Welcome to the Topological Molecular Nanocarbons Laboratory (TMNC) led by Dr. Junzhi Liu. We are a new research group in the Department of Chemistry and State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong.
Our research interests focus on the rational design, atomically precise synthesis, and detailed investigation of the exotic physical phenomena emerging from topological nanocarbons. We pursue a highly integrated multidisciplinary research program including physical, chemistry and functional materials, founded on modular bottom-up organic synthesis of functional carbon nanostructures at atomic level, their controlled assembly behaviors, and the evaluation of inherent electronic, optical, and magnetic properties. 

Available Positions:
​1 postdoc position for starting as early as possible !!! (updated: 01. 12. 2022), please email Dr. Liu ([email protected]). 
HKU-JNU (港大-暨大) Joint Postdoctoral Theme: 1 postdoc position for starting as early as possible!!!  (Please click here for details)
HKU Presidential Post-doctoral Fellowship (HKU-PPF)
HKU Presidential PhD Scholarship

1st Greater Bay Area (GBA) Advanced Functional Materials Symposium (28 July, 2022)

​SKL Virtual Symposium Series: Advanced Functional Materials

News

14. 08. 2024 Three students from our lab traveled to Toronto (Canada) to attend the 20th International Symposium on Novel Aromatic Compounds (ISNA-20, August 11-16, 2024), and presented their nice work with posters.

25. 07. 2024 Our latest JACS work, Benzo-Extended Heli(aminoborane)s: Inner Rim BN-Doped Helical Molecular Carbons with Remarkable Chiroptical Properties, has been selected to be featured as an ACS Editors' Choice, congratulations! The ACS Editors' Choice initiative highlights one article each day that is chosen from the entire ACS portfolio.

19. 07. 2023 Our paper "Non-alternant Nanographenes Bearing N-Doped Non-hexagonal Pairs: Synthesis, Structural Analysis and Photophysical Properties" was accepted by Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. Congratulations to Huan!!!

18. 07. 2023 Our paper "Nonalternant B,N-Embedded Helical Nanographenes Containing Azepines: Programmable Synthesis, Responsive Chiroptical Properties and Spontaneous Resolution into a Single-Handed Helix" was accepted by Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. Congratulations to Weiwen!!!

13. 07. 2024​ Our paper "Benzo-Extended Heli(aminoborane)s: Inner Rim BN-Doped Helical Molecular Carbons with Remarkable Chiroptical Properties" was accepted by J. Am. Chem. Soc.. Congratulations to Yang!!!

18. 06. 2024 Congratulations to our PhD student Weiwen for winning the Excellent Poster Award of the 34th CCS Congress, which held in Guangzhou from June 15 to 18, 2024. 

​15. 06. 2024 The LIU group attended the 34th CCS Congress (15–18 June 2024, Guangzhou, China), and five students presented their nice work with posters.

12. 06. 2024 Our latest work, Nonalternant Nanographenes Containing N-Centered Cyclopenta[ef]heptalene and Aza[7]Helicene Units, has been featured as the Supplementary Cover in J. Am. Chem. Soc., congratulations!

30. 04. 2024​ Our paper "Nonalternant Nanographenes Containing N-Centered Cyclopenta[ef]heptalene and Aza[7]Helicene Units" was accepted by J. Am. Chem. Soc.. Congratulations to Shuhai!!!

05. 03. 2024​ Our paper "Helical Nanographenes Bearing Pentagon-Heptagon Pairs by Stepwise Dehydrocyclization​", collaborated with Xiamen University, was accepted by Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. Congratulations to Huan!!!

01. 03. 2024 The group welcomes the new PhD student Zaiwei!

01. 02. 2024 The group welcomes the new PhD student Yan!

23. 12. 2023​ Our paper "Highly Selective On-Surface Ring-Opening of Aromatic Azulene Moiety​", collaborated with National University of Singapore (NUS), was accepted by J. Am. Chem. Soc.. Congratulations!!!

01. 12. 2023 The group welcomes the new PhD student Zhirong!

