Khor, Hydroxyapatite-chitin materials as potential tissue engineered bone

substitutes, Biomaterials, 25, 1049-1058 (2004)‧ E Khor and LY Lim, Implantable applications of chitin and chitosan, Biomaterials, 24, 2339-2349 (2003) {Invited review}

2525

Assoc Professor LAI Yee HingPostdoc., Univ. of California at Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, 1982; Ph.D., Univ. of Victoria, 1980; B.Sc., Nanyang Univ., 1978

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/laiyh.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMy primary interest lies on organic chemistry.

RECENT HIGHLIGHTOur research interests are centred mainly on the studies of conjugated aromatic systems going fromtheoretically interesting molecules to organic materials for specific applications.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ WL Wang, JW Xu, Z Sun, XH Zhang, Y Lu and YH Lai, Effect of transannular pi-pi interaction on emission spectral shift

and fluorescence quenching in dithia[3.3] paracyclophane-fluorene copolymers, Macromolecules, 39, 7277-7285 (2006)

‧ F Wang, MY Han, KY Mya, YB Wang and YH Lai, Aggregation-driven growth of size-tunable organic nanoparticles using electronically altered conjugated polymers, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 127, 10350-10355 (2005)

‧ YH Ting and YH Lai, Extreme projection of a proton into the pi-cloud of an aromatic ring: Record shielding of an aromatic proton in trans-10b-methyl-10c-(1-naphthyl)-10b,10c-dihydropyrene, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 126, 909-914 (2004)

‧ YP Zhang, KS Yong, YH Lai, GQ Xu and XS Wang, Formation of order molecular nanostructures on the Si(111)-(7x7) surface by patterned assembly, Appl. Phys. Lett., 85, 2926-2928 (2004)

‧ F Wang, YH Lai and MY Han, Post-coordination of multinuclear transitional metal clusters to azulene-based polymers: A novel strategy for tuning properties in pi-conjugated polymers, Org. Lett., 5, 4791-4794 (2003)

2626

Assoc Professor LAM YulinResearch Fellow, Inst. of Molecular and Cell Biology, 1994-1996; Research Fellow, The Scripps Research Inst., 1992-1994; Ph.D., National Univ. of Singapore, 1992; B.Sc.(Hons), National Univ. of Singapore, 1987

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/lamyl.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMy interests are as follows (i) devising new synthetic strategies for traceless combinatorial synthesis; (ii) combinatorial synthesis and biological evaluation of small molecules as potential therapeutic agents; and (iii) developing polymer‐bound reagents and catalysts. Specific foci are: ‧ Traceless solid-phase synthesis of heterocycles and their biological evaluations as anticonvulsants, DHFR inhibitors and NOS Inhibitors ‧ Developing polymer-supported reagents and catalysts

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: J. Comb. Chem, 9, 804-810 (2007)

A highly regioselective and traceless solid-phase route to 1,7,8-trisubstituted purineshas been developed. This methodology could also be extended to the preparation of 8-azapurines and [i]-condensed purines. A representative set of 17 purines, azapurinesand [i]-condensed purines was synthesized. This paper also describes a mild method to prepare the BOBA resin.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ H Fu and YL Lam, Regiospecific solid-phase strategy to N7-substituted purines and its application to 8-azapurines and

[i]-condensed purines, J. Comb. Chem., 9, 804-810 (2007) ‧ TMC Tan, F Yang, H Fu, MS Raghavendra and YL Lam, Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel purine

analogs as inhibitors of multidrug resistance protein 4 (MRP4/ABCC4), J. Comb. Chem., 9, 210-218 (2007) ‧ Y Gao and YL Lam, [3+2] Cycloaddition reactions in the solid-phase synthesis of 1,2,3-triazoles, Org. Lett., 8, 3283-3285

(2006) ‧ TMC Tan, Y Chen, KH Kong, J Bai, Y Li, SG Lim, TH Ang and YL Lam, Synthesis and the biological evaluation of 2-

benzenesulfonylmethyl-5-substituted-sulfanyl-[1,3,4]-oxadiazoles as potential anti-hepatitis B virus agents, Antiviral Res., 71, 7-14 (2006)

‧ CH Soh, WK Chui and YL Lam, Efficient synthesis of 2,4-disubsituted-5-aminoimidazoles using microwave irradiation, J. Comb. Chem., 8, 464‐468 (2006)

N

N

ON

NX

R1

N

N

ON

NH

NR1

N

N

ClN

NX

H2SO4, toluene,

N

N

ON

N

R1

R2

1. R2X

N

N

ClNH2

NH

CH(OCH3)3

CAN, CH3CN,

2. H2SO4,

X=CH, N

1. 85% HCOOH

2. R1X, DBUor NaNO2, 50%

toluene,

H2NCH2CH2OH

CH2Cl2

CH2Cl2; or

H2ON

N

NHN

NX

OH

SOCl2, DMFMW, 180oC,

20 min

N

N

N

NX

NH2SO4,

N

N

N

NH

X

N

toluene,

CH3COOH, CH2Cl2

CH2Cl2

N

N

N

NX

N

BuIH2SO4,toluene,

CH2Cl2

N

N

N

NX

NBu

+Bu

2727

Asst Professor Martin J LEARPostdoc., Tohoku Univ., 2000; Postdoc., Parke-Davis & CNRS, 1997; Ph.D., Univ. of Glasgow, 1995; B.Sc., Univ. of Glasgow, 1991

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/lear.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMy research area is in the total and analogue synthesis of natural products of high biological relevance and structural complexity . Specific foci are:‧ Total synthesis of natural antimalarial (e.g. bielschowskysin) and antibiotic (e.g. platensimycin) leads ‧ Development of radiopharmaceuticals and peptide-conjugate probes for disease detection and treatment

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ Y Koyama, MJ Lear, F Yoshimura, I Ohashi, T Mashimo and M Hirama, Efficient construction of the kedarcidin

chromophore ansamacrolide, Org. Lett., 7, 267-270 (2005)‧ T Usuki, T Mita, MJ Lear, P Das, K Akiyama, F Yoshimura, M Inoue, S Tero-Kubota and M. Hirama, Spin-trapping of 13C-

labeled p-benzynes, generated by Masamune-Bergman cyclization of bicyclic nine-membered enediynes, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 43 (6), 5249-5253 (2004)

‧ P Das, T Mita, MJ Lear and M Hirama, Synthesis of 13C-labelled, bicyclic mimetics of natural enediynes, Chem. Commun., 2624-2625 (2002)

‧ S Kobayashi, S Ashizawa, Y Takahashi, Y Suigura, M Nagaoka, MJ Lear and M Hirama, The first total synthesis of N1999-A2: absolute stereochemistry and stereochemical implications into DNA cleavage, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 123 (45), 11294-11295 (2001)

‧ MJ Lear, F Yoshimura and M Hirama, A direct and efficient a-selective glycosylation protocol for the kedarcidin sugar, l-mycarose: AgPF6 as a remarkable activator of 2-deoxythioglycosides, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 40 (5), 946-949 (2001)

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Ongoing work @ http://staff.science.nus.edu.sg/~chmlmj/

Total synthesis, methodological and bioimaging programmes are being combined in order to develop new antimalarial, antibiotic, immunogenic, and biomedical agents and strategies.

2828

Dr Adrian M LEESingapore Millenn. Found. Fellow, National Univ. of Singapore, 2002-2004; Postdoc., Univ. of Cambridge, 2002; Ph.D., Univ. of Cambridge, 1997; M.A., Univ. of Cambridge, 1996; B.A., Univ. of Cambridge, 1992

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/aml.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ NASA Achievement Award, NASA, 1996

RESEARCH INTERESTSWe study the development and application of fragment-based quantum chemical methods to accurately describe the properties and interactions of very large molecules. Specific foci are:‧ Calculating the interaction energy between a neuraminidase substrate and several inhibitors, including tamiflu and relenza‧ Optimisation of molecules within the energy-based fragmentation approximation and the application of such techniques to nmr structure elucidation

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Chem. Phys. Lett., accepted, (2007)

This study reports the fragmentation of an entire enzyme and substrate and shows that the majority of the small fragment molecule interactions can be accurately evaluated without the need to compute the ab initio interaction energy. The perturbation approach presented in this work indicates the possibility to perform accurate first principles molecular dynamics in systems as large as proteins.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ AM Lee and RPA Bettens, First principles NMR calculations by fragmentation, J. Phys. Chem. A, 111, 5111–5115 (2007) ‧ RPA Bettens and AM Lee, A new algorithm for molecular fragmentation in quantum chemical calculations, J. Phys.

Chem. A, 110, 8777–8785 (2006)‧ AM Lee, HK Roscoe, AE Jones, PH Haynes, EF Shuckburgh, MW Morrey and HC Pumphrey, The impact of the mixing

properties within the Antarctic stratospheric vortex on springtime ozone loss, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 3203–3211 (2001)

‧ HK Roscoe, AE Jones and AM Lee, Midwinter start to Antarctic ozone depletion: Evidence from observations and models, Science, 278, 93–96 (1997)

‧ DJ Wales and AM Lee, Structure and rearrangements of small trapped-ion clusters, Phys. Rev. A, 47, 380–393 (1993)

Neuraminidase–BCX-1812 complex with the electrostatic potential calculated using a distributed multipole analysis.

