Pangkuan Chen

Title : Π-conjugated luminescent chiral macrocycles and the open-shell radical cations

Abstract:

π-Conjugated chiral nanorings with intriguing electronic structures and chiroptical properties have attracted considerable interests in synthetic chemistry and materials science. In particular, those macrocycles with robust redox chemistry are rarely reported in the literature as compared with the carbon-rich analogues. Over the past few years, incorporation of main group elements (such as B, N, P and Si) into organic systems has been established for decades to achieve functional modifications of organic π-conjugated materials. The B/N-doped main-group compounds have particularly attracted considerable research interests due to notable contribution to the electronic properties. New chiroptical materials with circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) have recently found numerous applications in photonics, smarting sensing and (bio)imaging as well as information technology. This work will focus on the molecular design, synthetic methodology and characterization of organoborane macrocycles and CPL-active materials, and we will also discuss their redox-active behaviors that enable these macrocycles to be readily oxidized chemically and electrochemically, leading to the sequential production of a series of positively charged polycationic open-shell cyclophanes.  

Audience Take-Away:

• We will describe the design and synthesis of π-conjugated main-group chiral macrocycles
• We will present the emission and circularly polarized luminescence properties  
• We will show the preparation and characterization of open-shell polycation species  
• We will also discuss some recent progress of chiral radical chemistry

Biography:

Pangkuan Chen has completed his PhD from Rutgers University with Prof. Frieder Jӓkle, and postdoctoral studies from MIT with Prof. Niels Holten-Andersen. He is the full professor of Beijing Institute of Technology School of Chemistry, and he also serves as the director of Beijing Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic/Electrophotonic Conversion Materials. He has published more than 60 papers in reputed journals. His current research builds on organoborane chemistry, π-conjugated macrocycles, Near Infrared (NIR) circularly polarized luminescence, chiral radical chemistry and dynamic B/N Lewis pairs.