This lecture will cover the following four related parts: (a) open-shell singlet diradicaloids, in which aromaticity serves as a major driving force for the appearance of open-shell diradical character; (b) macrocyclic diradicaloids, in which both Hückel rule and Baird rule are applicable depending on the spin state; (c) 3D fully conjugated molecular cages, in which 3D global aromaticity could be attained if π electrons can fully delocalize along the skeleton of the cages, and (d) novel topological molecular carbons with new properties (e.g. lasing and persistent chirality).

     He received PhD degree from Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research in 2004. He conducted postdoc study in the UCLA and then joined NUS as an assistant professor in 2007. He was promoted to a full professor in 2017. His group has done intensive research on open-shell singlet diradicaloids, 3D global aromaticity, and topological molecular carbons. He holds more than 340 publications, which total citations over 20,000 (H index: 80 based on Google Scholar). He has received 20+ awards including Singapore Young Scientist Award (2010) and NRF Investigatorship (2019). He was listed as one of the highly cited researchers (cross field) from the Clarivate Analytics.