2929

Professor LEE Hian KeePh.D., Univ. of Canterbury, 1982; B.Sc., Univ. of Canterbury, 1978

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/leehk.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Editor, Analytica Chimica Acta, 2005-present‧ Member, Editorial Board, Journal of Chromatography A, 2004-present‧ Member, International Advisory Board, The Analyst, 1997-present ‧ Member, Advisory Board, Analytical Sciences, 2004-present‧ Member, Editorial Advisory Board, LCGC Asia Pacific, 2006-present‧ Outstanding Researcher Award, NUS, 2006 ‧ National Project Coordinator, United Nations University (Japan) Programme on the Asia Coastal

Hydrosphere, 1996-present‧ Member, External Audit Panel, Singapore Water Reclamation and Marina Bay Projects, 2003-present

RESEARCH INTERESTSMy major research interests are focused on the development and applications of solvent-minimized miniaturized sample preparation and extraction techniques, particularly, but not limited to, aqueous environmental matrixes. Specific foci are:‧ Separation science; microscale sample preparation and extraction ‧ Environmental analysis

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Anal. Chem., 79, 5241-5248 (2007)

A zirconia hollow fiber membrane, prepared via a template method coupled with a sol-gel process, was used for the microextraction of pinacolyl methylphos-phonic acid, a degradation product of a nerve agent, soman, the first time an inorganic hollow fiber membrane has been applied to microextraction.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ G Shen and HK Lee, Headspace liquid-phase microextraction of chlorobenzenes in soil with gas chromatography-

electron capture detection, Anal. Chem., 75, 98-103 (2003) ‧ Y He and HK Lee, Large-volume sample stacking in acidic buffer for analysis of small organic and inorganic anions by

capillary electrophoresis, Anal. Chem., 71, 995-1001 (1999) ‧ Y Wang, YC Kwok, Y He and HK Lee, Application of dynamic liquid-phase microextraction to the analysis of

chlorobenzenes in water using a conventional microsyringe, Anal. Chem., 70, 4610-4614 (1998) ‧ W Li and HK Lee, Use of triethylenetetraminehexaacetic acid combined with field-amplified sample injection in

speciation analysis by capillary electrophoresis, Anal. Chem., 70, 2666-2675 (1998) ‧ Y He and HK Lee, Liquid-phase microextraction in a single drop of organic solvent using a conventional syringe, Anal.

Chem., 69, 4634-4640 (1997)

Nanopores of zirconia hollow fiber

3030

Dr LEONG Lai PengPh.D., Univ. of Leeds, 2000; M.Sc., Univ. of Leeds, 1996; B.Sc., UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia, 1995

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/leonglp.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMain interest is in the kinetics of chemical reactions especially with respect to bioactive compounds such as antioxidants found in plants, as well as the Maillard reaction in foods and model systems. Specific foci are:‧ Kinetics of antioxidant and free radical‧ Kinetic of Maillard reaction

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Food Chem., 99, 775-783 (2006)

The paper look into the antioxidant properties of aqueous extracts of selected plants found in Singapore market and their potential for use as functional food ingredients. Antioxidants from these extracts can act synergistically to protect biomolecules from being harmed.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ G Shui and LP Leong, Residue from start fruit as valuable source for functional food ingredients and antioxidant

nutraceuticals, Food Chem. , 97, 277-284 (2006) ‧ Wong SP, LP Leong and JHW Koh, Antioxidant activities of aqueous extracts of selected plants, Food Chem., 99, 775-

783 (2006)‧ V Thavasi, LP Leong and RPA Bettens, Investigation of the influence of hydroxy groups on the radical scavenging ability

of polyphenols, J. Phys. Chem. A, 110, 4918-4923 (2006)‧ G Shui and LP Leong, Rapid screening and characterisation of antioxidants of Cosmos caudatus using liquid

chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, J. Chromatogr B-analytical Technologies in the Biomedical and Life Sciences, 827(1), 127-138 (2005)

‧ G Shui, and LP Leong, Screening of identification of antioxidants in biological samples using high-performance liquid chromatogtaphy-mass spectrometry and its application on Salacca edulis Reinw, J. Agricultural and Food Chem., 53, 880-886 (2005)

A2H

A2 A1

A1H

R

RH

Regeneration of an antioxidant (A1H) by a second antioxidant (A2H) after scavenging radical R•:

3131

Assoc Professor LEONG Weng KeePh.D., Simon Fraser Univ., 1995; M.Sc., National Univ. of Singapore, 1992; M.A., Cambridge Univ., 1986; Dip. Ed., National Inst. of Education, 1985; B.A., Cambridge, 1982

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/leongwk.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Visiting Professor, Kyoto University, 2006 ‧ Visiting Scientist, Cambridge University, 2005‧ Visiting Scientist, ENSCP, 2002 and 2005‧ Visiting Fellow, Tohoku University/JSPS, 2000

RESEARCH INTERESTSWe are interested in all aspects of organometallic chemistry, organometallic clusters in particular, ranging from their synthesis to structure, bonding, reactivity and mechanistic studies, and their applications in catalysis (homogeneous and heterogeneous), nanomaterials and bioorganometallics. Specific foci are:‧ Organometallic chemistry - synthesis, structure, bonding, reactivity, mechanisms, catalysis, materials‧ Bioorganometallic chemistry - biopharmaceuticals, bioimaging, in vivo reactivity studies

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Bioconjugate Chem., 18, 1370-1374 (2007)

Organometallic carbonyl clusters can be conjugated onto biomolecules. These bioconjugates can enter cells with ease, and the CO stretching vibrations afford strong mid-infrared signals which can be detected via an IR microscope. This demonstrated, for the first time, that bioimaging in the mid-infrared is possible with stable, water-soluble organometallic carbonyl cluster compounds.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ YLK Tan and WK Leong, The ditertiary phosphane-bridged heteronuclear cluster RuOs3(μ-H)2(CO)9(μ-CO)2(μ-dppm):

Synthesis and reactivity with alkynes, Eur. J. Inorg. Chem., 1585-98 (2007) ‧ VS Sridev, WY Fan and WK Leong, Stereoselective hydrosilylation of terminal alkynes catalysed by [Cp*IrCl2]2: A

computational and experimental study, Organometallics, 26, 1157-1160 (2007) ‧ VS Sridevi, WY Fan and WK Leong, [Cp*IrCl2]2 Assisted CºC bond cleavage with water: An experimental and

computational study, Organometallics, 26, 1173-1177 (2007) ‧ MOE Ahmed, C Li and WK Leong, Luminescent silver nanoparticles stabilised by a crown ether capped with an

organometallic cluster, J. Organomet. Chem., 692, 3474-3478 (2007) ‧ EC Morrison, WK Leong and J Tan, Reduced overlap population analysis of bis-alkoxy bridged triosmium clusters, J.

Cluster Sci., 18, 753-763 (2007)

3232

Professor LI Fong Yau SamD.Sc., Imperial College, 1998; Ph.D., Imperial College, 1984; B.Sc., Imperial College, 1981

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/lifys.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Outstanding Researcher Award, National University of Singapore/IMRE, 1999‧ Dupont Accomplishment Award, DuPont Company, 1993

RESEARCH INTERESTSAreas of research interest include capillary electrophoresis, lab-on-chip devices, environmental analysis, biomedical analysis, bioimaging, sensor technologies, lab-on-chip devices, nanomaterials analysis, chromatographic techniques, scanning probe microscopy, supercritical fluid extraction and chromatography. Specific foci are:‧ Capillary electrophoresis‧ Environmental and biomedical analysis

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Electrophoresis, 28, 4025-4028 (2007)

This paper describes a method to simultaneously determine 27acidic pollutants within a single run by a portable CE system with contactless conductivity detection (CCD). The system shows advantages such as simplicity, cost effectiveness, and miniaturization, and has great potential for onsite analysis of pollutants at trace level.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ Yu LJ and SFY Li, Large-volume sample stacking with polarity switching for the analysis of bacteria by capillary

electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection, J. Chromatography A, 1161, 308-313 (2007) ‧ Xu Y, W Wang and SFY Li, Simultaneous determination of low-molecular-weight organic acids and chlorinated acid

herbicides in environmental water by a portable CE system with contactless conductivity detection, Electrophoresis, 28, 4025-4028 (2007)

‧ HT Feng, WS Law, LJ Yu and SFY Li, Immunoassay by capillary electrophoresis with quantum dots, J. Chromatography A, 1156, 75-79 (2007)

‧ Y Xu, and SFY Li, Carbon nanotube-enhanced separation of DNA fragments by a portable capillary electrophoresis system with contactless conductivity detection, Electrophoresis, 27, 4025-4028 (2006)

‧ WS Law, P Kuban, LL Yuan, JH Zhao, SFY Li, and PC Hauser, Determination of tobramycin in human serum by capillary electrophoresis with contactless conductivity detection, Electrophoresis, 27(10), 1932-1938 (2006)

Simultaneous separation of 27 pollutants by capillary electrophoresis: 1, Oxalic acid; 2, malonic acid; 3–7, formic acid, maleic acid, tartaric acid, succinic acid, malic acid; 8, acetic acid; 9/10, propionic acid, lactic acid; 11, butyric acid; 12, dalapon; 13, TCTPA; 14, 3,5-dichlorobenzoic acid (3,5-DCB); 15, 3-amino-2,5-dichlorobenzoic acid (chloramben); 16, 3,6-dichloro-2-methoxybenzoic acid (dicamba); 17, dichlorophenoxyaceticacid (2,4-D); 18, 3-isopropyl-1H-2,1,3-benzothiadiazin-4(3H)-one-2,2-dioxide (Bentazon); 19/20, 4-amino-3,5,6-trichloro-pyridine-2-carboxylic acid (picloram), 2-(2,4-dichlorphenoxy) propionic acid (dichlorprop); 21, 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T); 22/23, Dinoseb, 2,4,5-TP; 24-2,4-DB; 25, 4-NP; 26, pentachlorophenol (PCP); 27, acifluorfen.

3333

Assoc Professor LI TianhuPostdoc., Scripps Research Institute, 1994; Ph.D., State Univ. of New York, 1992; M.Sc., Beijing Inst. of Chemical Technology, 1982; B.Sc., Jilin Univ., 1980

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/lth.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMy research primarily focuses on nuclear acid chemistry.

