Research

ORCID: 0000-0002-9865-180X
ResearcherID: C-5504-2016

Recognition and Achievements

• Tokyo Chemical Industry-SNIC Industry Award in Synthetic Chemistry, 2021
• Young Researcher Award, NUS, 2021
• Young Scientist Award, Faculty of Science, NUS, 2020
• The Distinguished Lectureship Award, The CSJ Asian International Symposium, The Chemical Society of Japan, 2020
• Thieme Chemistry Journal Award, 2019
• Young Chemist Award, Department of Chemistry, 2018
• Asian Core Program Lectureship Award, 2017-2019

Research Interests

The research program in WU group have broadly and deeply involved in two research fields of organic synthesis, including photocatalysis and continuous-flow automated synthesis. Our long-term goal is to advance otherwise difficult or ineffective chemical reactions using advanced flow techniques, as well as to develop new chemical strategies to aid the automated multistep synthesis. The research program in my lab can be divided into five parts: 1) Development of engineered flow reactors. A centerpiece of research in my group relies on the unique advantages provided by micro-tubing reactors. 2) Exploring new fundamental reactions that directly transform natural gas feedstocks into value-added fine chemicals by harvesting visible-light as energy input. This project takes advantage of the super efficiency of biphasic gas/liquid reactions and enhanced photo-irradiation in micro-tubing reactors. 3) Development of photo-mediated hydrogen atom transfer strategies for C-H, Si-H, and B-H functionalization to convert readily available alkanes, hydrosilanes, and boranes into valuable products in an atom- and step-economic fashion. 4) Development of novel heterogeneous photocatalysts. This project aims to take advantage of the heterogeneous catalysis in flow reactors for sustainable chemical manufacturing. 5) Development of end-to-end automated synthesis of APIs. Our group’s research is truly multidisciplinary including both organic chemistry and engineering aspects, which provides opportunities to learn areas of research outside of traditional organic synthesis. Students in my group will get trained on photocatalysis, continuous-flow synthesis, multistep synthesis, and green chemistry. They will build indepth chemistry background and strong problem-solving techniques. The advantages of continuous flow processing are increasingly being appreciated both by industry and academia, and students expertise in this field will find enormous job opportunities.

Recent Highlight

• Invention of stop-flow micro-tubing reactor
• Fine chemical synthesis using natural gas as feedstocks under visible-light irradiation
• Unravel the unique property of neutral eosin Y, which can function effectively as a direct HAT photocatalyst for C-H functionalizations
• Development of novel technology for end-to-end automated synthesis of APIs

Teaching Contributions AY2022/2023

• CM5221 Advanced Organic Synthesis
• CM5100 Advanced MSc Project (Coordinator)
• CM5104 Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship in Chemical Sciences (Coordinator)

Representative Publications

• Cao, H.; Kong, D.; Yang. L.; Chanmungkalakul, S.; Liu, T.; Piper, J. L.; Peng, Z.; Gao, L.; Liu, X.; Hong, X., Wu, J., Bronsted Acid-Enhanced Direct Hydrogen Atom Transfer Photocatalysis to Enable Selective Late-Stage Functionalization of Unactivated C(sp³)-H Bonds. Nat. Syn. 2022, DOI: 10.1038/s44160-022-00125-1 [in press].
• Zhang, Z.; Sang, Y.; Wang, C.; Dai, P.; Xue, X.; Piper, J. L.; Peng, Z.; Ma, J.; Zhang, F.; Wu, J., Difluoromethylation of Unactivated Alkenes Using Freon-22 through Tertiary Amine-borane-triggered Halogen-atom Transfer. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c05356 [in press].
• Liu, C.; Xie, J.; Wu, W.; Wang, M.; Chen, W.; Idres, S. B.; Rong, J.; Deng, L.-W.; Khan, S. A.; Wu, J., Automated Synthesis of Prexasertib and Derivatives Enabled by Continuous-Flow Solid-Phase Synthesis. Nat. Chem. 2021, 13, 541-457.
• Yan, J.; Tang, H.; Kuek, E. J. R.; Shi, X.; Liu, C.; Zhang, M.; Piper, J. L.; Duan, S.; Wu, J., Divergent Functionalization of Aldehydes Photocatalyzed by Neutral Eosin Y with Sulfone Reagents. Nat. Commun. 2021, 12, 7214.
• Xu, J.; Cao, J.; Wu, X.; Wang, H.; Yang, X.; Tang, X.; Toh, R. W.; Zhou, R.; Wu, J., Unveiling Extreme Photoreduction Potentials of DonorAcceptor Cyanoarenes to Access Aryl Radicals from Aryl Chlorides. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 13266-13273.
• Cao, H.; Tang, X.; Tang, H.; Yuan, Y.; Wu, J., Photoinduced Intermolecular Hydrogen Atom Transfer Reactions in Organic Synthesis. Chem Cat. 2021, 1, 523-598
• Liu, Q.; Xu, W.; Cao, H.; Li, J.; Zhou, Q.; Tao, W.; Zhu, H.; Cao, X.; Zhong, L.; Lu, J.; Peng, X.; Wu, J. Vacancy Engineered Polymeric Carbon Nitride Nanosheets for Enhanced Photoredox Catalytic Efficiency. Cell Rep. Phys. Sci. 2021, 2, 100491.
• Yan, J.; Cheo, H. W.; Teo, W. K.; Shi, X.; Wu, H.; Idres, S. B.; Deng. L.-W.; Wu, J., A Radical Smiles Rearrangement Promoted by Neutral Eosin Y as a Direct Hydrogen Atom Transfer Photocatalyst. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2020, 142, 11357-11362.
• Jia, P.; Li, Q.; Poh, W. C.; Jiang, H.; Liu, H.; Deng, H.; Wu, J., Light-Promoted Bromine Radicl-Mediated Selective Alkylation and Amination of Unactivated C(sp³)-H Bonds. Chem 2020, 6, 1766-1776.
• Cao, H.; Kuang, Y.; Shi, X.; Wong, K. L.; Tang, B. B.; Kwan, J. M. C.; Liu, X.; Wu, J., Photoinduced Site-Selective Alkenylation of Alkanes and Aldehydes with Aryl Alkenes. Nat. Commun. 2020, 11, 1956.