本课题组主要研究兴趣集中在超分子化学领域，具体研究方向包括金属有机杂化超分子的仿生自组装，分子识别与传感，绿色超分子催化剂的开发等。  

　　 　1)  Coordination assembly toward well-defined complex architectures  

　　　　Chemists are often inspired by the spontaneous and precise assembly of multiple protein subunits into giant well-defined functional superstructures. Metal-directed coordination self-assembly offers a controllable platform on the molecular level toward mimicking such biological process. Using this strategy, series of giant host molecules have been successfully synthesized and characterized, including the unprecedented metallo-macrocycles and metal-organic polyhedral complexes. Molecular level studies on these artificial multi-component self-assembled systems offers mechanistic insights into the massive biological self-assembly phenomena. Expertise gained on the structural-control aspect of the self-assembly process enables the design of new adaptable supramolecular hosts for further applications.   

　　　 2) Functional supramolecular lanthanide-organic edifices  

　　　　So far, coordination assemblies are mostly constructed from organic ligands and transition metals, where often the later serve merely as the connection nodes and the function of the system depend to a larger extent on the nature of inner cavity defined by the ligand panels. In light of their unique properties, lanthanide-containing materials have shown great application potential in bioimaging, chemosensors, catalysis, MRI agents, nonlinear optics, upconversion materials et al. Hence, introduction of lanthanides into the coordination-assembled architectures will offer new platforms toward these applications. Currently, we are interested in the controlled self-assembly of multinuclear supramolecular lanthanides complexes. Our work demonstrates that lanthanide ions do have a lot of optical, electromagnetic and catalytic properties to offer to the aesthetically appealing 3D assemblies.  

　　　 3)  Enzymatic supramolecular catalysis  

　　　　Enzymes catalyze biochemical reactions at specific folded confirmations with great substrate complementary in shape, charge, and hydrophobic/hydrophilic characteristics featured with high selectivity and efficiency. Inspiration gained from such natural processes contributes to the biomimetic design of artificial catalysts in pursuit of highly efficient chemical transformations. Hollow metallocages have been shown to be versatile artificial enzyme model in catalyzing a variety of transformations with rate-accelerations parallel to the enzyme efficiency.  Continuous efforts are being paid to the computer-aided design of new supramolecular hosts that may serve as nano-vessels to perform highly selective organic (catalytic) reactions, particularly in the water phase.