RECENT HIGHLIGHTThe primary focus of my group in recent years has been directed toward the exploration of new properties of G-quadruplex and i-motif as well as their diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Several circularly unimolecular and bimolecular G-quadruplex and i-motif have accordingly been made in our lab in the past years while preparation of fluorescence-tagged circular G-quadruplex and i-motif are currently in progress. We hope that circular G-quadruplex and i-motif could be useful molecular tools for interfering certain biological functions of tetraplex-binding proteins and for examining the winding and resolving mechanisms of G-quadruplex catalyzed by G-quadruplex-promoting and disintegrating proteins.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ XM Li, MTT Ng, YF Wang, XQ Liu and TH Li, Dumbbell-shaped circular oligonucleotides as inhibitors of human

topoisomerase I , Bioorg. & Med.Chem. Lett., 17, 4967-4971 (2007) ‧ YT Zhou, GS Chen, YF Wang, Q Zhang, M Yang and TH Li, Synthesis of unimolecularly circular G-quadruplexes as

prospective molecular probes, Nucleic Acids Res., 32, Art No e173 (2004) ‧ D Liu, J Chen, AHF Lee, LMC Chow, ASC Chan and TH Li, Small Circular Oligodeoxynucleotides Achieved from Self-

Assembling Entities, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl., 42(7), 797-799, (2003)‧ AHF Lee, J Chen, D Liu, TYC Leung, ASC Chan and TH Li, Acid-Promoted DNA-Cleaving Activities and Total Synthesis of

Varacin C, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 124(47), 13972-13973, (2002)‧ AHF Lee, ASC Chan and TH Li, Acid-accelerated DNA-cleaving activities of antitumor antibiotic varacin, Chemical

Communications, 18, 2112-2113, (2002)

3434

Asst Professor LIU XiaogangPostdoc., Massachusetts Inst of Tech, 2006; Ph.D., Northwestern Univ., 2004; M.Sc., East Carolina Univ., 1999; B.Sc., Beijing Tech and Business Univ., 1996

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/liuxg.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMy general interests are supramolecular chemistry, materials science, and nanotechnology. Specific foci are:‧ Developing nanoparticle-based ultrasensitive sensor systems for metal ions and biological molecules ‧ Designing novel nanomaterials with high catalytic activity and recyclability ‧ Synthesizing low-dimensional nanomaterials‧ Developing lanthanide-doped fluorescent nanoparticle probes

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ F Wang, X Xue and Liu X, Multicolor Tuning of (Ln, P)-doped YVO4 nanoparticles by single wavelength excitation,

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., accepted (2007) ‧ X Liu, Y Zhang, DK Goswami, JS Okasinski, K Salaita, P Sun, MJ Bedzyk and CA Mirkin, The controlled evolution of a

single crystal, Science, 307, 1763 (2005)‧ X Liu, S Guo and CA Mirkin, Surface and site-specific ring-opening metathesis polymerization initiated by dip-pen

nanolithography, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed. Engl., 42, 4785 (2003)‧ J-M Nam, MA Ratner, X Liu and CA Mirkin, Single-walled carbon nanotubes and C60 encapsulated by a molecular

macrocycle, J. Phys. Chem. B., 107, 4705 (2003)‧ M Su, X Liu, S-Y Li, VP Dravid and CA Mirkin, Moving beyond molecules: Patterning solid-state features via dip-pen

nanolithograpy with sol-based inks, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 124, 1560 (2002)

MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Young Investigator Award, National University of Singapore, 2006

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed. Engl., accepted (2007)

Emission color modulation is presented based upon (Ln, P)-doped YVO4 nanoparticle systems. By precisely control of emission wavelengths or intensity ratios through control of different host/activator systems or concentrations of the dopant ions, the color of light emission can be readily tuned under single wavelength excitation.

3535

Assoc Professor LOH Kian PingPostdoc., National Inst. for Material Science, Tsukuba, Japan, 1998; Ph.D., Oxford Univ., 1996; B.Sc., National Univ. of Singapore, 1994

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/lohkp.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Deputy Chair, NUS Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative, 2007-present‧ Focus Chair, NUS Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Initiative Optoelectronics group, 2007-present‧ International Advisory Panel, New Diamond and Nanocarbon Conference, 2007-2008

RESEARCH INTERESTSGeneral interests include diamond surface science, chemical and bio-functionalization of nanodiamond for energy storage, analytics sensing applications, molecular engineering of novel multiphoton organic molecules and multiexciton quantum dots for photovoltaics, organic-inorganic hybrid for photovoltaic application. Specific foci are: ‧ Nanodiamond chemistry ‧ Molecular engineering of organic and inorganic nanomaterials for photovoltaics

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Langmuir, 23, 5615-5621 (2007)

The adhesion properties of normal human dermal fibroblast (NHDF) cells on ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) surfaces were measured using atomic force microscope by studying the retraction force curves. Cell adhesion forces were observed to be strongest on UV-treated UNCD. Using capillary injection, a surface gradient of polyethylene glycol could be assembled on top of the diamond surface for the construction of a cell gradient. This work was highlighted in Biophotonics International (2007).

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ J Zhang, JM Soon, KP Loh, et al., Magnetic molybdenum disulfide nanosheet films, Nano Lett., 7, 2370-2376 (2007) ‧ J Zhang, KP Loh, JW Zheng, et al., Adsorption of molecular oxygen on the walls of pristine and carbon-doped (5,5)

boron nitride nanotubes: Spin-polarized density functional study, Phys. Rev. B, 75, 245301 (2007) ‧ D Qi, W Chen, X Gao, KP Loh and ATS Wee, Surface transfer doping of diamond (100) by tetrafluoro-

tetracyanoquinodimethane, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 129, 8084 (2007) ‧ M Lin, JPY Tan, C Boothroyd and KP Loh, Dynamical observation of bamboo-like carbon nanotube growth, Nano Lett.,

7, 2234-2238 (2007) ‧ W Chen, L Wang, C Huang, KP Loh and ATS Wee, Effect of functional group (fluorine) of aromatic thiols on electron

transfer at the molecule-metal interface, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 128, 935-939 (2006)

3636

Asst Professor LU YixinPostdoc., Nagoya Univ., 2001; Postdoc., Clinical Research Inst. of Montreal, 2000; Ph.D., McGill Univ., 2000; B.Sc., Fudan Univ., 1991

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/luyx.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMain areas of study are asymmetric organocatalysis and medicinal chemistry. Specific foci include:‧ Organocatalyst-promoted asymmetric organic reactions ‧ Development of analgesics and anti-cancer agents

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Chem. Commun., 4143 (2007)

Organocatalytic direct anti-selective Mannich reactions of O-TBS-hydroxyacetone with various N-tosyliminesderived from aromatic aldehydes in the presence of L-threonine-derived catalyst afforded 1,2-amino alcohols in good yields and with enantioselectivities of 99% in almost all cases.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ L Cheng, X Han, H Huang, MW Wong and Y Lu, Highly diasteroselctive and enantioselective direct organocatalytic anti-

selective Mannich reactions employing N-tosylimines, Chem. Commun., 4143 (2007) ‧ X Wu, Z Jiang, H-M Shen and Y Lu, Highly Enantioselective direct aldol reactions catalyzed by a hydrophobic

organocatalyst derived from threonine in water, Adv. Synth. Catal., 349, 812 (2007) ‧ Z Jiang, Z Liang, X Wu and Y Lu, Asymmetric aldol reactions catalyzed by tryptophan in water, Chem. Commun., 2801

(2006)‧ Y Lu, TK Lum, YWA Leow, G Weltrowsak, TM-D Nguyen, C Lemieux, NN Chung and PW Schiller, Replacement of the N-

terminal tyrosine residue in opioid peptides with 3-(2,6-dimethyl-4-carbamoylphenyl)propanoic acid (Dcp) results in novel opioid antagonists, J. Med. Chem., 49, 5382 (2006)

‧ Y Lu and G Just, Stereoselective synthesis of RP- and SP- dithymidine phosphorothioates using chiral indolo-oxazaphosphorine intermediates derived from tryptophan, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed., 39, 4521 (2000)

NTs O

OTBS

HNTs

RR

O

OTBS

97-99% ee, up to 98% de

Toluene, RT

COOH

NH2

OTBS(10 mol%)

3737

Dr MAK Ka Wai KarenPostdoc., Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Tech., 2004; Ph.D., Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Tech., 2003; B.Sc., Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Tech., 1999

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/mak.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSSpecific foci are:‧ Enzyme sensors for environmental analysis ‧ Substrate recycling in multienzyme system

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ KKW Mak, AWC Law, S Tokuda, H Yanase and R Renneberg, Application of cyanide hydrolase from Klebsiella sp. in

biosensor system for detection of low-level cyanide, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 67, 631-636 (2005) ‧ KKW Mak, H Yanase and R Renneberg, Novel optical biotest for determination of cyanide traces in marine fish using

microbial cyanide hydratase and formate dehydrogenase, Microchimica Acta, 149, 131-135 (2005) ‧ RCH Kwan, PYT Hon, KKW Mak and R Renneberg, Amperometric Determination of Lactate with Novel

Trienzyme/Poly(carbamyol) Sulfonate Hydrogel-based Sensor, Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 19, 1745-1752 (2004) ‧ KKW Mak, U Wollenberger, F Scheller and R Renneberg, An amperometric bi-enzyme sensor for determination of

formate using cofactor regeneration, Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 18, 1095-1100 (2003) ‧ SCK Lau, KKW Mak, F Chen and P Qian, Bioactivity of bacterial strains isolated from marine biofilms in Hong Kong

Waters for the induction of larval settlement in the marine polychaete Hydroides elegans, Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 226: 301-310 (2002)

3838

Dr MAUNG MAUNG SawPh.D., National Univ. of Singapore, 2006; M.B.B.S., Inst, of Medicine (1), Yangon, 1992

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/maung.htmhttp://medicine.nus.edu.sg/meddnr/cv-mms.htm

Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Vice Chairman, Advisory Committee on Implementation of GMP and GRP in Asia, International Atomic

Energy Agency, 2007 ‧ National Consultant, Nuclear Medicine Section, Division of Human Health, International Atomic Energy

Agency (IAEA), 2005-2006 ‧ Expert on Radiopharmacy, Nuclear Medicine Section, Division of Human Health, International Atomic

Energy Agency (IAEA), 2002-2006

RESEARCH INTERESTSMajor interest is on “Bioorganometallic Chemistry” with emphasis on the development of radiopharmaceuticals/probes for “molecular imaging and therapy” (cancer, metabolic disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, infection and stem cells). There is minor focus on organometallic-based drugs.Specific foci are:‧ Bioactive metal complexes (M = 99mTcI(CO)3, 185/186/188ReI(CO)3, 99mTcVO, 185/186/188RevO)‧ Development of new rhenium and technetium cores, biocompatible chelators, luminescent complexes, and new targeting approach

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Inorg. Chim. Acta, 359, 4087-4094 (2006)

We have synthesized and characterized new fac-{M(CO)3}+ (M = Tc, Re) complexes with pendant C18 chain as surrogates for Lipiodol, a liver cancer therapy agent (ref-1), as a model for labeling other bioactive materials for molecular imaging and therapy. The complexes showed superior in vivo stability than 188ReVO-N2S2 complex currently undergoing Phase III clinical trial participated by us (ref-2).

