Chao-Jun Li
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Chao-Jun Li
Chao-Jun "C.-J." Li is E. B. Eddy Professor of Chemistry and Canada Research Chair in Green Chemistry at McGill University, Montréal. He works on organic transformation applied to Green chemistry, including C-H activation, reactions in water and photochemistry. Education C.-J. Li was born in 1963, and obtained his BSc from Zhengzhou University (1979–1983), and completed his MSc. in organic synthesis at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1985–1988) with Prof. T.H. Chan. He then moved to McGill University (Montréal, Québec) to do his PhD (1989–1992) with Prof. T.H. Chan again (and discovered the indium-mediated allylation reaction in water), along with Prof. David Harpp (working on organosulfur/selenium/tellurium chemistry), and went on a NSERC-funded postdoc with Prof. Barry Trost at Stanford University in the United States (1992–1994) (and discovered the so-called phosphine-catalyzed γ-addition reaction). Career and research C.-J. Li started as an assistant profess ...
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Green Chemistry
Green chemistry, also called sustainable chemistry, is an area of chemistry and chemical engineering focused on the design of products and processes that minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. While environmental chemistry focuses on the effects of polluting chemicals on nature, green chemistry focuses on the environmental impact of chemistry, including lowering consumption of nonrenewable resources and technological approaches for preventing pollution. The overarching goals of green chemistry—namely, more resource-efficient and inherently safer design of molecules, materials, products, and processes—can be pursued in a wide range of contexts. History Green chemistry emerged from a variety of existing ideas and research efforts (such as atom economy and catalysis) in the period leading up to the 1990s, in the context of increasing attention to problems of chemical pollution and resource depletion. The development of green chemistry in Europe a ...
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Canada Research Chair
Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada wanting to promote research and development excellence in Canadian post-secondary educational institutions. Through the Canada Research Chair program, $300 million is spent annually to attract and retain outstanding scholars and scientists. The program hopes to help chairholders achieve research excellence in natural sciences, engineering, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences, improve Canada's depth of knowledge and quality of life, strengthen the country's international competitiveness, and train personnel through student supervision, teaching, and the coordination of other researchers' work. Types of chairs There are two types of Canada Research Chair: *Tier 1 Chairs – tenable for seven years and renewable once (and twi ...
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Benzene
Benzene is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each. Because it contains only carbon and hydrogen atoms, benzene is classed as a hydrocarbon. Benzene is a natural constituent of petroleum and is one of the elementary petrochemicals. Due to the cyclic continuous pi bonds between the carbon atoms, benzene is classed as an aromatic hydrocarbon. Benzene is a colorless and highly flammable liquid with a sweet smell, and is partially responsible for the aroma of gasoline. It is used primarily as a precursor to the manufacture of chemicals with more complex structure, such as ethylbenzene and cumene, of which billions of kilograms are produced annually. Although benzene is a major industrial chemical, it finds limited use in consumer items because of its toxicity. History Discovery The word "''benzene''" derives from "''gum benzoin''" (benzoin res ...
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Methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Earth makes it an economically attractive fuel, although capturing and storing it poses technical challenges due to its gaseous state under normal conditions for temperature and pressure. Naturally occurring methane is found both below ground and under the seafloor and is formed by both geological and biological processes. The largest reservoir of methane is under the seafloor in the form of methane clathrates. When methane reaches the surface and the atmosphere, it is known as atmospheric methane. The Earth's atmospheric methane concentration has increased by about 150% since 1750, and it accounts for 20% of the total radiative forcing from all of the long-lived and globally mixed greenhouse gases. It has also been detected on other plane ...
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Photocatalyst
In chemistry, photocatalysis is the acceleration of a photoreaction in the presence of a catalyst. In catalyzed photolysis, light is absorbed by an adsorbed substrate. In photogenerated catalysis, the photocatalytic activity depends on the ability of the catalyst to create electron–hole pairs, which generate free radicals (e.g. hydroxyl radicals: •OH) able to undergo secondary reactions. Its practical application was made possible by the discovery of water electrolysis by means of titanium dioxide (). History Early mentions (1911–1938) The earliest mention came in 1911, when German chemist Dr. Alexander Eibner integrated the concept in his research of the illumination of zinc oxide (ZnO) on the bleaching of the dark blue pigment, Prussian blue. Around this time, Bruner and Kozak published an article discussing the deterioration of oxalic acid in the presence of uranyl salts under illumination, while in 1913, Landau published an article explaining the phenomenon of pho ...
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Nanowires
A nanowire is a nanostructure in the form of a wire with the diameter of the order of a nanometre (10−9 metres). More generally, nanowires can be defined as structures that have a thickness or diameter constrained to tens of nanometers or less and an unconstrained length. At these scales, quantum mechanical effects are important—which coined the term "quantum wires". Many different types of nanowires exist, including superconducting (e.g. YBCO), metallic (e.g. Ni, Pt, Au, Ag), semiconducting (e.g. silicon nanowires (SiNWs), InP, GaN) and insulating (e.g. SiO2, TiO2). Molecular nanowires are composed of repeating molecular units either organic (e.g. DNA) or inorganic (e.g. Mo6S9−xIx). Characteristics upright=1.2, Crystalline 2×2-atom tin selenide nanowire grown inside a single-wall carbon nanotube (tube diameter ~1 nm). file:HgTe@SWCNT.png, A noise-filtered HRTEM image of a HgTe extreme nanowire embedded down the central pore of a SWCNT. The image is also accom ...
