Prof. Ngai was introduced to research in chemistry as an undergraduate in the laboratories of Prof. Wai-Kin Chan and Prof. Chi-Ming Che at the University of Hong Kong Here, and graduated with B.Sc. in Chemistry in 2003. He spent one year at the University of California, San Diego, USA, in 2002 and carried out undergraduate research under Prof. Michael S. VanNeuwenhze. In 2004, Prof. Ngai started his graduate studies with Prof. Michael J. Krische at the University of Texas at Austin, USA, and received his Ph.D. in 2008. He then moved to Stanford University, USA, as a Croucher Postdoctoral Fellow in the Laboratory of Prof. Barry M. Trost. In 2011, Prof. Ngai worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Laboratory of Prof. Tobias Ritter at Harvard University, USA. He joined the Department of Chemistry at the State University of New York at Stony Brook (Stony Brook University), USA, as an Assistant Professor in 2013 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019. His research interest focuses on establishing novel catalytic radical reaction platforms to efficiently and selectively modify and synthesize organic molecules such as carbohydrates, carbonyl derivatives, fluorinated compounds, and biologically active molecules.
Q1: Who helped you the most as you pursued your research career?
Prof. Ngai: Since I am from a Chinese rural family in which my mom was illiterate and my dad only graduated from elementary school, the odds of me pursuing scientific research, receiving Ph.D. training at the University of Texas Austin, USA, working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford and Harvard Universities USA, and leading a research group at a very high research activity (R1) institution (Stony Brook) in the United States were infinitesimally small. Praise be to God for blessing me with (i) hard-working parents who taught me not to take things for granted; (ii) advisors, mentors, and colleagues across various institutions who have supported, encouraged, and inspired me to pursue my passion for chemistry; (iii) dedicated students and postdoctoral fellows who work days and nights in the laboratory to advance science. Without them, I would not be where I am today.
Q2: What are some difficult challenges you have faced during your research career? How did you overcome them?
Prof. Ngai: Time management: As our career advances, we will have more administrative work/responsibilities and less time to write and read papers and help our team solve scientific problems. Thus, managing time and setting aside time on our schedule to write papers/proposals, read literature, and develop new ideas is vital. We should also learn to delegate responsibilities and say no to various requests.
Q3: Who is(are) scientist(s) you most respect or admire? Why?
Prof. Ngai: I admire scientists who are humble and passionate about their work, have immense curiosity about their research, contribute significantly to shaping the field, and empower the next generations to advance the frontiers of science.
Q4: What do you see as the biggest obstacles and most promising applications in your research area?
Prof. Ngai: One of the biggest obstacles in the field of carbohydrate chemistry is the lack of efficient site- and stereoselective catalytic strategies to functionalize and synthesize carbohydrates. Carbohydrates, the most abundant biomolecules, have indispensable roles in many biological processes, including cell–cell recognition, protein folding, neurobiology, inflammation, and infection. Our ability to efficiently and selectively modify and synthesize natural and unnatural carbohydrate derivatives could accelerate the discovery and development of carbohydrate-based therapeutics, and diagnostics to address human diseases, and tackle fundamental questions in glycobiology.
Q5: What advice do you have for younger students and researchers beginning their careers in chemistry, and in particular those interested in your field?
Prof. Ngai: As researchers in chemistry, we will encounter many problems and discouragements such as experiments/ideas failing, papers getting rejected, and proposals not being funded. These are common experiences for everyone. What distinguishes a successful researcher from a not-so-successful one is whether we learn from our mistakes and failures and persevere through the difficulty and challenges. If we learn and persevere, we will improve over time. Thus, do not give up easily.
Q6: Thank you for publishing your superb work in CCS Chemistry! Could you provide a brief summary of your article and current research direction in a few sentences?
Prof. Ngai: C-Glycosides are important carbohydrate mimetics found in natural products, bioactive compounds, and marketed drugs. Yet, stereoselective preparation of this class of glycomimetics remains a significant challenge in organic synthesis. Herein, we report an excited-state palladium-catalyzed α-selective C-ketonylation strategy using readily available 1-bromosugars to access a range of C-glycosides. The reaction features excellent α-selectivity and mild conditions that tolerate a wide range of functional groups and complex molecular architectures. The resulting α-ketonylsugars can serve as versatile precursors for their β-isomers and other C-glycosides. Preliminary experimental and computational studies of the mechanism suggest a radical pathway involving the formation of palladoradical and glycosyl radicals that undergo polarity-mismatched coupling with silyl enol ether, affording the desired α-ketonylsugars. Insight into the reactivity and mechanism will inspire new reaction development and provide straightforward access to both α-and β-C-glycosides, greatly expanding the chemical and patent spaces of glycomimetics.
Learn more：Gaoyuan Zhao†, Upasana Mukherjee†, Lin Zhou, Jaclyn N. Mauro, Yue Wu, Peng Liu* (刘鹏), and Ming-Yu Ngai* ( 魏明宇). Excited-State Palladium-Catalyzed α-Selective C1-Ketonylation. CCS Chem. 2022, 5, 106–116.
Link: https://doi.org/10.31635/ccschem.022.202202282
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