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ MM S, P Kurz, N Agorastos, TSA Hor, FX Sundram, YK Yan and R Alberto, Complexes with the fac-{M(CO)3}+ (M = 99mTc,

Re) moiety and long alkyl chain ligands as Lipiodol surrogates, Inorg. Chim. Acta, 359, 4079-4086 (2006) ‧ P Bernal, JL Raoul, G Vimar, C Sereegotov, FX Sundram, A Kumar, JM Jeong, P Pusuwan, C Divgi, P Zanonico, J Stare, T

Chau, MM Saw, SL Chen, R Ogbac, JR Buscombe and AK Padhy, Intra-arterial Rhenium-188 Lipiodol in the treatment of inoperable hepatocellular carcinoma: Results of an IAEA-sponsored multi-nation study, Intl. J. Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, in press (available online 9 August 2007)

‧ Liu CH, MH Hong, Y Zhou, GX Chen, MS Maung and TSA Hor, Synthesis and characterization of Ag deposited TiO2 particles by laser ablation in water, Physica Scripta, Publication no. 0353021 (2007)

‧ FX Sundram, SW Yu, JM Jeong, S Somanesan, J Premaraj, MM Saw and B.S. Tan, Ann. Acad. Med. Singapore, 30, 542-545 (2001)

3939

Ms Prabhavathy JANARDHANAM.Sc., National Univ. of Singapore, 2004; M.Sc., Bangalore Univ., 1996; B.Sc., Bangalore Univ., 1994

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/jp.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSOrganometallic chemistry is the main area of interest.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ K Zhang, J Prabhavathy, JHK Yip, LL Koh, GK Tan and JJ Vittal, First examples of AuI-X-AgI halonium cations (X = Cl- and

Br-), J. Am. Chem. Soc., 125, 8452-8453 (2003)‧ JHK Yip and J Prabhavathy, A luminescent gold ring that flips like cyclohexane, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed., 40, 2159-2162

(2001)

4040

Asst Professor David G POPOVICHPostdoc., NSERC, 2005; Postdoc., Univ. of British Columbia, 2004; Ph.D., Univ. of British Columbia, 2004; M.Sc., Univ. of Toronto, 1996; B.Sc., Univ. of Toronto, 1991

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/popovich.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMy specific foci are:‧ Bioactive plant foods and extracts derived from natural health products and traditional food sources ‧ Dietary saponins from ginseng (ginsenosides), bitter melon and soy

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Phytochemistry, 65, 337-344 (2004)

Ginsenosides Rh2 and Rg3 are rare bioactive ginsenosidesand were effectively shown to be a breakdown product of thermal extraction of ginseng plant material, an underutilized resource, and is potential source for natural health products or pharmaceutical development.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ DG Popovich and DD Kitts, Phytochemistry, 65, 337-344 (2004)‧ DG Popovich and DD Kitts, Arch.Biochem Biophys, 406, 1-8 (2002)‧ DG Popovich and DD Kitts, J. Biochem. Mol. Toxicol, 18, 143-149, (2004)‧ DG Popovich and DD Kitts, Can. J. Physiol. Pharmacol, 82, 183–190 (2004)‧ DJ Jenkins, DG Popovich, CW Kendall, E Vidgen, N Tariq, TPP Ransom, TMS Wolever, V Vuksan, CC Mehling, DL Boctor, C

Bolognesi, J Huang and R Patten, Metabolism, 46, 1-4 (1997)

4141

Dr SHIP Chee PengPostdoc., Ghent Univ., 2003; Ph.D, Univ. of Southampton, 2002; B.Sc.(Hons), Univ. of Malaya, 1997

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/shipcp.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSGeneral interests include heterogeneous catalysis and small peptide synthesis. Specific foci are:‧ Replacement of homogeneous liquid acids such as HF and H2SO4 by heterogeneous solid acids‧ Cyclic dipeptides

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ Y Zhu, CP Ship, A Emi, ZM Su and RA Kemp, Supported ultra small palladium on magnetic nanoparticles used as

catalysts for Suzuki cross-coupling and heck reactions, Adv. Synth. Catal., 349, 1917-1922 (2007)‧ T Campbell, JM Corker, AD Dent, SA EL-Safty, J Evans, SG Fiddy, MA Newton, CP Ship and S Turin, Synthesis,

characterization and chemistry of transition metals in mesoporous silica, Stud. Surf. Sci. Catal., 132, 667 (2001)‧ CP Ship, A Zainudin and YY Lim, Effects of aminocarboxylate ligands of surface active copper(II) complexes on the

hydrolysis of p-Nitrophenyldiphenylphosphate, J. Colloid and Interface Science, 217, 211 (1999)

MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Ph.D. ORS Award and Research Studentship, University of Southampton, 2002

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Adv. Synth. Catal., 349, 1917-1922 (2007)

We have conveniently prepared ultra small palladium(0) particles (less than 1 nm) on magnetic nanoparticlesupports, in which immobilized auxiliaries are used as stabilizing ligands. These catalysts were active for Suzuki cross-coupling and Heck reactions giving isolated yields of 83 % and 56 %, respectively. In addition, the catalyst can be easily separated using a magnet and reused several times with sustained activity.

4242

Asst Professor SIM Wee SunPostdoc., Univ. of Cambridge, 1997; Ph.D., Univ. of Cambridge, 1996; B.Sc. (Honours), National Univ. of Singapore, 1992

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/simws.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ DuPont Young Faculty Award, DuPont, 2001 ‧ SNAS Young Scientist Award, Singapore National Academy of Science/A*STAR, 2002

RESEARCH INTERESTSWe aim to establish viable methods of functionalizing surfaces and gaining molecular-level understanding and control of chemical transformations occurring at the interfaces of solid materials used in catalysis, microelectronics and nanotechnology. Specific foci are:‧ Surface science and catalysis‧ Thin films and nanomaterials

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Langmuir, 22, 7861 (2006)

A two-step surface functionalization approach has been used to encase Au nanoparticles in monolayer organometallic Ru-complex shells by the reaction of an intermediate surface-bound mercaptopropanoicacid capping species with Ru dodecacarbonyl (Ru3(CO)12) clusters.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ BH Kee, WS Sim and W Chew, Application of band-target entropy minimization (BTEM) and residual spectral analysis to

in situ reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) data from surface chemistry studies, Analytica ChimicaActa, 571,113 (2006)

‧ S Wang and WS Sim, Au nanoparticles encapsulated in Ru carbonyl carboxylate shells, Langmuir, 22, 7861 (2006)‧ B S Yeo, ZH Chen and WS Sim, Efficient growth of ordered thin oxide films on Ni(111) by NO2 oxidation, Surface

Science, 557, 201 (2004) ‧ BS Yeo, ZH Chen and WS Sim, Surface functionalization of Ni(111) with acrylate monolayers, Langmuir, 19, 2787 (2003)‧ WS Sim, TC Li, PX Yang and BS Yeo, Isolation and identification of surface-bound acetone enolate on Ni(111), J. Am.

Chem. Soc., 124, 4970 (2002)

Ru

Ru

Ru

CO

COCO

CO

CO

COOC

OC

CO

CO

OC CO

+Au

S

CO

O

S

C

OO

S

C

OO

SC

O

O

S CO

O

SC

O

O

S

COO

S

C O

O

S

COO

S

CO

SC

O

O S

COO Ru

Ru

COCO

CO

CO

Ru

Ru

CO

CO

COCO

Ru

Ru

COOC

OC

OC

Ru

Ru

OC

OC

OCCO H

OH

H

H

AuAu

S

C

OO

S

CO

O

S

CO O

SC

O

O

SC

O

O

SC

OO

S

CO

S

C OO

S

COO

S

CO

SC

O

OS

COO

O

O

H

H

H

HH

H

H

H

H

HH

H

4343

Dr Bellam SREENIVASULUPh.D., National Univ. of Singapore, 2006

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/bs.html


RESEARCH INTERESTSSpecific foci are:‧ Supramolecular networks involving transition metal complexes‧ Biomimetic oxidation catalysts‧ Coordination chemistry of lanthanides with reduced Schiff base ligands‧ Lanthanide complexes as magnetic resonance image contrasting agents

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ R Ganguly, B Sreenivasulu and JJ Vittal, Amino acid containing reduced Schiff bases as the building blocks for

metallasupramolecular structures, Coord. Chem. Rev., in press (2007) ‧ B Sreenivasulu, F Zao, S Gao and JJ Vittal, Synthesis, structures and catecholase activity of a new series of dicopper(II)

complexes of reduced schiff base ligands, Eur. J. Inorg. Chem, 13, 2656-2670 (2006) ‧ B Sreenivasulu, M Vetrichelvan, F Zao, S Gao, JJ Vittal, Cu(II) complexes of Schiff base and reduced Schiff base ligands:

Influence of weakly coordinating sulfonate group on the structures and oxidation of 3,5-DTBC, Eur. J. Inorg. Chem., 22, 4635-4645 (2005)

‧ B Sreenivasulu and JJ Vittal, Helix inside Helix: Encapsulation of hydrogen bonded water molecules in a staircase coordination polymer, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed., 43, 5769-5772 (2004)

‧ B Sreenivasulu and JJ Vittal, A metal coordination polymer with hexagonal diamondoid (lonsdaleite) topology, Crystal Growth and Design, 3, 635-637 (2003)

MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ CrystEnggComm Best Poster Award, ICMAT (2003) ‧ Fellowship for American Crystallographic Association (ACA) Summer School, 2005

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed., 43, 5769-5772 (2004)

Ni(II) complex, [(H2O)2Ì⊂{Ni(HSglu)(H2O)2}]‧H2O, derived from N-(2-hydroxybenzyl)-L-glutamic acid (H3Sglu) displaying a novel helical staircase coordination polymeric structure encapsulating 1D hydrogen bonded helical water chain as in the chiral helical channels similar to that observed in biological aquaporin proteins.