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Gallium Nitride
Gallium nitride () is a binary III/ V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in blue light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. The compound is a very hard material that has a Wurtzite crystal structure. Its wide band gap of 3.4 eV affords it special properties for applications in optoelectronic, high-power and high-frequency devices. For example, GaN is the substrate which makes violet (405 nm) laser diodes possible, without requiring nonlinear optical frequency-doubling. Its sensitivity to ionizing radiation is low (like other group III nitrides), making it a suitable material for solar cell arrays for satellites. Military and space applications could also benefit as devices have shown stability in high radiation environments. Because GaN transistors can operate at much higher temperatures and work at much higher voltages than gallium arsenide (GaAs) transistors, they make ideal power amplifiers at microwave frequencies. In addition, GaN offers promising characteris ...
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Cross Dehydrogenative Coupling
Cross dehydrogenative coupling (also known as CDC reaction), coined by Chao-Jun Li of McGill University, is a type of coupling reaction allowing the construction of a carbon–carbon bond or C-Heteroatom bond directly from C-H bonds in the presence of an oxidant, leading to the thermodynamically unfavorable formal removal of a H2 molecule. As such, CDC are couplings belonging to the C-H activation strategy. The key to the CDC coupling is eliminating the need for substrate prefunctionalization. Therefore, the CDC reaction has the advantages of high efficiency, Atom economy and environmental friendliness. Such reactions can be achieved or activated by transition-metal catalysis or oxidation reaction (e.g. benzoquinone, peroxides, O2, hypervalent iodine), or by either photocatalysis or electrocatalysis. The mechanism and reactivity of the CDC reactions varies dramatically depending on the substrate. CDC reactions have been used to construct bonds between sp3-sp3, sp3-sp2, sp3- ...
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A3 Coupling Reaction
The A3 coupling (also known as A3 coupling reaction or the aldehyde-alkyne-amine reaction), coined by Prof. Chao-Jun Li of McGill University, is a type of multicomponent reaction involving an aldehyde, an alkyne and an amine which react to give a propargylamine. The reaction proceeds via direct dehydrative condensation and requires a metal catalyst, typically based on ruthenium/copper, gold or silver. Chiral catalyst can be used to give an enantioselective reaction, yielding a chiral amine. The solvent can be water. In the catalytic cycle the metal activates the alkyne to a metal acetylide, the amine and aldehyde combine to form an imine which then reacts with the acetylide in a nucleophilic addition. The reaction type was independently reported by three research groups in 2001 -2002; one report on a similar reaction dates back to 1953. If the amine substituents have an alpha hydrogen present and provided a suitable zinc or copper catalyst is used, the A3 coupling product may u ...
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Hydrogenation
Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a Catalysis, catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to redox, reduce or Saturated and unsaturated compounds, saturate organic compounds. Hydrogenation typically constitutes the addition of pairs of hydrogen atoms to a molecule, often an alkene. Catalysts are required for the reaction to be usable; non-catalytic hydrogenation takes place only at very high temperatures. Hydrogenation reduces Double bond, double and Triple bond, triple bonds in hydrocarbons. Process Hydrogenation has three components, the Saturated and unsaturated compounds, unsaturated substrate, the hydrogen (or hydrogen source) and, invariably, a catalyst. The redox, reduction reaction is carried out at different temperatures and pressures depending upon the substrate and the activity of the catalyst. Related or competing reactions The same ca ...
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On Water Reaction
On-water reactions are a group of organic reactions that take place as an emulsion in water and have an unusual reaction rate acceleration compared with (i) the same reaction in an organic solvent, or (ii) the corresponding dry media reaction. This effect has been known for many years but in 2005 researchers in the group of K. Barry Sharpless published a systematic study into this phenomenon. The rate acceleration is found in certain Claisen rearrangements. In one typical example of this reaction at room temperature the chemical yield was found to be 100% on water after 120 h compared with 16% for the same reaction in toluene and 73% in the neat reaction. : Enhanced reactivity is also found in cycloadditions. The reaction of quadricyclane with DEAD is a 2σ + 2σ + 2π cycloaddition that on water takes place within 10 minutes at room temperature with 82% yield. The same reaction in toluene takes 24 hours at 80 °C with 70% yield. An emulsion reaction in fluorinated cyclohexane ...
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Catalysis
Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quickly, very small amounts of catalyst often suffice; mixing, surface area, and temperature are important factors in reaction rate. Catalysts generally react with one or more reactants to form intermediates that subsequently give the final reaction product, in the process of regenerating the catalyst. Catalysis may be classified as either homogeneous, whose components are dispersed in the same phase (usually gaseous or liquid) as the reactant, or heterogeneous, whose components are not in the same phase. Enzymes and other biocatalysts are often considered as a third category. Catalysis is ubiquitous in chemical industry of all kinds. Estimates are that 90% of all commercially produced chemical products involve catalysts at some s ...
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