HOAM THE HO-AM FOUNDATION

Dr. Sukbok Chang has been a pioneer in the area of transition metal catalysis for organic transformations, and he developed a range of new and impactful C-H bond functionalization reactions. By using his approaches, value-added molecules can be readily produced from chemical feedstocks, representatively hydrocarbons and (hetero)arenes. His research team elucidated fundamental key mechanistic aspects in the course of the essential C-H bond activation process of such unreactive starting materials. He was able to utilize thus obtained mechanistic understanding for the subsequent catalyst design to develop more efficient and highly (stereo)selective catalytic reactions.

Among numerous contributions he made, the design of new mechanistic approaches toward the metal nitrenoid transfer is of especially high impact to the chemical community. Indeed, a series of important transition metal catalyst systems were developed by Dr. Chang to enable direct and selective C-H amidation of unreactive organic compounds, thereby producing aminated compounds which have important applicability in synthetic, medicinal, and materials science. He has been a pioneer in the area of asymmetric C-H amination chemistry by creatively devising various types of chiral transition metal catalyst systems, and his team proved for the first time that chiral lactam compounds can be obtained in an excellent level of stereoselectivity.

Another significant contribution of Dr. Chang was the introduction of dioxazolones as a robust but highly reactive source of acyl nitrenoids for the catalytic C-H amidation reactions, and this reagent is now broadly utilized in synthetic chemistry worldwide.