The safe, efficient and “green” production of chemical products is central to sustainability in pharmaceutical, agrochemical, material, electronic, energy and transportation industries.  Our naturally abundant resources including renewable biomass, nitrogen, CO₂, water, natural products and methane provide the ideal future sustainable feedstocks if there are efficient and “green” tools available that can transform them into high valued products easily, cleanly and safely. Over the decades, we have been exploring such fundamental reaction tools that can potentially simplify the above transformations, decrease overall waste and maximize resource utilization, such as the Grignard-type reactions in water, the aldehyde-alkyne-amine (A³) coupling reactions, the Cross-Dehydrogenative-Couplings (CDC), the umpolung of carbonyls as alkyl carbanions, the phenol-amine couplings, the photo-nitrogen fixations, and the metal-free light-enabled late-stage functionalization of natural products and pharmaceuticals among others.  In this talk, we will give an overview of our research on this subject and then focus on our recent developments on converting lignin phenols into high valued aromatic amines. 

References

[1]. C.-J. Li, B. M. Trost, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci (USA), 2008, 105, 13197.

[2]. C.-J Li, Acc. Chem. Res. 2002, 35, 533.

[3]. C.-J. Li, Acc. Chem. Res. 2010, 43, 581.

[4]. C.-J. Yoo, W.-J.; Zhao, L.; Li, Aldrichimica Acta, 2011, 44, 43.

[5]. C.-J. Li, Acc. Chem. Res. 2009, 42, 335.

[6]. H. Wang, X.-J. Dai, C.-J. Li, Nature Chemistry, 2017, 9, 374.

[6]. C.-J. Li, Chem, 2016, 1, 423

[6]. H. Zeng, Z. Qiu, A. Domínguez-Huerta, Z. Hearne, Z. Chen, C.-J. Li, ACS Catal., 2017, 7, 510.

 

 

Chao-Jun Li Department of Chemistry , McGill University  Canada

ACADEMIC  EXPERIENCE:

  1/2009- present E. B. EDDY PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, Department of Chemistry, McGill University

7/2003- present PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, Department of Chemistry, McGill University

  7/2003- present CANADA RESEARCH CHAIR (Tier I) (in GREEN/ORGANIC CHEMISTRY)

  5/2012-2018 DIRECTOR, NSERC CREATE CENTER FOR GREEN CHEMISTRY TRAINING

  5/2009-present Co-DIRECTOR, FQRNT CENTER FOR GREEN CHEMISTRYAND CATALYSIS

  5/2009-present DIRECTOR, CFI INFRASTR. FOR GREEN CHEMISTRY AND GREEN CHEMICALS

  1/2008-2016 Co-CHAIR, CANADIAN GREEN CHEMISTRYAND ENGINEERING NETWORK

5/2005-1/2008 COORDINATOR, CANADIAN GREEN CHEMISTRY NETWORK

EDUCATION:

1992-1994 NSERC POST-DOCTORAL FELLOW (Stanford University, Advisor: Professor B.  M. Trost)

1989-1992 Ph.D. (McGill University, Advisors: Professors T. H. Chan and D. N. Harpp)

1985-1988 M.S. (Chinese Academy of Science, Advisor: Professor T. H. Chan (McGill University)

1979-1983 B.S. (Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, China)

HONORS & DISTINCTIONS:

2018 Killam Fellow, Canada Council of Arts

2018 Alfred Bader Award, the Canadian Society for Chemistry

2014-17 Listed as one of the World Most Highly Cited Scientist by Clarivate Analytics /Thomson Reuter

2017-2024 Canada Research Chair (Tier I) (renewal)

2017 Advisory Board Member, Universal Scientific Education and Research Network, USERN

2016 Fellow of TWAS (The World Academy of Science for developing countries)

2016 Honorary Professorship, Dalian Institute of Chemistry and Physics, CAS

2015-2018 Honorary Professorship, University of Nottingham, UK

2015 Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS)

2015 2015 Fessenden Professorship, Faculty of Sciences, McGill University

2015 R. U. Lemieux Award, Canadian Chemical Society

20013-2015 Chair of Physical Sciences Panel, University Grant Council, Hong Kong

2013 Fellow of Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC)

Research Publications (464). Books (8): Patents (9).  Plenary/Keynote/Invited Talks: 453. 

(Total citations: 40,943)(H-index=100, August, 2019)