恭喜, Dr. Zeng!

Qian Zeng, a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Arjan W. Kleij, has successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled “Radical-Mediated Formation of Functionalized Allylic Synthons” publicly on Wednesday, December 11^th. The members of the evaluation committee were Prof. Mónica Pérez Temprano (ICIQ), Prof. Fabio Julià (Universidad de Murcia) and Prof. Luca Dell’amico (Universitá di Padova, Italy).

Qian is from Suzhou, a city in China where she has lived for most of her life. Her academic focus has been in organic chemistry since her undergraduate studies. In her free time, she enjoys playing badminton and hiking, as sports always bring her happiness.

She has been awarded a China Scholarship Council (CSC) grant from the Chinese government to support her entire PhD period. She expresses sincere gratitude to her country for this support.

Why did you become a scientist?

In the beginning, I was deeply moved by my high school chemistry teacher. His passion for chemistry impressed me and I became interested in chemistry at that moment. After several years of studying chemistry professionally, I enjoyed the joy of discovery and solving problems in the process of exploring chemistry. This gives me a wonderful feeling for chemistry, and then I think it is cool to become a scientist.

What do you want to achieve as a scientist?

I really wish that my synthesized molecules or fragments can be used or become meaningful for drug development one day in the future. It would be meaningful for the human society.

What is your thesis about?

My doctoral thesis was to develop novel, stereo- and regioselective transformations by combing diverse allylic precursors with radical coupling partners, facilitating the fabrication of mostly C-C and C-S bonds via dual metal/photoredox catalyzed allylation and radical-induced cascade ring-opening/allylation approaches.

What triggered your interest for the subject of your thesis?

Combining with the character of our group and developed approaches up to the present, functionalized allylic structures are valuable motifs playing a significant role in bioactive and pharmaceuticals. We aim to summarize the current discovery and my three PhD projects to support the readers get a general understanding of this topic.

What applications can your thesis have in the future?

Based on the content of this thesis, we believe that it exemplifies the potential value of multi-component radical-based strategies in synthetic methodology to rapidly build up molecular complexity allowing to prepare advanced, complex allylic synthons. We thus expect that multicomponent cascade strategies will be of future value in academic and commercial laboratories thereby aiding drug discovery and development.

From the lessons learnt (or skills developed) at ICIQ, which one do you value the most?

I think I value most is the communication skills, the ICIQ provide a natural environment for me to talk with people from time to time.

What ICIQ moment you´ll never forget? 

I would never forget every moment for the ICIQ activity, where everyone gathers together and made me feel like one big family.

What will you miss the most from ICIQ?

I think I would miss the people most here, because they are as warm as sunshine.

What advice do you have for someone who’s starting their PhD now?

I hope those of you who are doing your PhD will cherish your time, it will be the most memorable part of your life. If you encounter difficulties, doubts, or confusion along the way, don’t be afraid to remember that these problems will always be solved, no matter what the outcome. These are all boosters on your growth path.

Have you ever been emotional over an experiment/simulation? Why?

Yes, I think most of us experience this mood swing on the experiment. Because the experiment was not satisfactory and most of the time was invested in a certain experiment but did not get the corresponding return. Or the experiment that struggled for a long time finally failed. There are normal phenomena and they are what we need to learn to face at this stage.

If you were a piece of lab equipment, what would you be?

I wish I can be a stirring bar. During my non-stop spinning, I would witness the generation of each surprise reaction and would fantasize about the mood of each experimenter. It will be wonderful and interesting process in my whole life.