Helical Ni(II) coordination polymer encapsulating helical water chain (left), Hydrogen bonded helical water chain (right),

4444

Asst Professor TAN Choon HongPostdoc., Harvard Univ., 2002; Ph.D., Univ. of Cambridge, 1999; B.Sc. (Hons), National Univ. of Singapore, 1996

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/tanch.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSWe are interested in Bronsted base catalyzed enantioselective reactions. We are particularly interested in the chiral bicyclic guanidines. We have shown that they can catalyze Michael and Diels-Alder reactions with high enantioselectivities. Specific foci are:‧ Chiral Bronsted base catalyzed enantioselective reactions‧ Enantioselective reactions using molecular oxygen

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ X Fu, Z Jiang and C-H Tan, Bicyclic Guanidine-Catalyzed Enantioselective Phospha-Michael Reaction: Synthesis of Chiral

β-Aminophosphine Oxides and β-Aminophosphines, Chem. Commun., in press (2007)‧ W Ye, Z Jiang, Y Zhao, SLM Goh, D Leow, Y-T Soh and C-H Tan, Chiral bicyclic guanidine as a versatile brønsted base

catalyst for the enantioselective michael reactions of dithiomalonates and β-Keto Thioesters, Adv. Syn. and Catal., in press (2007)

‧ W Ye, D Leow, SLM Goh, CT Tan, CH Chian and C-H Tan, Chiral bicyclic guanidines: A concise and efficient aziridine-based synthesis, Tetrahedron Lett., 47, 1007-1010 (2006)

‧ J Xu, Y Guan, S Yang, Y Ng, G Peh, C-H Tan, Chiral Imidazoline Promoted Asymmetric Baylis-Hillman Reaction. Chem. -An Asian J., 1, 724-729 (2006)

‧ J Shen, TT Nguyen, Y-P Goh, W Ye, X Fu, J Xu, C-H Tan, Chiral Bicyclic Guanidine Catalyzed Enantioselective Reactions of Anthrones. J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 128, 13692-13693 (2006)

RECENT HIGHLIGHTChiral bicyclic guanidine was found to be an excellent catalyst for reactions between anthrones and various dienophiles. The catalyst can tolerate a range of substituents and substitution patterns on the anthrone. This is the first case of highly enantioselective base catalyzed anthrone Diels-Alder reaction.

NO

OPh

Cl

OH

ClS

SNH

N

NBn BnO

Cl Cl

N

O

O

Ph

3iCH2Cl2, -20 oC, 4 hrs92% yield, 99% ee

(10 mol%)1

2c

+

4545

Dr TAN Sue Qing EmelynPh.D., Univ. of Canterbury, 2006; B.Sc., Univ. of Canterbury, 2002

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/tansq.html


RESEARCH INTERESTSMain area of interest lies on the fabrication of chemically modified surfaces that are spatially defined, in order for subsequent controlled assembly of materials including nanoparticles and protein. Specific focis are:‧ Chemically modified surfaces ‧ Electrochemistry and microfluidics

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ AJ Downard, DJ Garrett and ESQ Tan, Microscale patterning of organic films on carbon surfaces using electrochemistry

and soft lithography, Langmuir, Special Issue on Electrochemistry, 22, 10739-10746 (2006) ‧ AJ Downard, ESQ Tan and SSC Yu, Controlled assembly of gold nanoparticles on carbon surfaces, New J. Chem., 30,

1283-1288 (2006) ‧ AC Cruickshank, ESQ Tan, PA Brooksby and AJ Downard, Are redox probes a useful indicator of surface film stability?

An electrochemical, AFM, XPS study of electrografted amine films on carbon, Electrochem. Commun., 9, 1456-1462 (2007)

‧ SSC Yu, ESQ Tan, RT Jane and AJ Downard, An electrochemical and XPS study of reduction of nitrophenyl films covalently grafted to planar carbon surfaces, Langmuir, ASAP (2007)

‧ AJ Downard, SL Jackson and ESQ Tan, Fluorescence microscopy study of protein adsorption at modified glassy carbon surfaces, Aust. J. Chem., Electrochemistry Special Issue, 58, 275-279 (2005)

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Langmuir, 22, 10739-10746 (2006)

This paper demonstrated three simple strategies employing poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) molds for patterning carbon surfaces with two different modifiers; in a 18 μm line pattern. The PDMS molds are patterned with microfluidic channels (approximately 20 μm wide and 49 μm deep), and form a reversible, conformal seal to the pyrolyzed photoresist film (PPF) and modified PPF surfaces. For the fill-in patterning approach (shown in the diagram), the first modifier is electrografted to the PPF surface exposed within the microchannels, and in a second grafting step after removal of the PDMS mold, the second modifier fills-in the remaining surface. Inverse patterns of modifiers were fabricated and the patterns are characterized using SEM, optical microscopy, formation of condensation figures, and SEM imaging after assembly of Au nanoparticles.

4646

Asst Professor TOH Chee SengPostdoc., California Inst. of Technology, 2004; Ph.D., Univ. of Southampton, 2002; M.Sc., National Univ. of Singapore, 1995; B.Sc. (Hons), National Univ. of Singapore, 1993

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/tohcs.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSOur current research interests are in analytical and electrochemistry with the development of ultrasensitvemembrane-based sensors, biomimetic membrane systems for sustainability and environment research, transport study of ions/biomolecules through nano-channels. Specific foci are:‧ Membrane-based sensors ‧ Biomimetic membrane systems

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ GW Koh and CS Toh, Nanoscale bioanalysis using electrochemical methods, Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and

Nanotechnology, accepted‧ GW Koh, S Agarwal and CS Toh, Development of a membrane-based electrochemical immunosensor, Electrochimica

Acta, 53, 803-810 (2007) ‧ L He and CS Toh, Recent advances in analytical chemistry – A material approach, Anal. Chim. Acta, 556, 1–15 (2006) ‧ CS Toh, BM Kayes, EJ Nemanick and NS Lewis, Fabrication of free-standing nanoscale alumina membranes with

controllable pore aspect ratios, Nano Lett., 4, 767-770 (2004) ‧ CS Toh, PN Bartlett, N Mano, F Aussenac, A Kuhn and EJ Dufourc, Effect of calcium ions on the electrocatalytic oxidation

of NADH by poly(aniline)-poly(vinylsulfonate) and poly(aniline)-poly(styrenesulfonate) modified electrodes, Physical Chemistry and Chemical Physics, 5, 588-593 (2003)

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Electrochimica Acta, 53, 803-810 (2007)

A membrane-based electrochemical immunosensorsensitive towards proteins is described. The sensing mechanism depends on the blocking of pore channels when protein antigen molecules bind to antibody molecules attached to the channel walls, impeding diffusion of redox probe towards the underlying sensing electrode.

MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Co-Chair, Analytical, Environmental and Green Chemistry Symposium, Singapore International Chemical

Conference-5, 2007 ‧ Guest Editor, Electrochimica Acta, Special Issue, International Society of Electrochemistry Spring Meeting,

2006 ‧ Chair, Local Organising Committee, International Society of Electrochemistry Spring Meeting, 2007

4747

Assoc Professor VALIYAVEETTIL SureshPostdoc., Max-Planck Inst. for Polymer Research, 1997; Postdoc., Univ. of Twente, 1992; Ph.D., Univ. of Victoria, 1992; M.Tech., Indian Inst. of Technology, 1987; M.Sc., Calicut Univ., 1985; B.Sc., Calicut Univ., 1983

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/suresh.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSCurrent research interest of my group involves the synthesis and characterization of nanostructuredmaterials (polymers, hybrid materials and bionanomaterials). Another are of interest involves establishing the toxicity of nanomaterails in both cell models as well as in fish models to identify the impact of nanomaterials in environment. Nanohybrid materials are prepared from organic and inorganic components for specific applications such as sensors, organophotvoltaics and molecular electronics applications. My specific foci are:‧ Synthesis and characterization of novel materials ‧ Development of nanotechnology and establishing the toxicity of nanomaterials

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Adv. Funct. Mat., 17, 1698-1704 (2007) – Figure 1; Macromolecules, 40, 6057-6066 (2007) –

Figure 2; Chem. - A Eur. J., 13 , 3262-3268 – Figure 3

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ S Sindhu, S Jegadesan, H Li, PK Ajikumar, M Vetrichelvan and S Valiyaveettil, Synthesis and patterning of luminescent

CaCO3-Poly(p-Phenylene) hybrid materials and thin films, Adv. Funct. Mat., 17, 1698-1704 (2007)‧ S Gayathri, R Lakshminarayanan, JC Weaver, DE Morse, RM Kini and S Valiyaveettil, In vitro study of magnesium-calcite

biomineralization in the skeletal materials of the seastar Pisaster giganteus, Chem. - A Eur. J., 13, 3262-3268 (2007) ‧ Li HR and S Valiyaveettil, Water-soluble multifunctional cross-conjugated poly(p-phenylenes) as stimuli-responsive

materials: Design, synthesis, and characterization, Macromolecules, 40, 6057-6066 (2007) ‧ R Ravindranath, C Vijila, PK Ajikumar, FS Hussain, KL Ng, H Wang, CS Jin, W Knoll and S Valiyaveettil, Photophysical

properties of hydroxylated amphiphilic poly(p-phenylene)s, J. Phys. Chem. B, 110, 25958-25963 (2006) ‧ PK Ajikumar, S Vivekanandan, R Laxminarayanan, SDS Jois, RM Kini and S Valiyaveettil, Mimicking the function of

eggshell matrix proteins: Role of multiplets of charged amino acid residues and self-assembly of peptides in biominerlization, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed., 44, 5476-5479 (2005)

MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Visiting Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, 2006-current ‧ Visiting Professor, University of Houston, 2007

Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3

4848

Assoc Professor Jagadese J VITTALPostdoc., Univ. of Western Ontario, 1987; Ph.D., Indian Inst. of Science, 1982; M.Sc., Madurai Univ., 1977; B.Sc., Univ. of Madras, 1975

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/jjvittal.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Associate Editor, Journal of Synthesis and Reactivity in Inorganic, Metal-Organic and Nano-Metal

Compounds, (A Taylor and Francis Journal), 2006-present‧ Member, Editorial Boards of Main Group Metal Chemistry (2003-present), Molecular and Supramolecular

Chemistry (2007-present), and Current Chemical Biology (2007-present) ‧ Keynote Speaker, 37th International Conference on Coordination Chemistry, South Africa, 2006‧ Keynote Speaker, 1st Asian Conference on Coordination Chemistry, Japan, 2007‧ Keynote Speaker, 12th Asian Chemical Congress, Malaysia, 2007 ‧ Co-editor, Frontiers in Crystal Engineering, Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Feb. 2006, ISBN: 0-470-02258-2‧ Co-editor, Special issue on Coordination Polymers, J. Molecular Structure, 796, 30 August 2006

RESEARCH INTERESTSMain areas of interests include supramolecular coordination polymeric architectures, photochemistry and solid-state structural transformations in coordination polymers, luminescent coordination polymeric gels and fibers, chemistry of metal chalcogenocarboxylates as molecular precursors for metal chalcogenidematerials, thin films and nanocrystals. Specific foci are:‧ Inorganic chemistry and inorganic materials‧ Supramolecular chemistry and crystal engineering

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 46, 5925-5928 (2007)

A discrete cyclic water heptamer trapped inside a 3D coordination polymeric crystal lattice with diamondoidtopology undergoes phase transition when cooled from 296 K to 223 K, from C2/c to P21/c accompanied by structural transformation to bicyclic water heptamer.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ JJ Vittal, Supramolecular structural transformations involving coordination polymers in the solid-state, Coord. Chem.

