Andrew C.-H. Sue
Graphical Abstract
“The biggest change in my scientific working environment in the past 10 years has been moving to China, a country that I never got chance to explore in the past … I chose chemistry as a career because I liked playing with LEGO® in my childhood. Now I'm just doing the same thing on the molecular level …” Find out more about Andrew Sue in his Introducing … Profile.
Andrew C.-H. Sue
The author presented on this page has published his first article as a submitting corresponding author in Angewandte Chemie:
“”Rim-Differentiated“ Pillar[6]arenes”: Y. Chao, T. U. Thikekar, W. Fang, R. Chang, J. Xu, N. Ouyang, J. Xu, Y. Gao, M. Guo, H. Zuilhof, A. C.-H. Sue, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, doi.org/10.1002/anie.202204589; Angew. Chem. 2022, doi.org/10.1002/ange.202204589.
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Position:
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Professor, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University (China)
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Homepage:
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ORCID:
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Education:
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2002/2004 BSc/MSc, National Chiao-Tung University (Taiwan)
2011 PhD with Sir Fraser Stoddart, UCLA (USA)
2011–2013 Postdoc with Omar Yaghi, UC Berkeley (USA)
2014 Research Associate with Sir Fraser Stoddart, Northwestern University (USA)
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Research:
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Supramolecular and macrocyclic chemistry, molecular cages, chiral crystals, dynamic stereochemistry, mechanically-interlocked polymers
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Hobbies:
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Concerts and live music, collecting rocks and minerals
I am waiting for the day when someone will discover a time machine.
The biggest challenge facing my generation of scientists is inspiring more young people to pursue science careers.
My favorite example of chemistry/science in everyday life is coffee brewing.
The most important future applications of my research are still waiting to be uncovered. Endless possibilities!
I chose chemistry as a career because I liked playing with LEGO® in my childhood. Now I'm just doing the same thing on the molecular level.
The most important factor in the choice of my current research topic was asking good questions, and then following up on the answers. None of my current research work would have existed had I not thrown the question “how about pillar[5]arene?” at Prof. Han Zuilhof after his seminar in Tianjin University a few years ago.
A key experience in my career was asking to join Sir Fraser Stoddart's research group after I received admission from the Electrical Engineering PhD program of UCLA.
The biggest change in my scientific working environment in the past 10 years has been moving to China, a country that I never got chance to explore in the past.
The advice I wish I had received is delving deep into the older chemical literatures.
Guaranteed to make me laugh is a beautiful single crystal.
The natural talent I would like to be gifted with is mind reading.
In retrospect I would never again work in an institution that does not support young faculty members.
My favorite science outreach activity is tying Chinese knots mimicking catenanes, rotaxanes, and molecular knots.
My favorite piece of research is the next paper.
My favorite musician/band/composer is Leonard Cohen.
Behind the Science
After working on rim-differentiated pillar[5]arenes with desymmetrized “upper” and “lower” rims for a while, I often wondered if the pillar[6]arene counterpart could be obtained. This dream finally came true after the first author Yang Chao carefully isolated a different fraction from the reaction crude and found single crystals in the sample vial standing on the shelf. When examining the X-ray diffraction data, at first, we were both surprised to see that the macrocyclic scaffold is not “rim-differentiated” but instead adopts a 1,3,5-alternate conformation. And then the exploration started…!
