Quan Li
Biography
Li received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, China. In February of 1998, he was promoted to a full professor of Organic Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry in CAS. He held visiting appointments in Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Hong Kong (1996-1997); Department of Protein Engineering, Life Sciences Division, Atomic Energy Commission of France, Saclay/CEA, Paris, France (1998-1999); Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Göttingen, Germany (1999-2000); and Department of Chemistry, University of Oregon, USA (2001-2004). Also, he was Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in Germany (1999). In 2004, Li joined LCI as a Senior Research Fellow and the director of Organic Synthesis Laboratory, and he is an adjunct professor in the Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program at LCI.
Li’s Research is currently supported by Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Department of Energy (DOE), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), Ohio Board of Regents and Samsung Electronics.
Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities
Research Interests
Synthetic chemistry plays a key role in the advancement of material sciences and life sciences. Research in these fields is often limited by the scope of available synthetic methods and the availability of materials. With that in mind, Li’s research focuses on molecular design and synthesis of novel advanced materials, and synthesis and self-assembly of well-defined molecular structures on a nanometer length scale. Such materials include nature inspired light-harvesting materials, fast switching optoelectronic materials, light-driven chiral molecular switches or motors, water-soluble and organo-soluble functionalized hybrid gold nanorods, shape-persistent molecules, liquid crystalline monomers and their networks, and biologically active synthetic and natural compounds, all of which offer tremendous new possibility in applications such as renewable solar energy, photodisplay, tunable photonics, intelligent energy saving devices, AFM molecular tips, biosensors, and drug delivery as well as fundamental science. Presently, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are actively involved in Li’s research.
Recent Book and Book Chapters
Q. Li, Editor, Self-organized Organic Semiconductors: From Materials to Device Applications, John Wiley & Sons (2011, ISBN 978-0-470-55973-4).
M. Mathews and Q. Li, “Self-organizing Discotic Liquid Crystals as Novel Organic Semiconductors”, Chapter 4 in Self-organized Organic Semiconductors: From Materials to Device Applications, Q. Li, Ed., John Wiley & Son (2011, ISBN 978-0-470-55973-4).
J. Ma and Q. Li, “Sematic Liquid Crystal Semiconductors”, Chapter 5 in Self-organized Organic Semiconductors: From Materials to Applications, Q. Li, Ed., John Wiley & Son (2011, ISBN 978-0-470-55973-4).
L. Jin and Q. Li, “Self-organized Fullerene Based Organic Semiconductors”, Chapter 7 in Self-organized Organic Semiconductors: From Materials to Device Application, Q. Li, Ed., John Wiley & Son (2011, ISBN 978-0-470-55973-4).
Q. Li, J. M. El Khoury, X. Zhou, A. Urbas, L. Qu, L. Dai. “Synthesis of the Thiol Surfactant with Tunable Length as a Stabilizer of Gold Nanoparticles”, Chapter 4 in Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Passivation, Stabilization, and Functionalization, R. Nagarajan and T. A. Hatton, Ed., Oxford University Press (2008, ISBN: 978-0-841-26969-9).
Q. Li, L. Li, “Photoconducting Discotic Liquid Crystals”, Chapter 11 in Thermotropic Liquid Crystals, A. Ramamoorthy, Ed., Springer (2007, ISBN 978-1-4020-5327-6).
Selected Publications
K. Rameshbabu, A. Urbas and Q. Li, Synthesis and Characterization of Thermally Irreversible Photochromic Cholesteric Liquid Crystals, Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2011, 115, 3409-3415.
M. Mathews, R. Zola, D. Yang and Q. Li, Thermally, Photochemically and Electrically Switchable Reflection Colors from Self-organized Chiral Bent-core Liquid Crystals, Journal of Materials Chemistry 2011, 21, 2098-2103.
L. Li, D. Yu, L. Dai, A. Urbas and Q. Li, Hydrophobic Chiral Hybrid Gold Nanorods, Langmuir 2011, 27, 98-103.
M. Mathews, S. Kang, S. Kumar and Q. Li, Designing Bent-core Nematogens Towards Biaxial Nematic Liquid Crystals, Liquid Crystals 2011, 38, 31-40.
M. Mathews, R. Zola, Hurley, S., D. Yang, T. J. White, T. J. Bunning and Q. Li, Light-driven Reversible Handedness Inversion in Self-organized Helical Superstructures, Journal of the American Chemical Society 2010, 132, 18361-18366.
L. Jin, Y. Li, J. Ma and Q. Li, Synthesis of Novel Thermally Reversible Photochromic Axially Chiral Spirooxazines, Organic Letters 2010, 12, 3552-3555.
M. Ji, Y. Li, T. White, A. Urbas and Q. Li, Light-driven Nanoscale Chiral Molecular Switch: Reversible Dynamic Full Range Color Phototuning, Chemical Communications 2010, 46, 3463-3465.
