Chao-Jun Li
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Chao-Jun "C.-J." Li, a Canadian chemist, is E. B. Eddy Professor of Chemistry and Canada Research Chair in Green Chemistry at
McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...
,
Montréal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
. He is known for his pioneering works in Green Solvent (organic reactions in water) and Green Syntheses (water/functional group-tolerating organometallics, C-H activation, and
photochemistry Photochemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the chemical effects of light. Generally, this term is used to describe a chemical reaction caused by absorption of ultraviolet (wavelength from 100 to 400 Nanometre, nm), visible ligh ...
).


Education

C.-J. Li was born in 1963, and obtained his BSc from
Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou University (ZZU; ) is a provincial public university in Zhengzhou, Henan, China. It is affiliated with the Province of Henan. The university is part of Project 211 and the Double First-Class Construction. Zhengzhou University is rank ...
(1979–1983), and completed his MSc. in organic synthesis at the
Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...
(1985–1988) with Prof. T.H. Chan. He then moved to McGill University (Montréal, Québec) to do his PhD (1989–1992) with Prof. T.H. Chan again (and discovered the indium-mediated allylation reaction in water) along with Prof.
David Harpp David Noble Harpp is a Canadian chemist, science communicator and award-winning university teacher. He holds the Tomlinson Chair in Science Education at McGill University. Harpp published more than 230 chemistry articles in peer-reviewed public ...
(working on organosulfur/selenium/tellurium chemistry), and went on a
NSERC The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; , CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as ...
-funded postdoc with Prof.
Barry Trost Barry M. Trost (born June 13, 1941, in Philadelphia) is an American chemist who is the Job and Gertrud Tamaki Professor Emeritus in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. The Tsuji–Trost reaction and the Trost ligand ar ...
at
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
in the United States (1992–1994) (and discovered the so-called phosphine-catalyzed γ-Addition Reaction).


Career and research

C.-J. Li started as an assistant professor at
Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...
in 1994, and attained the title of Professor of Chemistry in 2000. He then moved in 2003 to McGill University, where he obtained a
Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...
(Tier I) in
Green Chemistry Green chemistry, similar to sustainable chemistry or circular chemistry, is an area of chemistry and chemical engineering focused on the design of products and processes that minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. Wh ...
. He has also been the director of
NSERC The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; , CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as ...
CREATE for Green Chemistry (2012–2018), the director of CFI Infrastructure for Green Chemistry and Green Chemicals (2008–2018) and has been the co-director of the FQRNT Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis since 2009. He was the founding Co-Chair of the Canadian Green Chemistry and Engineering Network. C.-J. Li's research encompasses various aspects of green chemistry applied to organic chemistry:
organometallic Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and so ...
s,
catalysis Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...
(thermal and light-based). Most notably, he is known for introducing water as a Green Solvent for various chemical reactions ( C-H activation/Functionalization, Grignard type-reactions in water. Li originated the concepts of Aldehyde-Alkyne-Amine Coupling (
A3 coupling reaction The A3 coupling (also known as A3 coupling reaction or the aldehyde-alkyne-amine reaction), coined by Prof. Chao-Jun Li of McGill University, is a type of multicomponent reaction involving an aldehyde, an alkyne and an amine which react to give a p ...
) and the
cross dehydrogenative coupling Cross dehydrogenative coupling (also known as CDC reaction), coined by Chao-Jun Li of McGill University, is a type of coupling reaction allowing the construction of a carbon–carbon bond or C-Heteroatom bond directly from C–H bonds in the presen ...
(CDC Reaction, or C-H/C-H coupling, or oxidative C-H cross coupling). His work on
GaN The word Gan or the initials GAN may refer to: Places * Gan, a component of Hebrew placenames literally meaning "garden" China * Gan River (Jiangxi) * Gan River (Inner Mongolia), * Gan County, in Jiangxi province * Gansu, abbreviated '' ...
nanowires upright=1.2, Crystalline 2×2-atom tin selenide nanowire grown inside a single-wall carbon nanotube (tube diameter ≈1 nm). A nanowire is a nanostructure in the form of a wire with the diameter of the order of a nanometre (10−9 m). Mor ...
and nanoparticals as
photocatalyst In chemistry, photocatalysis is the acceleration of a photoreaction in the presence of a photocatalyst, the excited state of which "repeatedly interacts with the reaction partners forming reaction intermediates and regenerates itself after each ...
s for the conversion of
methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...
into
benzene Benzene is an Organic compound, organic chemical compound with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar hexagonal Ring (chemistry), ring with one hyd ...
was covered by Phys.org in 2015, leaving prospects for
hydrogen storage Several methods exist for storing hydrogen. These include mechanical approaches such as using high pressures and low temperatures, or employing chemical compounds that release H2 upon demand. While large amounts of hydrogen are produced by variou ...
. Subsequently, his team showed that they were also able to convert
methanol Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical compound and the simplest aliphatic Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with the chemical formula (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often ab ...
into
ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...
, ethylene and cyclohexane. He also made breakthroughs in using
hydrazone Hydrazones are a class of organic compounds with the structure . They are related to ketones and aldehydes by the replacement of the oxygen =O with the = functional group. They are formed usually by the action of hydrazine on ketones or aldehydes. ...
s as organometallic surrogates in nucleophilic addition and cross-coupling, the direct amination of phenol derivatives. and the earliest report on fluorescence enhancement due to self-assembling (SAFE) in solution.


Selected publications

Reactions in water: * Indium-mediated allylations in water * The Barbier–Grignard-type alkylation of aldehydes using unactivated alkyl iodides in water * The Barbier–Grignard-type arylation of aldehydes using unactivated aryl iodides in water * Silver-Catalyzed Hydrogenation of Aldehydes in Water
A3 coupling reaction The A3 coupling (also known as A3 coupling reaction or the aldehyde-alkyne-amine reaction), coined by Prof. Chao-Jun Li of McGill University, is a type of multicomponent reaction involving an aldehyde, an alkyne and an amine which react to give a p ...
Cross dehydrogenative coupling Cross dehydrogenative coupling (also known as CDC reaction), coined by Chao-Jun Li of McGill University, is a type of coupling reaction allowing the construction of a carbon–carbon bond or C-Heteroatom bond directly from C–H bonds in the presen ...
(CDC)
GaN The word Gan or the initials GAN may refer to: Places * Gan, a component of Hebrew placenames literally meaning "garden" China * Gan River (Jiangxi) * Gan River (Inner Mongolia), * Gan County, in Jiangxi province * Gansu, abbreviated '' ...
Photocatalysts * Photoinduced conversion of methane into benzene over GaN nanowires * Direct catalytic methanol-to-ethanol photoconversion via methyl carbene * Direct catalytic conversion of methane into cyclohexane (Methane Liquefaction) * Direct catalytic conversion of methane into methanol or formic acid
Hydrazones Hydrazones are a class of organic compounds with the structure . They are related to ketones and aldehydes by the replacement of the oxygen =O with the = functional group. They are formed usually by the action of hydrazine on ketones or aldehydes. ...
as organo-metallic equivalent (HOME Chemistry): * Carbonyls as alkyl carbanion equivalents for 1,2-nucleophilic additions, conjugate additions, and cross-couplings


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Chao-Jun Stanford University alumni Canadian people of Chinese descent Academic staff of McGill University American organic chemists Zhengzhou University alumni 1963 births Living people McGill University alumni