Title:Synthesis and Studies of Carbohydrate Derived New Materials
Speaker:Prof.WANG Guijun,Old Dominion University
Time：Thursday,10:30a.m.～11:30a.m.,20th June
Place：A522
Sponsor：DENG Zongwu
Abstract：
Selective functionalization of sugars can lead to the discovery of new advanced materials and biologically active compounds. Carbohydrate based low molecular weight gelators (LMWGs) are important classes of compounds that can form useful soft materials with many practical utilities ranging from biomedical to environmental applications. Macrocyclic compounds play an important role in many research fields including drug discovery, bioorganic chemistry, and materials sciences. Sugar containing macrocycles are especially interesting compounds and they have found applications as pharmaceutics, ligands or sensors for molecular recognitions, and in preparation of functional supramolecular assemblies. Recently we have synthesized and studied several series of monosaccharide and disaccharide derivatives and obtained new classes of carbohydrate based gelators. Using the copper catalyzed azide/alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction to introduce a triazole moiety to the anomeric position and other positions of the sugar molecules has led to the preparation of different classes of carbohydrate derivatives. In this seminar, I will highlight our recent research progress in new sugar derivatives including glycoclusters and macrocycles, and discuss the synthetic strategies and applications of functional glycomimetics as biomaterials and catalysts.
Bio:
Positions:
2014 – present: Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Old Dominion University
2012 – 2014: Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Old Dominion University
2006 – 2012: Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of New Orleans
2002 – 2006: Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of New Orleans
2000 – 2002: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Yale University
1999-2000: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Michigan State University
Degrees: 1999: Ph.D. Organic Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.
1993: M.S. Structural Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
1990: B.S. Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Research interests:
Synthetic organic chemistry, asymmetric catalysis, synthesis of biologically active compounds, medicinal chemistry, carbohydrate chemistry, biomaterials and supramolecular chemistry, the ongoing projects include: 
New synthetic methods for chiral small molecules
Synthesis of natural products and their analogs for drug discovery
Synthesis and study of glycoconjugates and glycomimetics
Organocatalysts and organometallic catalyst for asymmetric synthesis