Joint Symposium on Inorganic Chemistry

We have chosen the theme “Inorganic Chemistry” for this meeting not only because of its central role in chemistry and traditional research strength in Singapore, but also of its value to

Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR, Singapore

the interest of chemistry and chemical scientists in Singapore In its earlier years, it was closely linked

to the Royal Institute of Chemistry (RIC) in London through the RIC Malaya Section and later the RIC Singapore Section

After four decades of nation building, it became clear that chemical science and engineering is central to the educational, social and economic development in Singapore The R&D manpower shot up 71% from Year 2000 (25,220) to 2012 (43,164) whilst the national 5-year Science & Technology budget rose from S$6 bn in 2001-2005 to S$16.1bn in 2011-2015 More than 20% of the national GDP came from the manufacturing sector, which is anchored by two major industries viz chemicals and electronics that are well served by the chemistry and engineering professionals The biomedical science, which also provides attractive career opportunities for many chemists, added another 10% to the manufacturing account The World Economic Forum in its Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013 ranked Singapore the 2nd most competitive country/economy in the world There are 12 pillars in the ranking framework which include the likes of higher education and training, innovation, and technological readiness All of these are key drivers in the numerous conferences, symposia, workshops and seminars that SNIC run regularly

We are delighted to have this opportunity to jointly organise this symposium with the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) of UK with which we have had four decades of fruitful relationship and partnership in different forms, tracing back to the days of the RIC

We have chosen the theme “Inorganic Chemistry” for this meeting not only because of its central role in chemistry and traditional research strength in Singapore, but also of its value to the modern science and technology in areas such as catalysis for pharmaceutical manufacturing and biomass conversion, solid-state fuel-cell and photovoltaic materials, metal composites and functional engineering materials, metal oxides and semi-conducting materials, photo-emissive complexes, covalent porous solids, etc etc This symposium creates an ideal platform for Singapore academics and researchers to foster new

collaborative links with our UK counterparts It also provides an opportunity for our young scientists and students to experience the wonders of inorganic chemistry and share our enthusiasm in this traditional science in contemporary context

We wish to take this opportunity to invite more people to enter and advance this field through disciplinary collaboration and bilateral cooperation On behalf of SNIC, I wish everyone a pleasant and productive meeting

inter-Professor Andy Hor

D.Sc.(Lond), D.Phil(Oxon), FSNAS, FSNIC, FRSC

President, Singapore National Institute of Chemistry, http://www.snic.org.sg/

President-Elect, Federation of Asian Chemical Societies, http://www.facs-as.org/

Executive Director, Institute of Materials Research & Engineering, A*Star, http://www.imre.a-star.edu.sg/ Professor, National University of Singapore, http://www.chemistry.nus.edu.sg/

The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is delighted to be co-organizing this “SNIC-RSC Joint Symposium on Inorganic Chemistry” with the Singapore National Institute of Chemistry (SNIC) and the Institute of Materials Research (IMRE) which is part of the Agency for Science, Technology & Research We very much appreciate the commitment of SNIC and IMRE in hosting this one and a half day meeting and we thank Professor Andy Hor and his team for all their help and support We hope that it will be another successful and memorable SNIC-RSC activity that will facilitate and foster future collaborations between the societies and scientists in each country

As part of the symposium, the RSC will renew its 5-year Collaboration Agreement with SNIC and we look forward to continuing our collaboration which benefits those in the chemical sciences communities in both Singapore and the United Kingdom

The RSC is a learned society, concerned with advancing chemistry as a science, developing its applications, and disseminating chemical knowledge, and a professional body that maintains professional qualifications and sets high standards of competence and conduct for professional chemists We have 47,500 members worldwide drawn from all areas of the chemical sciences We are active in industry, academia and education and play an important role in shaping science policy both in the UK and internationally In addition the RSC

is a major publisher of research journals, magazines, databases and books that cover all areas of the

chemical sciences

The RSC’s Dalton Division looks after the interests of inorganic chemists across the world, frequently running meetings jointly with other chemical societies across the globe The breadth and importance of inorganic chemistry and its applications has been recognized by the RSC’s Roadmap activities (www.rsc.org/roadmap) directed at identifying where the big challenges and opportunities lie for the chemical sciences This

symposium tackles some of these challenges under the headings: Catalysis, Energy and Scarce Resources The speakers are international experts in the areas of inorganic chemistry which underpin the development

of new products and processes in these important areas This symposium will also highlight some of the achievements of women in science, including contributions from world-leading researchers on the

