Lecture by Prof. Cornelia Bohne, University of Victoria, Canada

On March 24 and 31, invited by Prof. Tang Hao from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of South China University of Technology, Prof. Cornelia Bohne from the University of Victoria, Canada, gave two lectures entitled “Supramolecular Dynamics of Host-Guest Complexes” and “Mobility of Small Molecules in Proteins and Gels”.

Professor Bohne, a renowned professor of supramolecular systems, graduated from the University of São Paulo in 1987 and worked as a postdoctoral fellow and research assistant at the National Research Council of Canada from 1987 to 1991 under the supervision of J.C. (Tito) Scaiano, one of the leading researchers in the field of photochemistry. She joined the University of Victoria in 1992, where she has been a faculty member since then, and has served several times as Chair of the Department of Chemistry. Professor Bohne was promoted to Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada (FCIC) in 2011. She is a past president of the Inter-American Society of Photochemistry and is an associate editor and editorial board member of several ACS journals.

In her lecture, Prof. Bohne noted that her long-term goal in the field of supramolecular chemistry is to bring the understanding of supramolecular dynamics to the same level as the current understanding of structural aspects in the field. An understanding of the basic concepts of supramolecular dynamics is critical to fulfilling the long-held expectation that these supramolecular systems can perform functions that are not possible with molecular chemistry. In terms of supramolecular dynamics, Prof. Bohne's group uses fast kinetic techniques to measure events in real time, including laser flash photolysis, stopped flow, and laser temperature jump experiments. For each supramolecular system, they develop the required methods to measure kinetics in real time, establish relationships between kinetics and supramolecular building block structure, and apply this knowledge to design new supramolecular functions. In two presentations, Professor Bohne demonstrated the advantages of supramolecular dynamics as a unique research tool, using examples of host-guest chemistry, proteins, and gels.