22. 11. 2023 The group welcomes the new Postdoc Zhenmei!

21. 11. 2023 Our paper "Synthesis, Structures, and Chiroptical Properties of NBN-doped Helicenes with Boron Atoms in the Inner Rims" was accepted by Precision Chemistry​. Congratulations to Weiwen!!!

13. 11. 2023 The group welcomes the new Postdoc Yu Xuan!

27. 09. 2023 Junting, our first PhD student, successfully defended her PhD thesis! Congratulations to Junting on graduation!!!

30. 08. 2023 Our paper "Synthesis of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons with Highly Twisted N-Doped Heptalene" was accepted by Organic Materials. Congratulations to Shuhai!!!

24. 08. 2023 Our latest work has been featured as the Cover/Frontispiece in Small, congratulations!

​19. 07. 2023 Three students from our lab traveled to Prague, Czech Republic, to attend the 5th International Symposium on the Synthesis and Application of Curved Organic π-Molecules and Materials (CURO-π5, 19–21 July 2023), and presented their nice work with posters.

12. 07. 2023 Our latest work, Hong Kong "Ferris Wheel" Molecules, has been featured as the Cover in J. Am. Chem. Soc., congratulations!

08. 07. 2023 Our paper "Extension of Nonalternant Nanographenes Containing Nitrogen-Doped Stone-Thrower-Wales Defect" was accepted by Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. Congratulations to Chang!!!

16. 06. 2023 Our recent work was highlighted by Synfacts (2023, 19, 0668. DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1751922).

10. 06. 2023 Congratulations to our PhD student Huan for winning the Excellent Poster Award of the 12th Organic Solid State Electronic Process and Chinese Symposium on Organic Optoelectronic Functional Materials (Chinese Chemical Society), which held in Changchun from June 08 to 10, 2023. 

06. 06. 2023​ Our paper "BN-Embedded Cycloarenes: One-pot Borylation Synthesis, Photoelectric Properties, and Application in Perovskite Solar Cell" was accepted by J. Am. Chem. Soc.. Congratulations to Junting!!!

05. 06. 2023 Our paper "Intramolecular Alkyne Aromatization: Unexpected Synthesis of Expanded [9]Helicene and π-Extended Double [4]Helicene, and Their Molecular Geometry Effect on Transistor Memory" was accepted by Small Science. Congratulations to Yang!!!
​(An invited paper for Small Science)

04. 04. 2023 Our paper "Two-Step Synthesis of B2N2-Doped Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Containing Pentagonal and Heptagonal Rings with Long-Lived Delayed Fluorescence" was accepted by Small. Congratulations to Huan!!!
​(An invited paper for Small "Rising Stars" Collection)

24. 03. 2023 Our paper "A BN-Doped U-Shaped Heteroacene as a Molecular Floating Gate for Ambipolar Charge Trapping Memory
" was accepted by Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. Congratulations to Yang!!!

21. 03. 2023 Our paper "Facile Synthesis of Nitrogen-Doped Nanographenes with Joined Nonhexagons via a Ring Expansion Strategy" was accepted by Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. Congratulations to Huan!!!

17. 03. 203 Our recent work was highlighted by Synfacts (2023, 19, 0353. DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1751846).

13. 02. 2023 The group welcomes the new Postdoc Shuhai!

07. 02. 2023 Our latest work has been featured as the Front Cover in Angew. Chem., congratulations!

28. 12. 2022 The group welcomes the new PhD student Han!

13. 12. 2022 Our paper "Synthesis of a Dicyclohepta[a,g]heptalene-Containing Polycyclic Conjugated Hydrocarbon and the Impact of Non-Alternant Topologies​" was accepted by Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. Congratulations to Junting!!!

01. 09. 2022 The group welcomes the new PhD student Fei!

13. 07. 2022 Dr. Liu visited Wiley-VCH (Weinheim, Germany), and had a fruitful discussion with the editors.