Revs., 251, 1782-1785 (2007) ‧ JJ Vittal and MT Ng, Chemistry of metal thio- and selenocarboxylates – Precursors for metal sulfide/selenide materials,

thin films and nanocrystals, Accts of Chemical Res., 39, 869-877 (2006) ‧ M Nagarathinam and JJ Vittal, Anisotropic movements of coordination polymers upon desolvation: Solid-state

transformation of linear 1D coordination polymer to ladder-like structure, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 45, 4337-4341 (2006) ‧ L Tian, HI Elim, W Ji and JJ Vittal, One pot synthesis and third-order nonlinear optical properties of AgInS2 nanocrystals,

Chem. Commun., 4276-4278 (2006) ‧ MT Ng, CB Boothroyd and JJ Vittal, One pot synthesis of new phase AgInSe2 nanorods, J. Am. Chem. Soc. , 128, 1178-

1179 (2006)

4949

Assoc Professor Thomas WALCYZKPostdoc., Swiss Federal Inst. of Technology (ETH), 1996; Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat), Univ. of Regensburg, 1994; Dipl. Chem., Univ. of Regensburg, 1991

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/walczyk.html

Email: walczyk @nus.edu.sg

RESEARCH INTERESTSMy research is directed towards a better understanding of mineral and trace element metabolism in humans and their role in health and disease with a special focus on iron and calcium. Specific foci are: ‧ Development and application of stable isotope techniques for element tracing in human intervention studies ‧ Analysis and modeling of tracer kinetics in human experiments‧ Exploration of natural isotope signatures in the human body for essential elements ‧ Inorganic trace analysis and elemental speciation analysis by mass spectrometric isotope dilution analysis (IDMS)

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: J. Bone Min. Res.,in press (2007); Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 386, 1587-1602 (2006)

Within a multi-centre, multidisciplinary project we could successfully validate a new isotopic technique for identifying changes in bone calcium metabolism in humans at supreme sensitivity. The technique uses Ca-41 for labelling of bone calcium and utilizes the tracer signal in urine. The paper describing the underlying principles has received the Springer ABC Best Paper Award in 2007.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ E Denk, D Hillegonds, RF Hurrell, J Vogel, K Fattinger, HJ Häuselmann, M Kraenzlin and T Walczyk, Evaluation of

41Calcium as a new approach to assess changes in bone metabolism: effect of a bisphosphonate intervention in postmenopausal women with low bone mass, J. Bone Min. Res., in press

‧ E Denk, D Hillegonds, J Vogel, A Synal, C Geppert, K Wendt, K Fattinger, C Hennessy, M Berglund, RF Hurrell and T Walczyk Labeling the human skeleton with Ca-41 to assess changes in bone calcium metabolism, Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 386, 1587-1602 (2006)

‧ S Tuntipopipat, K Judprasong, C Zeder, W Wasantwisut, P Winichagoon, S Charoenkiatkul, RF Hurrell and T Walczyk, Chili, but not turmeric, inhibits iron absorption in young women from an iron-fortified composite meal, J. Nutr., 136, 2970-2974 (2006)

‧ PA Krayenbuehl, T Walczyk, R Schoenberg, F von Blanckenburg and G Schulthess, Hereditary hemochromatosis is reflected in the iron isotopic composition of blood, Blood, 105, 3812-3816 (2005)

‧ T Walczyk and F von Blanckenburg, Natural iron isotope variations in human blood, Science, 29, 2065-2066 (2002)

5050

Dr WENG ZhiqiangPh.D., National Univ. of Singapore, 2003; B.Sc., Fuzhou Univ., 1994

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/wengzq.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMy specific foci are:‧ Transition metal catalysts for olefin oligomerization/ polymerization ‧ Transition metal catalysts for organic synthesis

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Organometallics, 26, 2950-2952 (2007)

An unusual heterovalent bimetallic Ni(I)-Ni(0) complex {[η-C5H4CH=N(C6F5)]Fe[η-C5H4PPh2]}2Ni2(Cl) was isolated. Under similar conditions, this bimetallic complex gives somewhat higher activities in ethylene oligomerization than its related Ni(II) and Ni(0) counterparts.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ Z Weng, S Teo and TSA Hor, Chromium(III) catalysed ethylene tetramerization promoted by bis(phosphino)amines with

an N-Functionalised pendant, Dalton Trans. , 3493-3498 (2007)‧ Z Weng, S Teo and TSA Hor, Metal unsaturation and ligand hemilability in Suzuki coupling. Acc. Chem. Res., 40, 676-

684 (2007) ‧ Z Weng, S Teo and T S A Hor, Isolation and structural elucidation of a Ni(0)-Al(CH3)3 bimetallic complex with an agostic

alpha-C–H in a bridging methyl, Chem. Commun., 1319-1321 (2006)‧ Z Weng, S Teo, LL Koh and TSA Hor, Ethylene eligomerization of coordinatively and electronically unsaturated low-

valent nickel, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed., 44, 7560-7564 (2005)‧ Z Weng and L Y Goh, Homolytic cleavage and aggregation processes in cyclopentadienylchromium chemistry, Acc.

Chem. Res., 37, 187-199, (2004)

5151

Asst Professor Thorsten WOHLANDPostdoc., Stanford Univ.; Ph.D., Swiss Federel Inst. of Technology at Lausanne; Dipl. Phys., Univ. of Heidelberg

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/tw.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMy group works on the development of new fluorescence spectroscopy techniques for the measurement of biomolecular interactions in cells, tissues, and organisms. Specific foci are:‧ Techniques: Single wavelength excitation fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy (SW-FCCS) and EMCCD based fluorescence correlation spectroscopy‧ Biological systems: Transmembrane protein receptors and peptides and their interaction with membranes (e.g. epidermal growth factor receptor, antimicrobial peptides)

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ X Pan, H Yu, X. Shi, V Korzh and T Wohland, Characterization of flow direction in microchannels and zebrafish blood

vessels by scanning fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, J. of Biomed. Opt., 12, 014034 (2007) ‧ P Liu., T Sudhaharan, RML Koh, LC Hwang, S Ahmed, IN Maruyama and T Wohland, Investigation of the dimerization of

proteins from the epidermal growth factor receptor family by single wavelength fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy, Biophys. J. , 93, 684-698 (2007)

‧ B Kannan, G Lin, S Thankiah, S Ahmed, IN Maruyama and T Wohland, Spatially resolved total internal reflection fluorescence correlation microscopy using an electron multiplying charge-coupled device camera, Anal. Chem., 79, 4463-4470 (2007)

‧ X Pan, W Foo, W Lim, M Fok, P Liu, H Yu, IN Maruyama and T Wohland, A multifunctional fluorescence correlation microscope for intracellular and microfluidic measurements, Rev. Sci. Instr., 78, 053711 (2007)

‧ LC Hwang, M Gösch, T Lasser and T Wohland, Simultaneous multicolor fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy to detect higher order molecular interactions using single wavelength laser excitation, Biophys. J., 91, 715-727 (2006)

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Anal. Chem., (79) 4463-4470 (2007)

Imaging Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (imaging TIR-FCS or ITIR-FCS) is a new imaging spectroscopy method which results in the measurement of maps of concentrations and diffusion coefficients of membrane proteins over a whole cell membrane. This method can measure in one minute more than 3500 FCS functions simultaneously, a feat which would take more than a week with conventional single spot measurements thus constituting an important multiplexing advantage. The image shows the concentration and diffusion coefficient map of a peptide bound to a SHSY5Y cell (laser wavelength: 532 nm, laser power: 6 mW, measurement time: ~70 seconds, time resolution: 7 ms).

5252

Assoc Professor WONG M W RichardPostdoc., Yale Univ., 1991; Postdoc., IBM Kingston, 1990; Ph.D., Australian National Univ., 1989; B.Sc. & B.Math, Univ. of Newcastle, 1985

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/wongmw.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ International Board Member, Asian Pacific Association on Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, 2005‧ Outstanding Researcher Award, National University of Singapore, 2002‧ Australian Research Fellow, Australian Research Council, 1992-1997

RESEARCH INTERESTSSpecific foci are:‧ Computational quantum chemistry ‧ Organocatalysis, weaker intermoelcular interactions and molecular sensors

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed., 46, 1768-1771 (2007)

Recent experimental observation of O8 crystal in high pressure has demonstrated a remarkable rhomboidgeometry of O8 molecule. Theoretical calculation readily reproduced the experimental O8 geometry. The spin state of the rhomboid O8 is singlet and the O8 structure can be rationalized as a cluster of four O2molecules connected via eight-center π*-π*-π*-π* interactions.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ R Steudel and MW Wong, Dark-red O-8 molecules in solid oxygen: Rhomboid clusters, not S-8-like rings , Angew.