Roadmap challenges We hope that the presentations will stimulate the exchange of ideas and experiences between all participants, setting a good platform for discussions

We are also very thankful to Johnson Matthey, UK and the British High Commission of Singapore, Southeast Asia Science and Innovation for their support of the event We thank all of the speakers, poster presenters and participants in advance for their contributions

Once again a very warm welcome to what promises to be an exciting and unique scientific event We hope that the symposium will provide a springboard for future activities and that it will foster new research collaborations

SNIC-RSC Joint Symposium on Inorganic Chemistry

Monday 7 th January, 2013

9:00 am

Ms Judith Slater, Deputy High Commissioner in Singapore, Director of Trade & Investment

Professor Andy Hor, SNIC President, IMRE, Singapore Professor Lesley Yellowlees, RSC President, University of Edinburgh, UK

Royal Society of Chemistry, UK

10:15 am Energy for the 21st century: Challenges and opportunities for chemistryProfessor Nicola Armaroli, National Research Council, Italy

Professor Andy Hor

SNIC President, IMRE, Singapore

11:00 am Professor Xiaogang Liu, National University of Singapore/IMRE, Singapore Rare-earth nanocrystals: A new class of luminescent bioprobes

11:30 am Professor Christian Nijhuis, National University of Singapore, Singapore Turning around a diode at the molecular level

12:00 pm Professor Jishan Wu, National University of Singapore/IMRE, Singapore Open-shell polycyclic hydrocarbons

1:30 pm Professor Peter Tasker, RSC Dalton Division President, University of Edinburgh, UK “Resources that don’t cost the earth” – GreenER extractive metallurgy

Professor Nicola Armaroli

National Research Council, Italy

2:15 pm

Professor Tomislav Friščić, McGill University, Canada

New low-energy and low-solvent approaches to chemical

and materials synthesis 3:00 pm Tea/coffee break and poster session sponsored by Johnson Matthey, UK

4:30 pm Dr Stephen Poulston, Johnson Matthey, UK

New commercial applications for inorganic chemistry

Professor Polly Arnold

University of Edinburgh, UK

5:15 pm

Professor Pak-Hing Leung, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Palladacycle-catalysed asymmetric hydrophosphination: direct and

efficient synthesis of functionalised chiral tertiary phosphines

5:45 pm Highly active catalysts for ethylene polymerisationDr He-Kuan Luo, IMRE, Singapore

SNIC-RSC Joint Symposium on Inorganic Chemistry

Tuesday 8 th January, 2013

8:30 am Professor Lesley Yellowlees, RSC President, University of Edinburgh, UK

Women in Science: What has chemistry ever done for me?

Dr Kathleen Too

Royal Society of Chemistry, UK

9:00 am

Professor Vivian Yam, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Versatile metal-ligand chromophoric building blocks – From design to assembly and functions

9:45 am Professor Bin Liu, National University of Singapore/IMRE, Singapore Solid state dye-sensitised solar cells

10:45 am

Professor Rong Xu, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Development of low-cost & efficient photocatalyst systems for

production of solar fuels

Professor Lesley Yellowlees

RSC President University of Edinburgh, UK

11:15 am

Dr Jia Min Chin, IMRE, Singapore

Mixing work and play – Liquid marble formation,

control and encapsulation

11:45 am

Professor Polly Arnold, University of Edinburgh, UK

Carbon-carbon and carbon-element bond forming reactions with

organometallic f-block complexes

Professor Nicola Armaroli

National Research Council, Italy Email: nicola.armaroli@isof.cnr.it

Nicola Armaroli got the PhD in chemical sciences in 1994 from the University of Bologna, Italy After postdoc periods in USA and Italy, in 1997 he joined the Italian National Research Council (CNR) where he became Senior Research Scientist in 2002 and Research Director in 2007 His scientific activity is concerned with the photochemistry and photophysics of coordination compounds, carbon nanostructures and supramolecular materials, with focus

on luminescence, light harvesting, and photoinduced energy- and transfer This basic research is related to technological applications such as solar energy conversion and novel materials for efficient lighting

electron-Nicola Armaroli has given invited lectures at international conferences, universities and research centres worldwide To date he has published 5 books

on the subject of energy and over 150 papers and review articles on international journals Since 2010, he has served as chairman of the Working Party on Chemistry and Energy of EUCheMS the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences Nicola Armaroli is also an active consultant and science communicator for the public at large on the issues of energy, natural resources and environment, also through interviews and contributions

on mass media He was awarded the 2001 Grammaticakis-Neumann International Prize in Photochemistry and the Italian Galileo Prize 2009 for science communication Updated list of publication and citation profile: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/B-9094-2009

