Title：Green Oxidation in Organic Synthesis by Mimicking Haloperoxidases

Speaker：Professor Rongbiao Tong(The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

Time：Friday, May 16, 2025, 14:30–15:30

Inviter：Professor Chuanle Zhu

Venue：Room 401 of the Shaw Engineering Building

Organizing Unit：School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering/Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Engineering

Speaker Profile：

  Professor Rongbiao Tong was born in Puning City,Guangdong Province.He obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Hunan University(1996–2000&2000–2003).From 2003 to 2008,he pursued his Ph.D.in organic chemistry at Emory University,under the supervision of Professor Frank E.McDonald,focusing on the biomimetic cyclization of polyepoxides and their application in the total synthesis of natural products.He then conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania(2008–2011)in the laboratory of Professor Amos B.Smith,III.In July 2011,he joined the Department of Chemistry at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as an assistant professor(tenure-track)and doctoral supervisor.He was promoted to tenured associate professor in 2017 and to full professor in 2023.His research focuses on the total synthesis of complex natural products,organic synthesis methodology,green chemistry,medicinal chemistry,and chemical biology.He has published over 100 SCI papers in important journals in the field,with over 90 as the corresponding author,and holds 10 patents.Professor Tong's research has been continuously and stably funded by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong(RGC,equivalent to the National Natural Science Foundation of China)with a total funding of over HKD 27 million.Recently,he received a Collaborative Research Fund(CRF)from the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong,equivalent to a key project from the National Natural Science Foundation of China,with a funding of over HKD 10 million.He is leading the development of new antibiotics and has discovered a series of compounds with strong antibacterial activity and clinical application potential.

Report Abstract：

  Haloperoxidases are a class of multifunctional enzymes that catalyze the incorporation of halogens(such as chlorine,bromine,or iodine)into organic substrates,a process essential for the biosynthesis of halogenated compounds.These enzymes utilize hydrogen peroxide(H₂O₂)as an oxidant to activate halide ions,enabling them to attach to various organic molecules.Haloperoxidases are found in marine,terrestrial,and microbial environments,playing key ecological roles from aiding algae in producing antimicrobial defenses to assisting fungi and bacteria in synthesizing bioactive metabolites.Although there have been many reports on the mimicry of haloperoxidases,the application of these functional mimics in organic synthesis is very limited.In this presentation,we introduce a novel functional mimic of haloperoxidases and demonstrate its practical applications in organic synthesis.Iron bromide(Fe-Br with or without ligands)is a super reagent that rapidly reacts with hydrogen peroxide to generate reactive brominating species(RBS,such as Br-OH),a versatile oxidant that can be used for various transformations,including aromatic bromination, Hunsdiecker decarboxylative bromination,Achmatowicz rearrangement,and oxidation of alcohols/indoles/sulfides.The green characteristics and low cost of these oxidation methods add advantages compared to other oxidation/ bromination methods.