Why
do you think your paper is highly cited?
|
“In contrast to
conventional thinking we have uncovered many
interesting reactivity with these metal
complexes." |
|
Together with another paper which we published a little
earlier, we showed that olefins are also activated by gold(I).
Most previous work has been focused on alkyne substrates. Our
work has directed the research to a new area.
Does
it describe a new discovery, methodology, or synthesis of knowledge?
It suggested that simple oelfins may be activated by gold(I).
Would
you summarize the significance of your paper in layman's terms?
I would think it showed that olefins can be substrates for
gold-based catalysis. Later on, different groups worked with
allenes and dienes as inspired by our work.
How
did you become involved in this research, and were there any
particular problems encountered along the way?
This is one of our projects in the lab in order to evaluate
the potential catalytic activity of "noble" metals such as
silver and gold. In contrast to conventional thinking, we have
uncovered many an interesting reactivity with these metal
complexes.
Where
do you see your research leading in the future?
Olefin polymerization. A recent paper from the same journal
showed that it is possible to add carbon-based nucleophiles to
olefin with gold. We will test gold catalysts for potential
olefin polymerization.
Chuan He
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
The University of Chicago
Chicago, IL, USA
