Interview with Professor Aiwen Lei, Wuhan University, China. Mario Müller talked with him for ChemistryViews.org about his research into oxidative coupling, which makes bonds between two nucleophiles, and about his motivation.

 

Aiwen Lei studied chemistry at Huaibei Normal University, China, where he received his B.S. in 1995. He completed his Ph. D. in organic chemistry at the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), under the supervision of Xiyan Lu in 2000. Lei then joined Xumu Zhang at Pennsylvania State University, State College, USA, for postdoctoral research. From 2003 to 2005, he worked as a Research Associate with James P. Collman at Stanford University, CA, USA. In 2005, he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at Wuhan University.

 

 

Selected Publications

• Solvent-Enabled Radical Selectivities: Controlled Syntheses of Sulfoxides and Sulfides,
  Huamin Wang, Qingquan Lu, Chaohang Qian, Chao Liu, Wei Liu, Kai Chen, Aiwen Lei,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 1094–1097.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201508729
• Mechanism of Synergistic Cu(II)/Cu(I)-Mediated Alkyne Coupling: Dinuclear 1,2-Reductive Elimination after Minimum Energy Crossing Point,
  Xiaotian Qi, Ruopeng Bai, Lei Zhu, Rui Jin, Aiwen Lei, Yu Lan,
  J. Org. Chem. 2016, 81, 1654–1660.
  DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.5b02797
• Evidence of CuI/Cu^II Redox Process by X-ray Absorption and EPR Spectroscopy: Direct Synthesis of Dihydrofurans from β-Ketocarbonyl Derivatives and Olefins,
  Hong Yi, Zhixiong Liao, Guanghui Zhang, Guoting Zhang, Chao Fan, Xu Zhang, Emilio E. Bunel, Chih-Wen Pao, Jyh-Fu Lee, Aiwen Lei,
  Chem. Eur. J. 2015, 21, 18925–18929.
  DOI: 10.1002/chem.201503822
• Oxidative Carbonylation Reactions: Organometallic Compounds (R–M) or Hydrocarbons (R–H) as Nucleophiles,
  Qiang Liu, Hua Zhang, Aiwen Lei,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 10788–10799.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201100763
• Transition-metal catalyzed oxidative cross-coupling reactions to form C–C bonds involving organometallic reagents as nucleophiles,
  Wei Shi, Chao Liu, Aiwen Lei,
  Chem. Soc. Rev. 2011, 40, 2761–2776.
  DOI: 10.1039/c0cs00125b
• Bond Formations between Two Nucleophiles: Transition Metal Catalyzed Oxidative Cross-Coupling Reactions,
  Chao Liu, Hua Zhang, Wei Shi, Aiwen Lei,
  Chem. Rev. 2011, 111, 1780–1824.
  DOI: 10.1021/cr100379j

 

Also of Interest

• Author Profile: Aiwen Lei,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 12136.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201106054