Wangyu Shi, a PhD student who is under Prof. Arjan W. Kleij supervision, has successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled “Catalytic Synthesis of Functionalized Six-, Seven- and Eight-Membered Heterocycles from Carbon Dioxide” publicly Thursday, 23 October.
The members of the evaluation committee were Prof. Timo Repo (University of Helsinki, Finland), Prof. Marta E. G. Mosquera (Instituto de Investigación Química Andrés M. Del Río (IQAR), Spain) and Prof. Giulia Fiorani (Ca’Foscari University of Venice, Italy).
Wangyu Shi is from China and studied at China Agricultural University in Beijing, where he earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Applied Chemistry. In his spare time, he enjoys playing Ping-Pong and basketball and is glad to have found like-minded partners at ICIQ. His PhD studies are supported by the China Scholarship Council (CSC).
What do you want to achieve as a scientist?
To create something interesting and useful.
What triggered your interest for the subject of your thesis?
CO2 is a major greenhouse gas, which causes lots of environmental problems, but it is also an ideal raw material (abundant, cheap, good carbon source) from the perspective of organic chemistry. Collecting, storing, and converting it into functional molecules and materials not only helps relieve the greenhouse effect but also produces organic compounds in an economical, sustainable strategy.
What applications can your thesis have in the future?
Hopefully, it can help open novel ideas in CO2 utilization and carbonate transformation. Also, I hope these molecules I synthesized could be used in the preparation of useful materials in daily life.
The thing that I like most about my thesis is….
It illustrates the production of elusive compounds from simple CO2. Using other strategies cannot achieve them.
What ICIQ moment you´ll never forget?
Those activities organized by ICIQ to celebrate local festivals, which help our foreigners to better experience the local culture.
What will you miss the most from ICIQ?
Reasonable management mode, friendly and enthusiastic staff, and modern equipment conditions
What advice do you have for someone who’s starting their PhD now?
Enjoy and cherish your time working in ICIQ, it will be memorable.
What is your favourite molecule?
The 7-membered carbonates I prepared. They have too many applications, which I didn’t expect.
If you were a piece of lab equipment, what would you be?
The high-pressure reactor. Without this, I cannot finish my work. In addition, it’s the hardest container in the lab, and it looks so safe.
La entrada 恭喜, Dr. Shi! se publicó primero en ICIQ.