Professor W.T. Wong        黃永德 講座教授
Chair Professor

Office Address:
Room 304
Chong Yuet Ming Chemistry Building
The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong

Tel. No.:
(852) 2859 2157

E-Mail:
wtwong@hkucc.hku.hk

Dr. J.K.F. Yung
Dr. K.W.Y. Chan
Dr. Y.J. Gu
Ms. K.M. Chan
Mr. K.K. Ho
Mr. J. Jin
Miss M.Y.M. Lai
Mr. A.H.H. Leung
Ms. L. Szeto
Mr. K.C. Wong
Ms. Y. Zhang

• Doctor of Science, Cambridge (2000)
• HKU Outstanding Young Researcher Award (2001)
• Croucher Senior Research Fellowship (2002)
• HKU Outstanding Research Student Supervisor Award (2003)
• HKU Outstanding Researcher Award (2007-08)
• Coeditor, Acta Crystallographica Section E (IUCr)
• Member of Editorial Board, Journal of Cluster Science, Plenum Publishing
• Member of International Advisory Board, European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, VCH-Wiley
• Member of Editorial Board, International Journal of Biomedical Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Interscience Publishers

Transition metal clusters are important catalysts in industrial processes, like the well known Haber process and the oxidation of ammonia, representing the key intermediate when nitrogen is adsorbed on the cluster surface. An example is the Os and Pd mixed-metal clusters is shown in Figure 2. This high-nuclearity structure exhibits various reversible oxidation states, and encompasses different catalytic possibilities.

Figure 2. Molecular structure of the Pd-Os cluster anion, showing the atomic numbering scheme (with osmium in blue and palladium in green).

 

Lanthanide ions show distinctive coordination, magnetic and luminescence properties as compared to transition metals. Their coordination compounds have been used for a number of biomedical applications. In medical arena, early diagnosis increases the curability of diseases. Molecular imaging is stemmed from this important goal of better diagnosis. Owing to the excellent soft tissue discrimination of MRI, it is an crucial imaging modality in approaching the age of molecular imaging. Chemists contribute to this area by designing different molecular architectures for MRI contrast agents, and to specially probe the changes at molecular level prior to the emerge of symptoms. Figure 3 shows the differences in image contrast after the administration of the gadolinium-based contrast agent.

Figure 3. The T1-weighted MR images of the rat abdomen, showing the maximum intensity Enhancement at (i) 0, (ii) 4, (iii) 30, (iv) 100, and (v) 200 min after intravenous injection of the Gadolinium-based contrast agent at 0.04 mmol kg-1; and in (ii), (1) is the abdominal aorta, (2) is the kidneys, (3) is the liver, and (4) is the adrenal gland.

 

In addition to the provision of anatomical information, gadolinium complexes are able to probe the accessibility of protein surface, e.g. lysozyme (as shown in Figure 4). Binuclear gadolinium complexes have been used as paramagnetic probes in the NMR study of protein-protein interaction. This study is a powerful method to establish the molecular structure and dynamics of protein systems, providing the physiological information.

Figure 4. Surface representation of hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) structure, colored according to the similarity observed for the paramagnetic attenuation of a gadolinium complex (AiGd2) and another paramagnetic agent (AiT). Orange patches refer to regions where the condition AiGd2>> AiT holds, while the opposite situation is highlighted by purple. Gray patches indicate surface regions where equal paramagnetic effects were induced by the two probes. Surface atoms are colored within a sphere of 3.5 A radius centered on the considered CαH’s.

• Structure and Bonding
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Organometallic Chemistry
• Materials Chemistry
• Chemistry of f-Block Elements
• X-Ray Crystallography
• Electron Microscopy

• Metal Clusters and Nanoparticles of Transition Metals
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging Contrast Agents
• Luminescent Probes for Chemical Imaging
• X-Ray Crystallography and Solid-State Chemistry