2017-11-14

Chemistry scholar wins Lectureship Awards
Dr Ken Leung, Associate Professor of the Department of Chemistry, was
invited to deliver an oral presentation entitled “Controlling the
Molecular Motion for Organocatalysis and Drug Delivery”, which won him
two Asian Core Program Lectureship Awards at the 12th International
Conference of Cutting-Edge Organic Chemistry in Asia held by Shanxi
Normal University, Xian, Mainland China in November.
As the winner of the awards, Dr Leung will deliver an array of lectures
in Mainland China and Singapore in the coming year. The awards reflect
huge credit on Dr Leung’s research output, and demonstrate that his work
on organic chemistry is well recognised by the selection committees in
the two countries.
Dr Leung’s research combines the concepts of molecular machines and
organic catalysts to generate specialty rotaxane dual catalysts with a
fluorescence tag. Upon the addition of acid/base, the two catalysts can
be reversibly “switched on and off” to synthesise the desired product
exclusively from a mixture of starting materials. In another area, Dr
Leung combines molecular machines and organic near-spherical dendrimers
to look at the collective three-dimensional contraction-extension
molecular motion of these nano-sized molecules. These novel
hyper-branched macromolecules with mechanical bonds on every branching
unit can bind with anti-cancer drugs and trigger an active drug release
in acidic environments.
from HKBU eNews
https://bunews.hkbu.edu.hk/news/people/chemistry-scholar-wins-lectureship-awards