Research Interests

Our research centrally involves application-directed molecule design and synthesis. We are also interested in discovery/development of catalysts for important organic and biology relevant reactions. Currently, there are three research directions in our laboratory.

Peptide-based asymmetric catalysis

Peptide-based asymmetric catalysts offer intriguing analogies to enzymatic systems. Peptide catalysts are based on the ability of peptides to form conformationally stabilized chiral environment for the catalytic moiety and well-defined secondary structures for the interaction between the substrate and catalyst to stabilize the preferred transition states.

In our laboratory, we are interested in simplifying catalytic peptide system using the following strategies:

1) Utilize metals to attain rigid conformation for the catalytic center with the coordination sphere
of  the metal serving as the “secondary structure”.
2) Implement a conformationally rigid scaffold to lock the conformation of the catalytic center.
3) Employ bulky group(s) at a remote position to tune the catalytic activity and enantio-selectivity.

We aim to:
1) Expand the scope of peptide-catalyzed reaction such that the new catalysts are not limited to
substrates that can form hydrogen bond with them, they can also be applied to unfunctionalized
substrates.
2) Explore new reactions that can be catalyzed by peptide/amino acids.
3) Study structure-activity relationships in peptide-catalyzed reactions and provide insights into
catalytic mechanisms.

Porphyrin-based supramolecules as molecular
devices for solar energy conversion

One of the strategies employed to improve the function of supramolecular dye system is the addition of secondary donor/acceptor species. A transition metal center linked to an organic chromophore such as porphyrin will also largely add to the number of electron or energy transfer reactions within the assembly.

We aim to design and syntheses novel classes of supramolecules incorporating both porphyrin and Ru (II)-trisbipyridine species as dye sensitizer for photonic devices.

Identification and development of small molecule inhibitors targeting NS2-3 protease of Hepatitis C virus as potential therapeutic agents

Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) has emerged as a major health problem as it can lead to un-curable cirrhosis and liver cancer. An estimated 170 million people worldwide have been infected with HCV. HCV is the leading cause of liver transplantation and results in up to 10,000 deaths annually in the U.S. Current treatments (interferon a alone or with ribavirin) have met with limited success and often with undesired side effects. Despite intense efforts dedicated to it in the past decade, many aspects of the disease as well as the biological life of the virus remains unclear.

Selected Publications
H. J. H. Wang, L. Jaquinod, M. Olmstead, M. Graca. H. Vicente, K. M. Smith and K. M. Kadish, “Synthesis and structure of b, b'-fused metallocenoporphyrins and their derivatives”, Inorganic Chemistry 2007, 46, 2898.

James P. Collman, Li Zeng, Hong J. H. Wang, Aiwen Lei, and John I. Brauman, “ Kinetics of (porphyrin)manganese(III)-catalyzed olefin epoxidation with a soluble iodosylbenzene derivative”, European Journal of  Organic Chemistry 2006, 2707-2714.

James P. Collman, Hong J. H. Wang, Richard A. Decreau, Todd A. Eberspacher, Christopher J. Sunderland, “Synthesis and characterization of Rh^III corroles: unusual reactivity patterns observed during metallation reactions”. Chemical Communications. 2005, 2497-2499.