Chem. Intl. Ed., 46, 1768-1771, (2007). ‧ MW Wong, Y Steudel and R Steudel, Structures and vibrational spectra of the sulfur-rich oxides SnO (n=4-9): The

importance of pi*-pi* interactions , Chem. Eur. J., 13, 502-514, (2007). ‧ CT Wong and MW Wong, Mechanism of metal chloride-promoted Mukaiyama aldol reactions , J. Org. Chem., 72, 1425-

1430, (2007)‧ MW Wong, Quantum-chemical calculations of sulfur-rich compounds, Top. Curr. Chem., 231, 1-30 (2003) ‧ MW Wong, Prediction of a metastable helium compound: HHeF, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 122, 6289-6290 (2000)

5353

Professor XU Guo QinPostdoc., Univ. of Toronto, 1991; Postdoc., Brookhaven National Lab, 1989; Ph.D., Princeton Univ., 1987; B.Sc., Fudan Univ., 1982

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/xugq.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMy specific foci are:‧ Surface chemistry‧ Nano-materials and molecular conductivity

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 129, 8404-8405 (2007)

The incorporation of organic functionalities to the semiconductor surface has potential applications in fine-tuning the chemical, physical and mechanical properties of the organic-semiconductor interface, which would lead to the development of molecular devices, biosensors and nanotechnologies. The dry-growth of organic multilayer on silicon surfaces is still facing great challenges. In this work, benzonitrilemolecules were successfully grafted to the chemisorbed 3-chloro-1-propanol molecules on the Si(111)-7×7 surface using photochemical method to form a second covalently bonded organic layer. In this process, the photo-induced C-Cl bond cleavage produces reactive radical site, which subsequently reacts with the C≡N group of physisorbed benzonitrilemolecule to form the -C-N=C- covalent linkage. The potential of photochemical methods as powerful tools for organic modification of the silicon surfaces has been demonstrated.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ YH Cai, YX Shao and GQ Xu, Photoinduced construction of a second covalently bonded organic layer on the

Si(111)-7x7 surface, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 129, 8404-8405 (2007) ‧ JY Huang, HH Tang, YX Shao, QP Liu, SF Alshahateet, YM Sun and GQ Xu, Dissociation and [2+2]-like cycloaddition of

unsaturated chain amines on Si(111)-7x7, J. Phys. Chem. C, 111, 6732-0673(2007) ‧ JY Huang, YS Ning, KS Yong, YH Cai, HH Tang, YX Shao, SF Alshahateet, YM Sun and GQ Xu, Binding of glycine and

L-cysteine on Si(111)-7x7, Langmuir : The ACS J. of Surfaces and Colloids, 23, 6218-6226 (2007) ‧ KS Yong, Y Zhang, SW Yang, P Wu and GQ Xu, Chemisorption of pentacene on Si(111)-7 x 7 studied via scanning

tunneling microscopy and density functional theory, J. Phys. Chem. C, 111, 4285-4293 (2007) ‧ Y Zhang, KS Yong, HSO Chan, GQ Xu, S Chen, X Wang and ATS Wee, Quantitative analysis of Si mass transport during

formation of Cu/Si(111)-(5x5) from scanning tunnelling micriscopy, Phys. Rev. B, 75, Art. No. 073407 (2007)

MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ National Youth Award for Excellence in Science and Technology, Singapore National Youth Council, 1997

Schematic model for (a) chemisorbed 3-chloro-1-propanol on the Si(111)-7×7, (b) photodissociation of 3-chloro-1-propanol followed by interaction of the radical with cyano group of physisorbed benzonitrile, (c) H abstraction by the -N=C•- radical from an adjacent rest-atom site, and (d) the second covalently bonded organic layer.

5454

Asst Professor WU JishanPostdoc., Univ. of California at Los Angeles, 2005-2007; Ph.D., Max-Planck Inst. for Polymer Research, 2004; M. Sc., Chinese Acad. of Sciences, 2000; B.Sc., Wuhan Univ., 1997

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/wujs.html


RESEARCH INTERESTSWe study the functional π-systems for electronics and supramolecular chemistry and responsive materials. Specific foci are:‧ Graphene-related materials and devices ‧ Template-directed synthesis of supramolecular architectures and their materials applications

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Chem. Rev., 107, 718-743 (2007)

Nanosized graphene molecules with well-defined size and shape have been prepared and they showed remarkable self-assembling properties in solid state, in solution and on solid-liquid interface. These molecules can be used as one-dimensional semiconductors for electronic devices such as FETs and solar cells.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ J Wu, W Pisula and K Müllen, Graphene molecules as potential material for electronics, Chem. Rev., 107, 718-743 (2007)‧ J Wu, KCF Leung and JF Stoddart, Efficient production of [n]rotaxanes by using template-directed clipping reactions,

PNAS, in press (2007)‧ J Wu, M Baumgarten, MG Debije, J M Warman, K Müllen, Arylamine-substituted hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronens: Facile

synthesis and their potential application as coaxial hole transporting materials, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed., 43, 5331 (2004)‧ J Wu, MD Watson and K. Müllen, The versatile synthesis and self-assembly of star-type hexabenzocoronenes, Angew.

Chem. Intl. Ed., 42, 5329 (2003)‧ J Wu, MD Watson, L Zhang, ZH Wang and K Müllen, Hexakis(4-iodophenyl)-peri-hexabenzocoronene - A versatile

building block for highly ordered discotic liquid crystalline materials, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 126, 177 (2004)

5555

Asst Professor XU Qing-HuaPostdoc., Univ. of California at Santa Barbara, 2005; Postdoc., Stanford Univ., 2002; Ph.D., Univ. of California at Berkeley, 2001; B.Sc., Zhejiang Univ., 1993

http://staff.science.nus.edu.sg/~chmxqh


RESEARCH INTERESTSWe are interested in development and application of novel temporally and spatially resolved optical spectroscopic methods to study low-dimensional materials, biomacromolecules and fundamental chemical processes, to understand their structure-dynamics-function relationship. Specific foci are:‧ Materials physics and biophysics ‧ Laser spectroscopy and imaging

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ N Tian and Q-H Xu, Enhanced two-photon excitation fluorescence by fluorescence resonance energy transfer using

conjugated polymers, Adv. Mater., 19, 1988-1991 (2007) ‧ N Tian, Y Tang, Q-H Xu and S Wang, Single base pair mismatch detection using cationic conjugated polymers through

fluorescence resonance energy transfer, Macromol. Rapid Commun., 28, 729 (2007) ‧ D Cheng and Q-H Xu, Separation distance dependent fluorescence enhancement of fluorescein isothiocyanate by

silver nanoparticles, Chem. Commun., 248-250 (2007) ‧ IW Hwang, Q-H Xu, C Soci, BQ Chen, AKY Jen, D Moses and AJ Heeger, Ultrafast spectroscopic study of photoinduced

electron transfer in an oligo(thienylenevinylene): Fullerene composite, Adv. Funct. Mater., 17, 563-568 (2007) ‧ Q-H Xu, S Wang, D Korystov, A Mikhailovsky, GC Bazan, D Moses and AJ Heeger, Fluorescence resonance energy

transfer gate in DNA sequence detection: a time-resolved study, PNAS, 102, 530-535 (2005)

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Adv. Mater., 19, 1988-1991 (2007)

A two-photon excitation fluorescence resonance energy transfer scheme is reported. The two-photon excitation fluorescence of the intercalator is found to be enhanced by a factor of over 35 by using conjugated polymers as two-photon light-harvesting complex. The obtained results may have profound implications in two-photon imaging and phototherapy.

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Asst Professor XUE FengPostdoc., The Wistar Inst., 2005; Ph.D., The Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong, 2000; B.Sc., Tsinghua Univ., 1993

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/xf.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSWe aim to understand structures and functions of (bio)molecules through X-ray crystallography, leading to engineered molecular assemblies and structure-based drug design. Specific foci are:‧ Crystal engineering and supramolecular self-assemblies ‧ Protein crystallography, structural biology and bioinformatics

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: J. Virol., 81, 1680-1689 (2007)

A novel vector based on AdC68 is being developed as HIV vaccine carrier to circumvent the pre-existing immunity. Crystal structure of AdC68 hexon shows an arrangement resembling that in the adenovirus virion. We have identified putative epitopes on three most exposed loops of the hexon surface.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ SL Pichla-Gollon, M Drinker, X Zhou, F Xue, JJ Rux, GP Gao, JM Wilson, HC Ertl, RM Burnett and JM Bergelson, Structure-

based identification of a major neutralizing site in an adenovirus hexon, J. Virol., 81, 1680-1689 (2007) ‧ F Xue and RM Burnett, Capsid-like arrays in crystals of chimpanzee adenovirus hexon, J. Struct. Biol., 154, 217-21 (2006) ‧ CK Lam, F Xue, JP Zhang, XM Chen and TC Mak, Hydrogen-bonded anionic rosette networks assembled with

guanidinium and c3-symmetric oxoanion building blocks, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 127, 11536-7 (2005) ‧ R Thaimattam, F Xue, JA Sarma, TC Mak and GR Desiraju, Inclusion compounds of tetrakis(4-nitrophenyl)methane: C-

h...O networks, pseudopolymorphism, and structural transformations, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 123, 4432-45 (2001)‧ TCW Mak and F Xue, Supramolecular rosette ribbon constructed from guanidinium and hydrogen carbonate ions in

the crystal engineering of hydrogen-bonded networks, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 122, 9860-9861 (2000)

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Assoc Professor YAO Shao QinPostdoc., Scripps Research Institute, 2001; Postdoc., Univ. of California Berkeley, 1999; Ph.D., Purdue Univ., 1998; B.Sc., Ohio State Univ., 1993

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/yaosq.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Mr & Mrs Sun Chan Memorial Award, 9th International Symposium by Chinese Inorganic Chemists & 6th

International Symposium by Chinese Organic Chemists , 2006 ‧ Young Research Award, National University of Singapore, 2005 ‧ Young Investigator Award, A*STAR Singapore, 2002

RESEARCH INTERESTS“Catalomics” - We are interested in developing powerful strategies in Chemical Biology and Chemical Proteomics that enable organism-wide, high-throughput studies of enzymes. Specific foci are:‧ Chemical biology‧ Medicinal chemistry

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: J. Am. Chem. Soc., DOI: 10.1021/ja073914v (2007)

To specifically elucidate activity-dependent protein/ligand interactions, we have developed a technique that can be universally applied to present Small Molecule Microarray (SMM) systems. Overcoming the limitations of slide-to-slide variation, this method directly revealed activity-dependent interactions through a one-step application of protein samples on SMM.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ M Uttamchandani, J Wang, J Li, M Hu, H Sun, KY-T Chen, K Liu and SQ Yao, Inhibitor fingerprinting of matrix

metalloproteases using a combinatorial peptide hydroxamate library, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 129, 7848-7858 (2007) ‧ S Chattopadhaya, LP Tan and SQ Yao, Strategies for the site-specific biotinylation of proteins using in vitro, in vivo and

cell-free systems - Towards functional protein microarrays, Nat. Protocols, 1, 2386-2398 (2006) ‧ Y Hu, GYJ Chen and SQ Yao, Activity-based high-throughput screening of enzymes using DNA microarray, Angew.