B. Senyuk, H. Wonderly, M. Mathews, Q. Li, S. V. Shiyanovskii and O. D. Lavrentovich, Surface Alignment, Anchoring Transitions, Optical Properties and Topological defects in the Nematic Phase of Thermotropic Bent-core Liquid Crystal A131, Physical Review E 2010, 82, 041711-1-13.
P. Sathyanarayana, T. A. Kumar, V. S. S. Sastry, M. Mathews, Q. Li, H. Takezoe and S. Dhara, Rotational Viscosity of a Bent-Core Nematic Liquid Crystal, Applied Physics Express 2010, 3, 091702.
T. White, R. L. Bricker, L. V. Natarajan, V. P. Tondiglia, C. Bailey, L. Green, Q. Li and T. J. Bunning, Electromechanical and Light Tunable Cholesteric Liquid Crystals, Optics Communications 2010, 283, 3434-3436.
T. White, R. L. Bricker, L. V. Natarajan, V. P. Tondiglia, L. Green, Q. Li and T. J. Bunning, Electrically Switchable, Photoaddressable Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Reflectors, Optics Express 2010, 18, 173-178.
P. Sathyanarayana, M. Mathews, Q. Li, K. V. Le, H. Takezoe and S. Dhara, Splay Bend Elasticity of A Bent-core Nematic Liquid Crystal, Physical Review E (Rapid Communications) 2010, 81, 010702/1-4.
N. Venkataraman, G. Magyar, E. Montbach, A. Khan, T. Schneider, J. W. Doane, L. Green and Q. Li, Thin Flexible Photosensitive Cholesteric Displays, Journal of the Society for Information Display 2009, 17, 869-873.
T. White, L. V. Natarajan, Q. Li and T. J. Bunning, Phototunable Azobenzene Cholesteric Liquid Crystals with 2000 nm Range, Advanced Functional Materials 2009, 19, 3484-3488.
L. Green, Y. Li, T. White, A. Urbas, T. Bunning and Q. Li, Light-driven Chiral Molecular Switches with Tetrahedral and Axial Chirality, Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry (Communications) 2009, 7, 3930-3933.
J. M El Khoury, X. Zhou, L. Qu, L. Dai, A. Urbas and Q. Li, Organo-soluble Photoresponsive Azo Hybrid Gold Nanorods, Chemical Communications 2009, 2109-2111.
X. Zhou, S. Kang, S. Kumar and Q. Li, Self-assembly of Discotic Liquid Crystal Porphyrin into More Controllable Ordered Nanostructure Mediated by Fluorophobic Effect, Liquid Crystals 2009, 3, 269-274.
K. V. Le, M. Mathews, M. Chambers, J. Harden, Q. Li, H. Takezoe and A. Jakli, Electro-optic Technique to Study Biaxiality of Liquid Crystals with Positive Dielectric Anisotropy: The Case of a Bent-Core Material, Physical Review E (Rapid Communications) 2009, 79, 030701/1-030701/4.
X. Zhou, S. Kang, S. Kumar, R. Kulkar, S. Z. D. Cheng and Q. Li, Self-assembly of Porphyrin and Fullerene Supramolecular Complex into Highly Ordered Nanostructure by Thermal Annealing, Chemistry of Materials (Communications) 2008, 20, 3551-3553.
E. Montbach, N. Venkataraman, J. W. Doane, A. Khan, G. Magyar, I. Shiyanovskaya, T. Schneider, L. Green and Q. Li,Novel Optically Addressable Photochiral Displays, SID Digest Tech. Papers, 2008, 39, 919-922.
L. Li, S. Kang, J. Harden, Q. Sun, X. Zhou, L. Dai, A. Jakli, S. Kumar and Q. Li, Nature Inspired Light-harvesting Liquid Crystalline Porphyrins for Organic Photovoltaics, Liquid Crystals 2008, 35, 233-239.
Q. Sun, L. Dai, X. Zhou, L. Li and Q. Li, Bilayer- and Bulk-heeterojunction Solar Cells Using Liquid Crystalline Porphyrins as Donors by Solution Processing, Applied Physics Letters 2007, 91, 253505/1-253505/3.
C. V. Yelamaggad, I. Shashikala and Q. Li, Liquid Crystal Trimers Composed of Banana-Shaped and Rod-Like Anisometric Segments: Synthesis and Characterization, Chemistry of Materials 2007, 19, 6561-6568.
S. Kang, Q. Li, B. D. Chapman, R. Pindak, J. O. Cross, L. Li, M. Nakata, S. Kumar, Micro-focus X-ray Diffraction Study of the Columnar Phase of Porphyrin-based Mesogens, Chemistry of Materials 2007, 19, 5657-5663.
Q. Li, L. Green, N. Venkataraman, I. Shiyanovskaya, A. Khan, A. Urbas, J. W. Doane, Reversible Photoswithable Axially Chiral Dopants with High Helical Twisting Power, Journal of the American Chemical Society 2007, 129(43), 12908-12909.