Professor Polly Arnold

Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Polly’s research is focused on exploratory synthetic chemistry that challenges preconceived ideas of reactivity and bonding, particularly in f-block metal systems The group is working towards innovative catalytic transformations and

in the activation of small, unreactive molecules such as carbon oxides and hydrocarbons New knowledge about uranium and its neighbours is necessary for the reduction of worldwide nuclear waste legacies and for future fuel design; new catalytic conversions of hydrocarbons and simple carbon oxides will be key enablers for the future renewables-based chemical industry

Dr Jia Min Chin

Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Singapore Email: chinjm@imre.a-star.edu.sg

Dr Jia Min Chin was awarded the prestigious I I Rabi Fellowship from Columbia University (New York) as well the National Science Scholarship from A*STAR to pursue her undergraduate studies in Columbia College, Columbia University,

where she graduated magna cum laude with a B.A in Biochemistry within three

years During her years at Columbia, she worked in the lab of Professor Jack R Norton, studying organometallic chromium hydride complexes Subsequently, she pursued her PhD in the lab of Professor Richard R Schrock at MIT on dinitrogen activation by molybdenum and tungsten complexes, receiving a PhD

in Inorganic Chemistry in 2010 She started working at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) in Singapore towards the end of 2010, and is currently studying Metal-Organic Frameworks, as well as superhydrophobic materials and their applications She is a strong believer in utilising simple chemical techniques for materials synthesis and tailoring She is also active in engaging students, having mentored more than ten students in the time she has been at IMRE Her research has led to publications in various journals

including Chem Commun., J Am Chem Soc., Inorg Chem., CrystEngComm etc

Professor Tomislav Friščić

McGill University, Canada Email: tomislav.friscic@mcgill.ca

Tomislav Friščić is an Assistant Professor in the area of Green Chemistry at McGill University, Canada, since August 2011, and a member of the FRQNT Centre for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CCVC) and the FRQNT Centre for Self-Assembled Structures (CSACS) He is an experienced researcher in solid-state chemistry, in particular in the mechanochemistry and solvent-free transformations of metal oxides and the design

of molecular co-crystals for pharmaceutical applications He has co-authored 100 papers and 10 book chapters with over 1900 citations and an h-index of 30

Following a B.Sc degree in chemical crystallography at the University of Zagreb (Croatia) in 2001, he conducted doctoral studies with Len MacGillivray at the University of Iowa (USA) on using solid-state co-crystals to direct organic photosynthesis In 2006 he took up postdoctoral research with William Jones at the University of Cambridge (UK) in the area of mechanochemistry and

pharmaceutical materials science From 2008 to 2011, he has been a Herchel Smith Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, investigating the dynamic nature of solids and using principles of supramolecular chemistry to develop new, cleaner and energy-efficient methods to convert inorganic substances into functional materials His work on solid-state self-assembly processes was

awarded with a RSC Harrison-Meldola Medal and lectureship in 2011

Professor Andy Hor

President, Singapore National Institute of Chemistry

President-Elect, Federation of Asian Chemical Societies

Executive Director, Institute of Materials Research & Engineering, A*Star

Professor, National University of Singapore

Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Singapore

is currently seconded to the Institute of Materials Research & Engineering (IMRE) under Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR) as its Executive Director, and appointed as Advisor to the Early-Career Researchers of A*Star

