Title: Professor Ge Shaozhong, National University of Singapore:  Cobalt-Catalyzed Selective Polyborylation of Unsaturated Hydrocarbons

Speaker: Professor Ge Shaozhong (Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore)   

Time: 10:00 – 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, 2 December 2025   

Venue: 4th-floor Conference Roomof the Shaw Engineering Building, Wushan Campus   

Organizers: School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Engineering   

[Abstract]

Organoboron compounds are indispensable building blocks in organic synthesis because of their high stability, low toxicity, and versatile reactivity. Among them, polyboranes—bearing several boronyl groups that can be functionalized in a stepwise and chemoselective manner—have attracted increasing attention. Building on our earlier work on base-metal-catalyzed hydroboration of unsaturated hydrocarbons, we have identified several inexpensive, earth-abundant, and non-toxic cobalt catalysts that enable highly selective diborylation, triborylation of alkenes, and hydro-diborylation of 1,n-dienes. These cobalt-promoted reactions provide concise access to gem-diboranes and 1,1,3-triboranes that are difficult to obtain by conventional routes. This lecture will survey the substrate scope, synthetic applications, and mechanistic insights of these cobalt-catalyzed polyborylations.   

[Speaker Biography]

 Professor Ge Shaozhong received his B.Sc. from the University of Science and Technology of China (2002), M.Sc. from Åbo Akademi University, Finland (2005), and Ph.D. from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands (2009). From January 2010 to December 2014 he carried out post-doctoral research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of California, Berkeley, under the guidance of Professor John F. Hartwig. In January 2015 he joined the Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor and Chair Professor of the Faculty of Science in January 2021.His honors include the 2023 TCI-SCS Award in Synthetic Chemistry, the 2019 NUS Faculty of Science Young Scientist Award, Asian Core Program Lecturerships (Hong Kong, Japan, China, Taiwan), the 2018 Thieme Chemistry Journal Award, the 2017 NUS Department of Chemistry Young Chemist Award, the 2015 NUS Young Investigator Award, and the 2008 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad.

Announced by School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.