Cluster Preface: Radicals – by Young Chinese Organic Chemists

(left) received his B.S. degree from Xiamen University in 2003 under the supervision of Prof. Pei-Qiang Huang, and his Ph.D. degree from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry in 2008 under the supervision of Prof. Guo-Qiang Lin. After postdoctoral research at ­Gakushuin University, Japan with Prof. Takahiko Akiyama, he moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, working as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. John R. Falck and Prof. Chuo Chen. He was appointed as a professor at Soochow University, China in December 2013. He is currently the Head of the Organic Chemistry Department at Soochow University. His current research interests include radical-mediated transformations, in particular radical ­rearrangements, and their applications in the construction of natural products and biologically active compounds. Xin-Yuan Liu (right) obtained his B.S. degree from Anhui Normal University (AHNU) in 2001. He continued his research studies at both the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC), CAS and AHNU under the joint supervision of Prof. Dr. Shizheng Zhu and Prof. Dr. Shaowu Wang, obtaining his master’s degree in 2004. After a one-year stint in Prof. Gang Zhao’s laboratory at SIOC, he joined Prof. Dr. Chi-Ming Che’s group at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and earned his Ph.D. degree in 2010. He subsequently undertook postdoctoral studies in Prof. Che’s group at HKU and in Prof. Carlos F. Barbas III’s group at The Scripps Research Institute. At the end of 2012, he began his independent academic career at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) and was promoted to a tenured Full Professor of SUSTech in 2018. His research interests are directed towards the design of novel chiral anionic ligands to solve radical-involved asymmetric reactions.

An Adapted Ethnographic Approach to Social Cognition and Cognitive Apprenticeship in Design Learning Experience

Design is difficult to teach in traditional ways of lecturing and testing. One defined learning methodology that applies well to design education is project-based learning. In an attempt to better understand the patterns of project-based learning in different design-related programs, we studied three small groups of teachers and students at an innovative academy based out of Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, entitled De Tao Master’s Academy, and compared their education style to that of subjects in regular programs at Shanghai Institute of Visual Art. Our goal was to seek patterns of cognitive apprenticeship in our subjects’ education, and find out (a) if it’s more effective than the traditional approach, and (b) can modelling (i.e. direct replication of learned material) be excluded from a design curriculum. The information gathered through surveys, interviews and observation were segmented into six categories: (1) self-regulation, (2) creative thinking and thinking styles, (3) incorporation of cognitive apprenticeship model into teaching style, (4) teaching hours vs. self-learning, (5) individual vs. team work preference, and (6) learning environment and teaching resources. We found that self-regulation was uniformly low throughout the sample, but that De Tao curriculum aimed to increase it over the course of their programs. Most students preferred small teams, with less than 5 students to do assignments and projects with, instead of individually working or working in large teams. Curriculum and interviews indicated De Tao programs had a higher focus on teaching creative thinking and independence, which reflected on design self-efficacy scores of their students when compared with SIVA students. Learning spaces at De Tao were observed to be better, and their instruction constructed close to cognitive apprenticeship. Coaching, scaffolding, articulation and exploration were evident in the design education methods adopted at De Tao. The ethnographic findings were related into an evolved social cognitive design framework, which allowed us to preliminarily contextualize design learning influencers.

Application of RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD4.1 to the Analysis of Advanced Reactor/Fluid Systems With Liquid Molten Salt in the Presence of Non-Condensable Gases

In recent years, organizations both at home and abroad are actively carrying out a research on the Molten Salt Reactor systems (MSRs). For example, the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP), Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), is currently involved in the design and development of a 10MWth Solid Fuel Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR-SF1). SINAP started their analysis of TMSR using an earlier version of RELAP/SCDAPSIM, MOD4.0. MOD4.0 included models and correlations for molten salts but was unable to treat molten salts in the presence of non-condensable gases. Since that time SINAP and ISS have worked in parallel to extend the models and correlations for such systems. The SINAP modified code, using SINAP proprietary models and correlations, is described in the “open literature” under the name RELAP5-MSR. More general, but comparable, models developed by ISS for liquid metals/salts in the presence of non-condensable have been incorporated into RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD4.1. This extended option is currently being implemented for Li-Pb, Pb-Bi, molten salts, and Na.

Heteroaromatics: The Zhou/Li Synthesis of Goniomitine

Xin-Yan Wu of East China University of Science and Technology and Jun Yang of the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry added (Tetrahedron Lett. 2014, 55, 4071) the Grignard reagent 1 to propargyl alcohol 2 to give an intermediate that could be bory­lated, then coupled under Pd catalysis with an anhydride, leading to the furan 3. Fuwei Li of the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics constructed (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 5992) the furan 6 by oxidizing the keto ester 4 in the presence of the enamide 5. Yuanhong Liu of the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry prepared (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 11596) the pyrrole 9 by reducing the azadiene 7 with the Negishi reagent, then adding the nitrile 8. Yefeng Tang of Tsinghua University found (Tetrahedron Lett. 2014, 55, 6455) that the Rh carbene derived from 11 could be added to an enol silyl ether 10 to give the pyrrole 12. Pazhamalai Anbarasan of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras reported (J. Org. Chem. 2014, 79, 8428) related results. Zheng Huang of the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry established (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 1390) a connection between substituted piperidines and pyridines by dehydrogenating 13 to 15, with 14 as the acceptor. Joseph P. A. Harrity of the University of Sheffield conceived (Chem. Eur. J. 2014, 20, 12889) the cascade assembly of the pyridine 18 by cycloaddition of 16 with 17 followed by Pd-catalyzed coupling. Teck-Peng Loh of Nanyang Technological University converted (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 3432) the keto ester 19 into the azirine, then eliminated it to form an aza­triene that cyclized to the pyridine 20. En route to a cholesteryl ester transfer protein inhibitor, Zhengxu S. Han of Boehringer Ingelheim combined (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 4142) 21 with 22 to give an intermediate that could be oxidized to 23. Magnus Rueping of RWTH Aachen used (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 13264) an Ir photoredox catalyst in conjunction with a Pd catalyst to cyclize the enamine 24 to the indole 25. Yingming Yao and Yingsheng Zhao of Soochow University effected (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 9884) oxidative cyclization of 26 to 27.