Check out Divya's Expanded Perylene Bisimide Cyclophane - Featuring Cooperative Binding and Chirogenesis. Just accepted in J. Am. Chem. Soc.! pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.10…

Two back-to-back papers in Nature Communications! In one paper, we report a hierarchical topochemical synthesis of a 2D polymer! A monomer underwent two single-crystal-to-single-crystal polymerizations, first to a 1D polymer and then to a 2D polymer.  doi.org/10.1038/s41467…

Two back-to-back papers in Nature Communications! In the second paper, we show that a perfect polymer stereocomplex can be made by topochemical polymerization, which is otherwise difficult due to length-mismatch, looping, knotting, coiling and bundling. doi.org/10.1038/s41467…

Increasing the dimensionality hierarchically…. Here is a 'behind the paper' blog on our work on hierarchical topochemical synthesis of a 2D polymer, recently published paper in Nature communications communities.springernature.com/posts/increasi…

Join us! Tenure-track assistant professor in organic chem (all areas) in fall '25 Applicants should include a cover letter, CV w/ publication list, research proposals, teaching interests and diversity statement & 3 references by Oct 15, 2024 #chemjobs cfopitt.taleo.net/careersection/…

We're holding TWO virtual open houses for our grad program this fall. Interested (or know someone else who might be)? Info below - we look forward to seeing you there!

The 2024 #NobelPrize laureates in chemistry Demis Hassabis and John Jumper have successfully utilised artificial intelligence to predict the structure of almost all known proteins. In 2020, Hassabis and Jumper presented an AI model called AlphaFold2. With its help, they have

It is such a wonderful experience to collaborate on this exciting project with the Hoveyda Lab and Filippo Romiti groups! We are excited to apply computational tools to provide insights into enantioselectivity and reactivity.

Our latest paper! In this paper, we report a light induced strengthening of an organogel. A monomer gel upon irradiation undergoes topochemical polymerisation to a semiconducting polymer which makes a stronger gel than the monomer gel. doi.org/10.1002/cphc.2…

doi.org/10.1002/anie.2… Here is our latest paper. Here, we made a bioinspired polymer taking cue from collagen sequence. This polymer can glue hydrophilic surfaces. Like in 2023, we published 10 papers in 2024 too! Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.- 4 JACS-3 Nat. Commun.-2 ChemPhysChem-1

Mithun Madhusudhanan, a PhD student in Prof. Peng Liu’s lab, recently received a PQI fellowship for his work in computational organic chemistry. Read more about Mithun's experiences at Pitt here: zurl.co/vD6G4

Check out our latest collaboration with Huw Davies and Jamal Musaev Emory Chemistry! We used MD and DFT in explicit solvent to show the unique effects of HFIP on enantioinduction of dirhodium tetracarboxylate-catalyzed cyclopropanation Huw M. L. Davies chemrxiv.org/engage/chemrxi…

Excited to introduce our website and preprint about HArD, a database of heteroaryl descriptors. If you ever wondered "what is the Hammett constant for 2-pyridyl?" or any other heteroaryl group, now you can do a simple search at: hard.pengliugroup.com chemrxiv.org/engage/chemrxi…

Excited to share our latest publication in J. Am. Chem. Soc. We used MD simulations to predict enantioselectivity of dirhodium tetracarboxylate-catalyzed cyclopropanation and the unique HFIP solvent effects. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja… Congrats to Turki Alturaifi Binh Khanh Mai Mithun

Very excited to be part of the team with Bill DeGrado (UCSF) and Yang Yang where we designed four-helix bundle proteins to catalyze stereoselective alkene cyclopropanation and carbene Si-H insertion reactions. Science Magazine Pitt Chemistry science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

For years, the origin of homochirality (why life uses D-sugars & L-amino acids) has baffled scientists. Our new paper in 长欣 赵 reveals how achiral molecules can form the chiral polymers that likely seeded life! A game-changer for abiogenesis research! doi.org/10.1002/anie.2…

Now online: Article by Qiqiang Xie, Peng Liu, Guangbin Dong & co-workers The Dong Lab Peng Liu Group Enantioconvergent carbenoid insertion into carbon–boron bonds nature.com/articles/s4416… ($)

Peng Liu Group at ACS Fall 2025 🧪 We're excited to highlight our students presenting at the American Chemical Society Fall 2025 Meeting! Check out their talk schedule below.

Cu(II)-Catalyzed Hydrofunctionalization of Unactivated Alkynes via π-Lewis Acid Activation | Journal of the American Chemical Society Scripps Research Engle Lab pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja…

The final peer-reviewed version of our study on Cu(II) as a π-Lewis acid is online this week in J. Am. Chem. Soc.. Hats off to Juntao Sun and our collaborators in the Peng Liu Group! Already this has opened up many new rxns we are eager to share soon! 🧐 tinyurl.com/2vmz9jty