He chairs the A*Star Scientific Conference (Oct 2012), 15th Asian Chemical Congress (Aug 2013) and 41st International Coordination Chemistry Conference (July 2014) in Singapore He chairs the SNAS & A*Star Young Scientist Award of Singapore He is the Jury President for L’Oréal Singapore for Women in Science National Fellowships 2012 He also chairs the Advisory Committee for Hazardous Substances & Toxic Wastes of the National Environment Agency For three decades, his academic thrusts have been delicately balanced among research, education, management & services To date, he has published ~300 ISI papers with ~570 citations in 2011 in the area of organometallic materials & catalysis as well as supramolecular assembly and heterometallic syntheses He is a member

of the Advisory Board of Dalton Transactions, Inorganica Chimica Acta, Chemistry – An Asian Journal and the A*Star Scientific Publication He is also the Associate Editor of the Australian Journal of Chemistry and Editor of the Journal of Molecular

& Engineering Materials His awards include NSTB Young Scientist & Engineer

Award (1991), ASEAN Achievement Award (Science) (1994), NUS Outstanding Educator Award (2002), GIST-SNIC Award in Chemistry Education (2010),

Outstanding Chemist Award (2011), among others

Professor Pak-Hing Leung

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Email: pakhing@ntu.edu.sg

Pak-Hing Leung, born in Hong Kong (1956)

Education

Polytechnic of North London (BSc Hons 1982, supervised by Peter A Tasker)Australian National University (PhD 1986, supervised by S Bruce Wild)University of Toronto & University of Chicago (posdoc fellow, 1987-1989, supervised by Brice Bosnich)

Career

Lecturer - Professor at National University of Singapore (NUS) (1989-2005)Vice Dean and Head of Department at the Nanyang Technology University (NTU) (2005-2011)

Currently Professor and Associate Chair at NTU

Awards

University Researcher Award (NUS, 1998)

14 University Teaching Awards (since 1993, both from NUS and NTU)

Professor Bin Liu

National University of Singapore and Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Singapore

Email: cheliub@nus.edu.sg

Bin Liu received her PhD degree in Chemistry from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2001 She was a postdoctoral fellow from 2001-2003 and an assistant research professor from 2003-2005 at the University of California at Santa Barbara She joined the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Department of NUS in 2005 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2010 Bin Liu is the winner of NUS Young Investigator Award 2006, National Science and Technology Young Scientist Award 2008 and L’Oreal Woman in Science National Fellowship 2011 She has over 140 SCI publications with an overall citation of 4300 and an H index of 34 Her current research interests include design and synthesis of functional materials for chemo/biosensors and

optoelectronic devices

Professor Xiaogang Liu

National University of Singapore and Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Singapore

Chemistry at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois under the supervision

of professor Chad Mirkin In the same year he became a postdoctoral fellow in the group of professor Francesco Stellacci at MIT He joined the faculty of the National University of Singapore in 2006 He holds a joint appointment with the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Agency for Science, Technology and Research

His interests include nanomaterials synthesis, supramolecular chemistry, and surface science for catalysis, sensors and biomedical applications

assembled multi-nuclear catalysts for ethylene polymerisation In May 2012, he internally moved to Institute of Materials Research and Engineering A*STAR His current research interests include catalysts for materials synthesis and organic transformations, biomass transformations to molecular and polymeric materials

He is a key member in the R&D and commercialisation of a silica-supported Ziegler-Natta catalyst for gas-phase ethylene polymerisation in SINOPEC

Because of this achievement, he received a First-Class Award for Scientific and Technological Advancement from SINOPEC (2001) and a Second-Class National Award for Scientific and Technological Advancement from the State Council of China (2003)

He has published more than 30 journal papers As the first inventor, he has filed

5 PCT WO patents, 3 US patents and 4 China patents

Professor Christian A Nijhuis

National University of Singapore, Singapore

Email: chmca@nus.edu.sg

Christian A Nijhuis received his Masters degree in Chemistry from the University

of Groningen in 2002, and PhD degree from University of Twente in 2006 (Cum Laude; top 5%) Under the direction of Professor David N Reinhoudt, his doctoral thesis included studies on the surface chemistry of supramolecular assemblies and their use in bottom-up nano-fabrication He received the Simon Stevin Research award from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) in 2006 to conduct overseas research In the group of Professor George

M Whitesides, as a postdoctoral research fellow, he developed a platform for measurements of charge transport across layers that are one molecule thick

In 2010, he received the NRF research fellowship and he joined the Department of Chemistry at the National University of Singapore as an Assistant Professor He currently uses bottom-up nanofabrication techniques to construct self-assembled nano-electronic devices to open up and to solve key problems in physics

