Source: Office of Scientific Research and Development
Written by: Office of Scientific Research and Development
Photo by: Sun Yueming
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On the morning of November 5, Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn, 1987 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, gave a lecture entitled “Towards Complex Matter: Chemistry? Chemistry!” at Yat-sen Distinguished Scholars Forum in Swasey Hall on South Campus of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU).  Mr. Christophe Bonté, Attaché of Scientific and Educational Cooperation, Service for Science and Technology, French Consulate General in Guangzhou; Prof. Li Mengfeng, Vice President of SYSU; Ms. Gu Xiaohong, Party Secretary of School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of SYSU; Prof. Mihail-Dumitru Barboiu from Lehn Institute of Functional Materials (LIFM); representatives from Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province; a total of more than 300 teachers, students and alumni attended the event. The lecture was also live broadcast by SYSU Television Station and Yat-sen Online Lectures on four campuses of SYSU.

In the lecture, Prof. Lehn started from the origin and evolution of the universe, explained how matter became complex, and expounded that "The ESSENCE of CHEMISTRY is not just to discover but to CREATE NOVEL EXPRESSIONS of COMPLEX MATTER; The BOOK of Chemistry is not just to be read, it is to be WRITTEN; The SCORE of Chemistry is not just to be played, it is to be COMPOSED”. In the Q&A session, Prof. Lehn answered questions raised by the teachers and students.

Jean-Marie Lehn received his Doctoratès-Sciences in 1963 from the University of Strasbourg working in the laboratory of Guy Ourisson. The following year he joined the group of Robert Burns Woodward at Harvard University, where he participated in the total synthesis of vitamin B12. In 1970 Lehn became Professor of Chemistry at the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg and since 1979 he has been Professor at the Collège de France in Paris. In 1998, he participated in the foundation of Institute of Technology of Karlsruhe together with Professor Dieter Fenske and other colleagues. In 2010, he became the honorary director of Lehn Institute of Functional Materials (LIFM) at Sun Yat-sen University.

The research work of Jean-Marie Lehn led in 1968 to the synthesis of cage-like molecules that form inclusion complexes, the cryptates, with various metal ions. With this began his research on the chemical basis of ‘molecular recognition’ (i.e. the way in which a receptor molecule recognizes and selectively binds a substrate), which also plays a fundamental role in biological processes. For these studies Prof. Lehn received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1987.