TOPIC：A Chemical Story of Impurities

SPEAKER：Xin Su, Executive Editor, Angewandte Chemie

TIME：2021年9月15日（周三）下午3:00

LOCATION：霞光楼220会议室

INVITER：涂永强院士  张书宇特别研究员

Biography：

Xin Su received his B.Sc. in chemistry from Nankai University, China, in 2009. He then moved to USA and conducted graduate research on hydrazone-based molecular switches and functional materials at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA, where he received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 2013.

Following postdoctoral training at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, USA, he worked as an associate editor for Wiley's materials science journals including Advanced Materials in Hoboken, NJ, USA, from 2015 to 2017. After spending a year at SpringerNature as a senior editor of Nature Chemistry, Xin joined the editorial team of Angewandte Chemie in 2018, and became an executive editor of the journal in October 2020.

Abstract：

Impurity is by no means the most pleasant word one can find in a dictionary. As a discipline that relies on pure specimens to establish fundamental principles, mechanisms, and standards, chemistry does not particularly welcome impurities either. After all, chemistry develops over time as various purification techniques evolve. However, impurities have been playing an important role, occasionally indispensable, in advancing chemistry, technology, and even everyone’s everyday life.

This presentation details selected intertwining stories between impurities and ever-curious human beings, including the multi-faced role of impurities in several historical moments of chemical discovery and the potential pitfalls they can bring.