Chem. Intl. Ed., 44, 1048-1053 (2005) ‧ EWS Chan, S Chattopadhaya, RC Panicker, X Huang and SQ Yao, Developing photo-active affinity probes for proteomic

profiling: hydroxamate-based probes for metalloproteases, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 126, 14435-14446 (2004) ‧ ML Lesaicherre, RYP Lue, GYJ Chen, Q Zhu and SQ Yao, Intein-mediated biotinylation of proteins and its application in a

protein microarray, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 124, 8768-8769 (2002)

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Assoc Professor YIP Hon Kay JohnPostdoc., Caltech, 1997; Postdoc., Technical Univ. of Munich, 1995; Ph.D., Univ. of Hong Kong, 1993; B.Sc., Univ. of Hong Kong, 1989

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/yipjohn.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSMy general interests lie on supramolecular chemistry and physical inorganic chemistry. Specific foci are:‧ Self-assembly and dynamics of metallosupramolecular systems ‧ Design and synthesis of luminescent metal complexes and molecular wires

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Inorg. Chem., 45, 4423-4430 (2006)

This work shows the presence of a dynamic equilibrium between silver-metallacyles and helical polymers in solution. A ring opening mechanism is proposed for the exchange in acetonitrile.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ R Lin, JHK Yip, K Zhang, LL Koh, KY Wong, KP Ho, Self-assembly and molecular recognition of a luminescent gold

rectangle, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 126, 15852-15869 (2004)‧ K Zhang, J Prabhavathy, JHK Yip, LL Koh, GK Tan, JJ Vittal, First examples of AuI-X-AgI halonium cations (X = Cl- and Br-),

J. Am. Chem. Soc., 125, 8452-8453 (2004)‧ JHK Yip, J Wu, K-Y Wong, KP Ho, CS-N Pun and JJ Vittal, Electronic communication mediated by Pt-Pt s-bond,

Organometallics, 21, 5292-5233 (2002)‧ S. Muthu, JHK Yip and JJ Vittal, Coordination networks of Ag(I) and N,N’- bis(3-pyridinecarboxamide)-1,6-hexane:

structures and anion exchange, J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans, 4561-4568 (2002)‧ JHK Yip and J Prabhavathy, A luminescent gold ring that flips like cyclohexane, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed. , 40, 2159-2162

(2001)

Ag3 ring Ag4 ring Helical polymer

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Asst Professor ZENG HuaqiangPostdoc., Univ. of California at Santa Barbara, 2005; Postdoc., Stanford Univ., 2002; Ph.D., Univ. of California at Berkeley, 2001; B.Sc., Zhejiang Univ., 1993

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/zenghq.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSThe central theme in our research group is focused on the applications of broadly defined, bioinspiredSupramolecular Chemistry to address many challenging issues at the interface of chemistry and biology. Specific foci are:‧ Synthetic ion channels‧ High-throughput screening systems widely suitable for discovering highly efficient, stereoselectivecatalysts of varying kinds for catalyzing wide-ranging chemical transformations‧ Catalytic drugs that can catalytically cleave any chosen disease-causing proteins

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ H Zeng, J Xie and PG Schultz, Genetic introduction of a diketone-containing amino acid into proteins, Bioorg. Med.

Chem. Lett., 16, 5356-5359 (2006) ‧ H Zeng, X Yang, B Gong, etc, An extremely stable, self-complementary hydrogen-bonded duplex, Chem. Commun., 13,

1556–1557 (2003) ‧ B Gong, H Zeng, J Zhu, etc, Creating nanocavities of tunable sizes: Hollow helices, PNAS, 99, 11583-11588 (2002) ‧ H Zeng, X Yang, RA Flowers, II and B Gong, A non-covalent approach to anti-parallel β-sheet formation, J. Am. Chem.

Soc., 124, 2903-2910 (2002) ‧ H Zeng, RS Miller, RA Flowers, II and B Gong, A highly stable, six-hydrogen-bonded molecular duplex, J. Am. Chem.

Soc., 122, 2635-2644 (2000)

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: PNAS, 99, 11583-11588 (2002)

To capture Nature’s astonishing ability in creating sophisticated folding biopolymers with nanosized cavities, we have developed a general strategy for designing folded structures with modifiable outer surfaces and easily tunable interior cavities, which may find important applications in catalysis, separation & molecular recognition, etc.

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Dr ZHAO JinPh.D., Technological Univ. of Munich, 2005; M.Sc., Chinese Acad. of Science, 1995; B.Sc., Liaoning Univ., 1992

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/zhaoj.htm


RESEARCH INTERESTSOrganometallic chemistry and catalysis are our main areas of study. Specific foci are:‧ Organometallic chemistry of metals with high oxidation state and their application in oxidation catalysis ‧ Nickel and chromium complexes and their application in selective catalytic oligomerisation of ethylene

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ J Zhao, KR Jain, E Herdtweck and FE Kuehn, Ansa-bridged η5-cyclopentadienyl molybdenum and tungsten complexes:

synthesis, structure and application in olefin epoxidation, Dalton Trans., DOI: 10.1039/b712673e (2007) ‧ M Zhou, J Zhao, J Li, S Yue, C Bao, J Mink, S Zang and FE Kühn, MTO Schiff base complexes: Synthesis, structures and

catalytic application in olefin epoxidation, Chem. Eur. J., 13, 158-166 (2006) ‧ J Zhao, E Herdtweck and FE Kühn, Chiral ansa-bridged η5-cyclopentadienyl molybdenum complexes: Synthesis,

structure and application in asymmetric olefin epoxidation, , J. Organomet. Chem., 691, 2199-2206 (2006) ‧ J Zhao, A Sakthivel, AM Santos and FE Kühn, Cyclopentadienyl-molybdenum complexes with a siloxane functional

group as models for efficient hetrogeneous epoxidation catalysts, Inorg. Chim. Acta, 358, 4201-4207 (2005) ‧ A Sakthivel, J Zhao, M Hanzlik, AST Chiang, WA Herrmann and FE Kühn, Heterogenization of organometallic

molybdenum complexes with siloxane functional groups and their catalytic application, Adv. Synth. Catal., 347, 473-483 (2005)

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Dalton Trans., DOI: 10.1039/b712673e (2007)

Ansa-bridged η5-cyclopentadienyl molybdenum and tungsten tricarbonyl complexes were synthesized. The low ring strain of the ansa-bridged system improves the stability of the complexes under oxidative conditions and therefore paves the way to introduction of chirality in these systems.

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Assoc Professor ZHOU WeibiaoPostdoc., Univ. of Waterloo, 1991; Ph.D., Univ. of Queensland, 1991; M.Eng, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1985; B.Sc., Beijing Univ. of Chemical Technology, 1982

http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/ourpeople/academic_staff/zhouwb.htm


MAJOR RECOGNITION‧ Associate Editor, International Journal of Food Properties, 2007-current ‧ Member, International Editorial Board, International Journal of Food Engineering, 2004-current ‧ Member, International Editorial Board, Food Manufacturing Efficiency, 2006-current‧ Member, Editorial Board, Food and Bioprocess Technology, 2007-current‧ Fellow, Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST), 2007 ‧ Appointed Member, Nominations Advisory Committee, International Union of Food Science &

Technology (IUFoST), 2001-2003, 2003-2006, 2006-2008 ‧ Member-at-large, Executive Committee, International Society of Food Engineering (ISFE), 2006-current

RESEARCH INTERESTSMy interests lie on food processing and food engineering; particularly baking processes, dairy processes, food process modelling and optimisation, advanced process control, and the effect of food processing onsome functional components such as isoflavones and antioxidants. Specific foci are:‧ Modeling, optimisation, and advanced control of food processes‧ Effect of processing on functional components of food

RECENT HIGHLIGHTReference: Food Research Int, 40, 470-479 (2007)

Sensory evaluation techniques involving both un-trained and trained panelists and instrumental analyses were used to investigate the changes in crumb appearance, texture properties and taste profile of bread containing green tea antioxidants. Results showed that the sensory evaluation was generally correlated well with the instrumental analysis.

PREMIUM PUBLICATIONS‧ SY Wong, W Zhou and J Hua, Designing process controller for a continuous bread baking process based on CFD

modelling, J. Food Engineering, 81, 523-534 (2007) ‧ Y Liu, B Bhandari and W Zhou, Study of glass transition and enthalpy relaxation of mixtures of amorphous sucrose and

amorphous tapioca starch syrup solid by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), J. Food Engineering, 81, 599-610 (2007)

‧ MM Khin, W Zhou, W and CO Perera, Impact of process conditions and coatings on the dehydration efficiency and cellular structure of apple tissue during osmotic dehydration, J. Food Engineering, 79, 817-827 (2007)

‧ R Wang, W Zhou and RH Wen, Kinetic study of the thermal stability of tea catechins in aqueous system using a microwave reactor, J. Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 54, 5924-5932 (2006).

‧ W Zhou, Application of FDM and FEM to solving the simultaneous heat and moisture transfer inside bread during baking, Intl. J. Computational Fluid Dynamics, 19(1), 73-77 (2005)

Radar plot of sensory results of three bread variants by trained panelists

0

2

4

6

8Brightness

Hardness

StickinessSweetness

Astringency

Control: 0 mg GTE

Bread with 150 mg GTEBread with 500 mg GTE

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GRADUATE STUDENT COHORT 2007

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HONOURS STUDENT COHORT 2007

CORE FACULTY MEMBERS - NUS Chemistry high 2007 64 revised.pdf · CORE FACULTY MEMBERS Assoc...

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