Ph.D. New York University (2003)

Bioanalytical/Chemical Biology/Supramolecular Chemistry/Synthesis and Catalysis

The Zhu group is interested in solving fundamental problems in chemistry and developing new technologies using the tools in supramolecular chemistry - the chemistry mediated by rapidly equilibrating reactions. Metal coordination is one example of "rapidly equilibrating reactions" that we have invested much effort in studying. The acquired fundamental knowledge from out work aids the progress in other areas, including the development of fluorescent sensing technologies and new catalytic processes. Three current research topics are briefly described in the following sections.

Zhang, L.; Clark, R. J.; Zhu, L. A Heteroditopic Fluoroionophoric Platform for Constructing Fluorescent Probes with Large Dynamic Ranges for Zinc Ions. Chem. Eur. J. 2008, 14, 2894-2903. Michaels, H. A.; Murphy, C. S.; Clark, R. J.; Davidson, M. W.; Zhu, L. 2-Anthryltriazolyl-Containing Multidentate Ligands: Zinc-Coordination Mediated Photophysical Processes and Potential in Live-Cell Imaging Applications. Inorg. Chem. 2010, 49, 4278-4287. Kuang, G.-C.; Guha, P. M.; Brotherton, W. S.; Simmons, J. T.; Stankee, L. A.; Nguyen, B. T.; Clark, R. J.; Zhu, L. Experimental Investigation on the Mechanism of Chelation-Assisted, Copper(II) Acetate-Accelerated Azide-Alkyne Cycloaddition. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 13984-14001. Sreenath, K.; Allen, J. R.; Davidson, M. W.; Zhu, L. A FRET-Based Indicator for Imaging Mitochondrial Zinc Ions. Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 11730-11732 (Among Top 10 most accessed articles in Chem. Commun. in September 2011).

Brotherton, W. S.; Clark, R. J.; Zhu, L. Synthesis of 5-Iodo-1,4-disubstituted-1,2,3-triazoles Mediated by in situ Generated Copper(I) Catalyst and Electrophilic Triiodide Ion. J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 6443-6455 (Among Top 10 most accessed articles in J. Org. Chem. in August 2012).