X. Zhou, T. Narayanan and Q. Li, New Mesogen with Thermotropic Cubic Phase: 3,4,5-Tris-(11,11,12,12,13,13,14,14,15,15,16,16-tridecafluoro-hexadecyloxy)-benzoic Acid. Liquid Crystals 2007, 34, 1243-1248.
X. Zhou, J. M. El Khoury, L. Qu., L. Dai and Q. Li, A Facile Synthesis of Aliphatic Thiol Surfactant with Tunable Length as a Stabilizer of Gold Nanoparticles in Organic Solvents. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 2007, 308, 381-384.
C. V. Yelamaggad, I. S. Shashikala, U. S. Hiremath, G. Liao, A. Jakli, D. S. S. Rao, S. Krishna and Q. Li. Fluorine Containing Nonsymmetrical Five-ring Achiral Banana-shaped Compounds with Columnar and Synclinic Antiferroelectric Layered Phases. Soft Matter 2006, 2, 785-792.
C. V. Yelamaggad, I. S. Shashikala, G. Liao, D. S. S. Rao, S. Krishna, Q. Li, A. Jakli. Blue Phase, Smectic Fluids, and Unprecedented Sequences in Liquid Crystal Dimers. Chemistry of Materials (Communications) 2006, 18, 6100-6102.
C. Chen, P. J. Bos, J. Kim, Q. Li, J. E. Anderson, Improved Liquid Crystals for Vertical Alignment Applications, Journal of Applied Physics 2006, 99, 123523/1-123523/6.
Q. Li, L. Li, J. Kim, H.-K. Park and J. Williams. Reversible Photoresponsive Chiral Liquid Crystals Containing Cholesteryl Moiety and Azobenzene Linker. Chemistry of Materials 2005, 17, 6018-6021.
Q. Li, C. Jin, P. A. Petukhov, A. V. Rukavishnikov, T. Zaikova, A. Phadke, D. H. LaMunyon, M. D. Lee, J. F. W. Keana. Synthesis of Novel Well-defined Tower-shaped 1,3,5-Trisubstituted Adamantanes Incorporating a Macrocyclic Lactam Ring System. Journal of Organic Chemistry 2004, 69, 1010-1019.
Q. Li, A. V. Rukavishnikov, P. A. Petukhov, T. Zaikova, C. Jin, J. F. W. Keana. Nanoscale Tripodal 1,3,5,7-Tetrasubstituted Adamantanes for AFM applications. Journal of Organic Chemistry 2003, 68(12), 4862-4869.
Q. Li, A. V. Rukavishnikov, P. A. Petukhov, T. Zaikova, J. F. W. Keana. Nanoscale 1,3,5,7-Tetrasubstituted Adamantanes and p-Substituted Tetraphenylmethanes for AFM applications. Organic Letters 2002, 4, 3631-3634.
Q. Li, M. Moutiez, J.-B. Charbonnier, K. Vaudry, A. Menez, E. Quemeneur, C. Dugave. Design of Gag-pentapeptide Analog Which Binds the Human Cyclophilin A More Efficiently Than the Entire Capsid Protein: New Insights for the Development of Novel Anti HIV-1 Drugs. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2000, 43, 1770-1779.
Recent Patent and Patent Applications
Q. Li, L. Li, A. Jakli, J. Harden, “Nanoscale Discotic Liquid Crystalline Porphyrins”, US Patent 7,279,570 (2007).
Q. Li, X. Zhou, “Light-harvesting Discotic Liquid Crystalline Porphyrins and Metal complexes”, US Patent 7291,727 (2007).
Q. Li, X. Zhou, “Long-chain Fluoroalkylated and Alkylated Tetraphenylporphyrin Derivatives as Light-harvesting Discotic Liquid Crystalline Materials for Photovoltaic Cells”, WO 07/081590.
Q. Li, L. Li, J. Harden, A. Jakli, “Nanoscale Discotic Liquid Crystalline Porphyrins”, German Patent Application (2008).
Q. Li., L. M. Green, J. W. Doane, A. Asad, N. Venkataraman, I. Shiyanovskaya, “Chiral Nematic Photo Displays”, US Patent Application Publication 237906 (2007).
Q. Li, “A Liquid Crystalline Blend, Device Thereof and Method Thereof”, PCT Patent Application 61/107,386 (2008). WO 2010047864
Q. Li, J. Ma, Y. Li, Smart Energy-saving Window, US Patent Application 61/343,734 (2010).
Q. Li, Y. Li, J. Ma, “A Liquid Crystal Composition Containing Chiral Dopant, Device Thereof, and Methods Thereof, US Patent Application” (2010).
Expertise
Renewable Solar Energy
Energy-Saving Device
Self-Organized Organic Semiconductors
Nanotechnology
responsive and flexible materials
Nanoparticles
organic electronics and semiconductors
nanostructured materials
development of intelligent viable materials and devices by nanotechnology approach
to generate and save sustainable energy and for dynamic nanophotonic applications