Current research interests include the thermochemical conversion of biomass into fuels and chemicals, active packaging and photocatalysis Prior to joining

JM held a post-doctoral position at the Chemistry Department of Reading University in the group of Mike Bowker working on surface science and catalysis Studied for a PhD with Richard Lambert in the Department of Chemistry,

University of Cambridge and holds a master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Oxford

Professor Peter Tasker - RSC Dalton Division President

University of Edinburgh, UK Email: Peter.Tasker@ed.ac.uk

Peter Tasker is currently the President of the RSC’s Dalton Division and is honoured to be both an organiser and participant in this meeting which is jointly organised with SNIC

He has had an unusual scientific career, having worked extensively in both industrial and academic laboratories Much of his research has involved coordination chemistry and the design of simple molecules to bind strongly and selectively to metal ions or to mineral surfaces These areas are particularly relevant to one of the themes of this conference, “Resources that Don’t Cost the Earth” (http://rsc.li/metals-2012) Highly selective solvent extractants of the type developed when he led to Coordination Chemistry Group in ICI now account for approximately 25% of the world’s copper production (see abstract for his lecture)

Peter’s expertise in ligand design is based on both organic chemistry

(originating from a part II project in Oxford with the heterocyclic chemist, Morrin

Acheson) and inorganic chemistry (PhD work in York with Michael Green on the

cobalt chemistry of vitamin B12 and postdoctoral work at the Universities of Chicago and California with Everly Fleischer on model systems for

metalloporphyrins) He held academic positions at the University of Warwick and

at the Northern Polytechnic (now part of London Metropolitan University) before joining ICI in 1985 which was then one of the world’s largest chemical companies As a Company Research Associate he was responsible for

applications of coordination chemistry in a number of businesses and as Academic Relations Officer for the Specialties Business helped to set up many research collaborations with the Universities in the UK and elsewhere He held

an honorary Professorship and taught at Manchester University whilst working for ICI In 1996 Peter took up the Chair in Industrial Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh and has been an Emeritus Professor since 2009

During Peter’s Presidency, Dalton Division has set up arrangements to work in partnership with chemical societies across the world to run symposia on inorganic chemistry (the Singapore meeting will be followed by a joint meeting with the Mexican Chemical Society in 2013) The Division also organises Summer Schools to provide training for graduate students in specialist areas of inorganic chemistry For more details of the Division’s activities see www.rsc.org/daltondivision

Peter’s broad experience of the training requirements for researchers in academia and industry has led to his involvement with many policy making committees and he will become the Director of ScotCHEM at the beginning of 2013

Professor Jishan Wu

National University of Singapore and Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Singapore

Email: chmwuj@nus.edu.sg (NUS) or wuj@imre.a-star.edu.sg (IMRE)

Jishan Wu was born in Hubei province, China, in 1975 He received a Bachelor degree in Chemistry from Wuhan University (1997) and a Masters degree in polymer science from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2000)

He conducted his PhD research in the Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research under the supervision of Professor Klaus Müllen (2000-2004) and after graduation

he worked as a project leader in the same group He moved to the University of California at Los Angeles in 2005 and worked with Professor Sir J Fraser Stoddart

on supramolecular chemistry

Jishan joined the Department of Chemistry of the National University of

Singapore in 2007 as an assistant professor and was promoted to an associate professor in 2012 He started a joint appointment as a Senior Scientist in the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR from August 2010 His research interests include novel aromatic systems and materials,

supramolecular chemistry and nanocarbon materials So far, he has published about 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and his work received about 3000 citations with a Hirsch index of 28 He received the prestigeous NUS Young Investigator Award (2007), Singapore National Young Scientist Award (2010), BASF-Singapore National Institute of Chemsitry Award in Materials Science (2012) and the NUS Young Researcher Award (2012)

in Apr 2010 To date, she has published more than seventy peer-reviewed publications

She was appointed as Associate Chair (Research) in 2011 Currently, she also serves as the Associate Editor for Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, and the Vice President of Singapore Catalysis Society She has been a member of Scientific Advisory Committee of Regional Symposium on Chemical Engineering since 2005 She is also a member of Editorial Board for Energy Focus and ISRN Nanotechnology