Liang-Nian He is a Professor at Nankai University in China. His research interests current revolve around carbon dioxide (CO2) chemistry (capture and utilization) and sustainable synthetic chemistry. Liang-Nian He kindly took a few moments to chat to Green Chemistry…
Who or what initially inspired you to become a chemist?
The life of an academic is simple and straightforward and I enjoy working in an academic environment. I became interested in learning chemistry at the age of 12 in junior high school, which aroused my curiosity to know what happens behind such phenomena such as combustion of magnesium in oxygen, and the color change in the acid-base reaction. However, there was very little science education at that time. When I continued my college education, chemistry was taught formally, and my interest developed further. I was so fascinated by the nature of matter and had such a strong passion to understand all the interesting things in nature at the molecular level. Chemistry is such a powerful tool that can create almost anything you want. Accordingly, I definitely pursue a career in the field of chemistry when I was conscious of fundamental importance of chemistry to our society from drugs to dyes, from food to clothing.
What has been the motivation behind your recent research?
Chemical utilization of CO2 as a feedstock, promoter or reaction media for producing materials and fuels is attractive as an integral part of the carbon cycle. In particular, establishing large-scale production using CO2 in industry would be a fascinating dream for synthetic chemists. I am very grateful to Professor Toshiyasu Sakakura (National Institute of Advanced Industry Science and Technology, Japan) for introducing me to this emerging state of the art and exciting field of chemistry.
What do you see as the main challenges facing research in this area?
