Speaker: Prof. Li Yang

Affiliation: Chongqing University

Time: 16:10-17:30, June 25, 2025

Location: Lecture Hall, 2nd Floor, Building 6, Zhangjiang Campus

Hosts: Assoc. Prof. Yang Ji, Distinguished Prof. Zhu Chen

Abstract:

Poly-substituted benzene rings are ubiquitous scaffolds in biologically active natural products, pharmaceutical molecules, and organic functional materials. Efficient, rapid, and precise construction of specifically substituted arenes is of significant research importance. While benzyne intermediates enable rapid synthesis of diverse disubstituted arenes, traditional benzyne reactions face a fundamental limitation: the inability to simultaneously functionalize other positions on the benzyne ring, hindering their application in synthesizing polysubstituted aromatic structures. This research aims to overcome the traditional disubstitution constraint. We have developed two novel strategies: 1) utilizing 1,2-benzdiyne (domino benzyne) and 2) multi-site functionalization of simple benzynes. These approaches enable diverse polyfunctionalization and dearomatization transformations of arynes.

Speaker Biography:

Prof. Li Yang is a Ph.D. supervisor, recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, Leading Expert of the Chongqing Chief Expert Studio, discipline leader of the Chemistry doctoral program, Chongqing Academic and Technical Leader, and a Chongqing University "Hundred Talents Plan" researcher. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Jilin University in 2000. From 2000 to 2006, he conducted research on the total synthesis of natural products at the University of Georgia (USA), earning his Ph.D. in 2006. He served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto (Canada) from October 2006 to May 2009, working on metal-catalyzed organic methodology. Subsequently, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) from June 2009 to May 2012, focusing on bioinorganic chemistry. Prof. Li joined the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chongqing University in July 2012. His accolades include the Chongqing Natural Science Award (First Class, 2023), the German Thieme Chemistry Journals Award (2016), and the Asian Core Program (ACP) Lectureship Awards (2019).