Prof. James Wright from University of Auckland, NZ, Zhenyang Lin from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Zhaomin Hou from Organometallic Chemistry Laboratory and Center for Sustainable Resource Science, RIKEN, Japan and Zhenfeng Xi from Peking University came for a visit on Jun. 24th.
In the afternoon of Jun. 24th, Prof. Wright delivered a lecture entitled "Recent Advances in Fused-Ring Metallabenzenes".
Later, Prof. Zhenyang Lin delivered a lecture entitled "Transition Metal Boryl Complexes and Catalysis - Insight from Computational Studies". Prof. Haiping Xia of our group also gave a lecture.
After the lecture, the teachers and students of Xiamen University took a photo with Prof. Wright, Zhenyang Lin and Zhenfeng Xi.
In the afternoon of Jun. 25th, Prof. Zhaomin Hou delivered a lecture entitled "Search for New Catalysts for More Efficient and Selective Chemical Transformations". Later, Prof. Zhenfeng Xi delivered a lecture entitled "Spiro Metalla-aromatics". A. P. Hong Zhang of our group and A. P. Jun Zhu of Xiamen University also gave lectures.
Leonard James Wright completed his PhD degree at the University of Auckland in 1980 under the supervision of Professor W. R. Roper. After working at the New Zealand Government Research Laboratory (DSIR) for two years, he joined the research group of Professor J. P. Collman at Stanford University as a post-doctoral research fellow. In 1984 he took up a lectureship at the University of Auckland where he is currently a Professor in Chemistry (2013-present). His current research interests include organometallic chemistry, catalysis, coordination chemistry, macrocyclic chemistry, green chemistry, oxidation chemistry.
Zhenyang Lin received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from China University of Geosciences in 1982 and his M.Phil. degree in 1985 from the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he worked with Professors Jiaxi Lu and Chunwan Liu. His doctoral research was carried out from October 1986 to December 1989 in the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory of the University of Oxford under the supervision of Professor D. Michael P. Mingos. After his postdoctoral work with Professor Michael B. Hall at Texas A&M University, he joined the faculty at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 1994, where he is a Professor of Chemistry. His research interests include theoretical aspects of structure, bonding, and reactivity of inorganic and organometallic compounds and mechanisms of homogeneous catalysis.
Zhaomin Hou received his Ph.D. from Kyushu University in 1989. After postdoctoral studies at RIKEN (1989–1991) and the University of Windsor (1991–1993), he joined RIKEN as a tenured Research Scientist in 1993. He is now the Director of the Organometallic Chemistry Laboratory at RIKEN and holds a joint appointment as a Group Director and Deputy Center Director of the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science and Guest Professor at Dalian University of Technology supported by the “Thousand Talent Program” of China. Recent awards include the JSPS Prize (2007), the Chemical Society of Japan Award for Creative Work (2007), the Mitsui Chemicals Catalysis Science Award (2007), the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of MEXT of Japan: the Prizes for Science and Technology (2008), the Rare-Earth Society of Japan Award (2009), the Award of the Society of Polymer Science, Japan (2012), the Chinese Chemical Society Yaozeng Huang Award in Organometallic Chemistry (2014), and the Nagoya Silver Medal (2015).
Zhenfeng Xi received his BS degree from Xiamen University in 1983, MS degree from Nanjing University, Zhengzhou University and the Henan Institute of Chemistry in 1989, and PhD degree from the Institute for Molecular Sciences (IMS), Japan in 1996 with Prof. Tamotsu Takahashi. He took an Assistant Professor position at Hokkaido University in 1997. In 1998, he joined the College of Chemistry at Peking University, where he is now a Professor. His research interests include development of organometallic reagents, study on mechanisms of reactions involving reactive organometallic intermediates, and synthesis of functional structures.