​06. 07. 2022 Three students from our lab traveled to Warsaw, Poland, to attend the 19th International Symposium on Novel Aromatic Compounds (ISNA-19, 3-8 July 2022), and presented their nice work with posters.

05. 07. 2022 Dr. Liu gave a talk on ISNA-19 (3-8 July, 2022, Warsaw, Poland), to introduce our current work of "Non-Alternant Topologies".

21. 03. 2022 Our paper "Synthesis of Defective Nanographenes Containing Joined Pentagons and Heptagons" was accepted by Adv. Sci.. Congratulations to Yiyang!!!

04. 03. 2022 Our paper "Large Acene Derivatives with B-N Lewis Pair Doping: Synthesis, Characterization and Application", collaborated with TU Dresden (Germany), was accepted by Org. Lett.. Congratulations!!!

30. 11. 2021​ Our paper "Cove-Edged Graphene Nanoribbons with Incorporation of Periodic Zigzag-Edge Segments​", collaborated with TU Dresden (Germany), was accepted by J. Am. Chem. Soc.. Congratulations!!!

13. 09. 2021 Our paper "NBN-Doped Bis-Tetracene and Peri-Tetracene: Synthesis and Characterization", collaborated with Institute of Physics (CAS) and TU Dresden (Germany), was published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (Very Important Paper). Congratulations !!!

13. 09. 2021 The group welcomes the new Research Associate Yi-Xiong!

09. 09. 2021 The group welcomes the new PhD student Jian!

23. 08. 2021 Dr. Liu awarded the Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong and Macau) from NSFC.

19. 08. 2021 The group welcomes the new PhD student Weixiang!

19. 07. 2021 The group welcomes the summer intern students Arushee and Simeon!

15. 07. 2021 The group welcomes the new Research Assistant Chang!

30. 06. 2021 Our group received General Research Fund (GRF) 2021. Many thanks to Hong Kong RGC!

16. 06. 2021​ Our paper "Synthesis of Donor-Acceptor π-Conjugated Macrocycles by Post-Functionalization" was accepted by Chin. J. Chem. (中国化学). Congratulations to Junting!!!
(An invited paper for the special issue: Polymer Synthesis)

26. 03. 2021​ Our paper "Toward zigzag-edged helical nanographene based on [7]helicene" was accepted by Chem. Asain. J.. Congratulations to Ming-Guang!!!
(An invited paper for "Early Career Special Collection")

09. 03. 2021​ Our paper "A Molecular Transformer: A π-Conjugated Macrocycle as an Adaptable Host" was accepted by Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. Congratulations to Junting!!!

26. 02. 2021​ Our paper "Sulfur-doped Nanographenes Containing Multiple Subhelicenes" was accepted by Org. Lett.. Congratulations!!!

03. 02. 2021​ Virtual visit: Dr. Theresa Kueckmann (Executive Editor of Angewandte Chemie and Editor-in-Chief of Chemistry-An Asian Journal), Dr. Suzanne Tobey (Senior Associate Editor of Angewandte Chemie) and Dr. Elliot Steeples (Associate Editor of European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry) had a "virtual visit" in our department, and had a fruitful discussion with our colleagues, postdocs and RPg students!​

20. 01. 2021​ Our paper "Defective Nanographenes Containing Seven-Five-Seven (7-5-7) Membered Rings" was accepted by J. Am. Chem. Soc.. Congratulations to Yiyang!!!

30. 11. 2020 The group welcomes the new Research Associate Hao!

24. 11. 2020​ Dr. Liu received Early Career Award in 2020/21 from Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) for his project "Exploring solution-phase synthetic approaches to nonalternant ring topologies in graphene nanostructures". Congratulations!!!

11. 11. 2020​ Our paper "Phenyl-Linked Anthracene-Based Macrocycles with Geometrically Tunable Optical Properties" was accepted by Organic Materials. Congratulations to Mingguang!!!
(An invited paper for the focus issue: Curved Organic π-Systems)

28. 10. 2020 Our paper “One-Pot Synthesis of Boron-Doped Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons via 1,4-Boron Migration” was accepted by Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. Congratulation!!!

