At the invitation of the State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Prof. XIE Zuowei from Chinese University of Hongkong(CUHK) paid a visit to Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter (FJIRSM) in March 25, 2010. During his stay, Prof. XIE delivered a seminar report entitled “Unique Chemical Properties of Non-Traditional Metal-Carbon Bonds: Construction of Boron Superclusters”, and carried out detailed discussion with the research staff of FJIRSM.

Prof. XIE graduated from Hangzhou University in 1983 and got his Master degree of Science in Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry and his Ph.D at Technische Universität Berlin, Germany in 1990. From 1991 to 1995, Prof. XIE did his postdoctoral research work in the University of Southern California, USA. At present, Prof. XIE’s research interests include organometallic chemistry of f- and d-block transition metal complexes, chemistry of boron clusters, carboranes and metallacarboranes, homogenous catalysis and coordinative unsaturation, small molecule activation and polymer synthesis.

Prof. XIE Zuowei has been awarded a second-class award of the 2008 State Natural Science Award (SNSA). Prof. XIE’s research has a number of potential applications. The novel class of catalysts for olefin polymerizations he developed may lower the production cost of plastic materials, and dramatically reduce the metal impurities of these materials, thereby improving the purity of the products. A US patent has already been granted to his invention. On the other hand, the supercarboranes Prof. XIE prepared may be a new class of reagents for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy, which can selectively destroy cancer cells upon radiation.