Radicals, which possess unpaired electrons, play a vital role in organic chemistry, structural chemistry, and functional material chemistry. Nowadays, their research becomes ubiquitous and interdisciplinary spanning physics and biomedical fields. For instance, the oxygen we breathe in the air, the first organic superconducting material, tetrathiafurane (TTF) cation，and the nitric oxide which regulates the function of blood vessels (the related work was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1998), are all radicals. Radicals are usually active and possess short lifetime because of the presence of the unpaired electrons. Therefore, the stabilization of active radicals is a pivotal research challenge in this field, as well as a hot study topic in contemporary scientific world.
    Our group aims at designing organic ligands according to the steric effect and electronic feature and utilizing them to access stable radicals. The radicals are characterized by computational and spectroscopic approaches, in order to pursue a deep understanding of the structures, the nature of chemical bonds and the reaction mechanism of the synthesized radicals. In addition, we have a particular interest in exploring the potential functional properties of radicals, such as catalysis, luminescence, conductivity and magnetism, with an attempt to discover and solve the important issues in the fundamental chemistry filed.
Research areas:

• Synthesis of the novel radicals
• Activation and catalysis based on radicals
• Photoelectron function of radicals
• Magnets based on radicals
• Superconducting materials based on radicals

 

功能自由基化学

 

       自由基物质是含不成对电子的原子、分子或离子，跟有机反应机理、结构化学和功能材料化学密切相关，并且渗透到物理学和生物医学领域，如空气中的氧气、首例有机超导材料四硫富瓦烯(TTF)阳离子、以及调节血管功能的一氧化氮(相关工作获1998年诺贝尔生理医学奖) 等都是自由基分子。由于含有不成对电子的自由基很活跃，大多数自由基的寿命都非常短。如何稳定活跃的自由基是该领域的重大关键问题，也是国际上的研究热点。

      我们课题组根据空间位阻效应和电子性质，设计配体，合成自由基化合物，结合光(波)谱表征技术和量子化学计算, 对生成的自由基化合物的结构、化学健本质和反应机理进行深层次的研究，并挖掘自由基化合物可能具有的功能特性如催化、发光、导电和磁性等，来发现和解决基础化学领域中的重要问题。

    我们主要从事以下几方面的研究：

• 新型自由基化合物的合成
• 基于自由基的活化与催化
• 自由基光电功能
• 自由基分子磁体
• 自由基超导材料