16. 10. 2020 The group welcomes the new PhD student Weiwen!

14. 10. 2020 Our paper “A Curved Graphene Nanoribbon with Multi-Edge Structure and High Intrinsic Charge Carrier Mobility” with SJTU was accepted by J. Am. Chem. Soc.. Congratulation!!!

15. 09. 2020 The group welcomes the new PhD student Zhaohang!

08. 09. 2020  Dr. Liu gave an invited talk at the First ACES Early Career Research Symposium (第一届ACES青年科学家论坛), which host by the Asian Chemical Editorial Society (AECS) team. 
In case you missed these three talks, you can still check out the recorded session here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le1XTGDnHxU&ab_channel=ChemistryViews​

28. 07. 2020 Our review paper “Synthetic Tailoring of Graphene Nanostructures with Zigzag-Edged Topologies: Progress and Perspectives” was accepted by Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. Congratulations !!!
(Invited review paper)

13. 07. 2020 The group welcomes the new Postdoc Yang!

12. 07. 2020 Our collaborative paper “On-Surface Synthesis of Non-benzenoid Nanographenes by Oxidative Ring-Closure and Ring-Rearrangement Reactions” with EMPA and TU Dresden was published in J. Am. Chem. Soc.. Congratulations !!!

08. 07. 2020 The group welcomes the new Postdoc Jianping (Joint postdoctoral fellow with JNU)!

30. 06. 2020​ Our group is awarded Early Career Scheme grant! Many thanks to Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC)!

12. 06. 2020 Our paper "Synthesis and Characterization of AIE-active B–N Coordinated Phenalene Complexes" was published by Organic Materials (Invited paper). Congratulations !!!

28. 05. 2020 The group welcomes the new assistant researcher Huan!

16. 04. 2020 Our paper "Tailoring Magnetic Feature in Zigzag-Edged Nanographenes via Controlled Diels-Alder Reactions" was published by Chem. Eur. J. (HOT Paper). Congratulations !!!

05. 04. 2020 Our paper "One-pot synthesis of dicyclopenta-fused peropyrene via a fourfold alkyne annulation" was published by Beilstein J. Org. Chem.. Congratulations !!!
(Invited paper for the Thematic Issue: C–H functionalization for materials science)

09. 03. 2020 ​The group is awarded Seed Fund for New Staff for Basic Science! Many thanks the support from HKU and the Department of Chemistry.

05. 03. 2020 Our paper "On-Surface Synthesis of NBN-Doped Zigzag-Edged Graphene Nanoribbons", collaborated with Institute of Physics (CAS) and TU Dresden, was published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. Congratulations !!!

10. 01. 2020 Dr. Liu was selected as an Early Career Advisory Board (ECAB) of Chemistry – An Asian Journal from 2020, which is the flagship publication of the Asian Chemical Editorial Society (ACES).  Congratulations !!!
Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/asia.201901685

23. 12. 2019 Our paper "Helical Nanographenes Containing an Azulene Unit: Synthesis, Crystal Structures, and Properties" was published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. Congratulations !!!

29. 11. 2019 Our collaborative paper “Quantum units from the topological engineering of molecular graphenoids” with University of Oxford, TU Dresden and MPIP was published in Science. Congratulations !!!

25. 11. 2019 Our invited review paper “Bottom-up synthesis of nitrogen-doped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons” was accepted by Synlett. Congratulations !!!
13. 11. 2019 Our paper "Dipyrene-fused dicyclopenta[a,f]naphthalenes" (Invited paper for the Special Issue: Functional Organic Materials) was published in J. Org. Chem.. Congratulations !!!
04. 11. 2019 The group welcomes the new assistant researcher Biao!
28. 10. 2019 The group welcomes the new Postdoc Mingguang!
23. 10. 2019 The group welcomes the new PhD student Junting!
30. 08. 2019 The group welcomes the first PhD student Yiyang!
05. 08. 2019 Dr. Junzhi Liu started his position at the Department of Chemistry, HKU!