Department

Chemistry

Head of Department

Shaping Future Talent

The Department of Chemistry introduced new academic programmes under the College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS), namely, a Minor in Chemistry and a new Specialisation in Chemical Research. CHS students have the flexibility to customise their selection of majors, second majors, minors and specialisations, not only from chemistry but also other sciences, arts and humanities subjects. They can therefore build both depth and breadth in skills and knowledge.

We continued to support our financially disadvantaged students in these difficult times.

MSc in Chemical Sciences

More Information

We launched our new self-funded Master of Science (MSc) in Chemical Sciences programme in 2021, in timely response to the brisk growth of the chemical industry in Singapore and the region.

The programme will provide students exposure to advanced chemistry topics as well as entrepreneurship and intellectual property issues.

Shaping Future Solutions

In the last academic year, we secured over $20 million in research funding and published over 400 papers in reputable journals. One of our scientists’ startups, Nanolumi, achieved commercial success and received over a million USD in investments.

Manipulating alkene chain-walking with nonprecious iron catalysts

The catalytic isomerisation of carbon-carbon double bonds is an indispensable chemical transformation that delivers higher-value compounds for the chemical industry. Asst Prof KOH Ming Joo’s team discovered that earth-abundant iron-based complexes are efficient catalysts for controllable and site-selective alkene migration. This discovery has significant implications in facilitating the synthesis of unsaturated fragments embedded within biologically active compounds. This work was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (September 2020).

Printable two-dimensional (2D) superconducting monolayers

Asst Prof LU Jiong’s research team developed a universal electrochemical exfoliation method to synthesise highly-crystalline 2D superconducting monolayers. They can be used for fabricating artificially designed structures with superconducting properties, such as printing wafer-level 2D superconducting wires. This novel synthetic strategy offers huge technological potential for the development of new materials properties. This work was published in Nature Materials (October 2020) and highlighted in Nature Materials (January 2021).

Synthesising new zigzag carbon nanobelts

Assoc Prof CHI Chunyan and her PhD student HAN Yi recently developed a strategy for the synthesis of a sidewall fragment of carbon nanotubes. Their synthesised system is one of the first fully characterised zigzag carbon nanobelts. Such molecular structures have been elusive targets for synthetic chemists. The approach and stabilising strategy developed in this work could pave the way to building new types of carbon nanostructures and well-defined carbon nanotubes, promising materials for the development of next-generation nanoelectronic devices.

Prof Lee Hian Kee

Emeritus Professor
Department of Chemistry

Prof Jagadese J Vittal

Emeritus Professor
Department of Chemistry

Emeritus Professors

Prof LEE Hian Kee and Prof Jagadese J VITTAL were appointed Emeritus Professors in July 2021.

Prof Vittal, a pioneer in solid state chemistry and crystal engineering, retired in December 2020 and Prof Lee, one of the world’s foremost authorities on sample preparation technology, retired in June 2021.

Young Scientist Award (2020)

Assoc Prof WU Jie previously received the Thieme Chemistry Journal Award and Distinguished Lectureship Award from the CSJ Asian International Symposium, and the Faculty Young Scientist Award for his innovative fundamental and translational research in continuous-flow synthesis and photocatalysis.

Assoc Prof Wu Jie

Department of Chemistry

Shaping Future Society

Our research continues to inform policymaking in areas like urban and environmental sustainability.

NUS researchers led by Assoc Prof Jason YEO and Shell embarked on a new $4.6 million research programme to develop novel processes for converting carbon dioxide into ethanol and n-propanol. Successful outcomes from this research programme will support Singapore’s carbon emissions reduction targets, which is a focus under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2025 Plan.

The Singapore team led by Dr TAN Wee Boon and Dr HOANG Truong Giang clinched two gold medals and two silver medals. They came in sixth amongst 80 participating countries at the 53^rd International Chemistry Olympiad (2021) held from 25 July to 2 August in Osaka, Japan. The students worked on the hydrogen storage process through adsorption on metals, which is related to hydrogen transport and storage technology. Hydrogen is one of the leading renewable energy sources of the future.