Jiarong Wu

Congrats to Dr Simona Bianco (University of Glasgow) and Dr Jiarong Wu @jiarongwu.bsky.social (University of St Andrews/Universität Würzburg) who were awarded the 2025 RSC MASC Group PhD Thesis Award trophy 🏆 given in memory of John Fossey!

#MASC2025
#RSC_MASC

Dr Jiarong Wu @jiarongwu.bsky.social gives her award lecture on designing photoswitchable imines and driving them out-of-equilibrium during her PhD

#MASC2025
#RSC_MASC

Portrait of Simona Bianco

Portrait of Jiarong Wu

📣 Announcement 📣

We are delighted to announce that the 2025 RSC MASC Group PhD Thesis Award 🏆, given in the memory of John Fossey, goes to both Simona Bianco (University of Glasgow) and Jiarong Wu @jiarongwu.bsky.social (University of St Andrews/Universität Würzburg).

Congratulations both!

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Check out this new Perspective in Chemical Science from @jiarongwu.bsky.social and @jakeylg.bsky.social (Universitat Würzburg, Germany)!

'Light them up: photoresponsive imine-containing systems'

Read it here for free: doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

#ChemSciHOT #ChemSky

📢New perspective on light responsive imine-based systems out now in @chemicalscience.rsc.org with @jiarongwu.bsky.social 💡🚨🔦 This is part of the 2025 Leading Investigators Collection, Thank you to the reviewers for input 🙏 #hot #photoswitch #imine imineswitch.com
doi.org/10.1039/D5SC...

They can assemble on filter paper and show fluorescence 👇🏻

TOC of the paper showing a light responsive transimination influencing a non-photoresponsive transimination (at least at 405 nm irradiation).

🚨📢Out now in #Chem, @jiarongwu.bsky.social and I figure out how to perturb a non-photoresponsive reaction(🌚) out of equilibrium using our imine-based photoswitches🔦💡This is achieved using a light-responsive transimination!(🌝)
#AIPs #imine #OpenAccess #ChemSky
doi.org/10.1016/j.ch...

Woohoo!🍻 The first contribution from our team on photoswitchable imines was highlighted as one of @chemicalscience.rsc.org most popular articles in 2024 😀 #chemsky #ChemSciMostPopular

@jiarongwu.bsky.social gave an excellent (!!!) talk on her work at BiOrgMCT in Sofia, Bulgaria. 💡🚨🚥 Very proud!!! 😀 (and jealous of her artistic/animation skills)

Jake getting an award at the CDT 2025.

A bit late, but I wanted to say thanks for the support from those that voted for me to receive this award for my presentation at the chemiedozentungang! It means a lot to us! 😀🙏

Thank you Daisy!! 🥰

Thank you Jess 😃🥰

Thank you Hugh 😆 was nice talking to you!!

Great job, @jiarongwu.bsky.social ! Very proud and a busy, but rewarding end to the year! Still trying to figure out how @profdaveleigh.bsky.social did that card trick 😂🤔 🚨💡🚦🔦🏮🎄

What a yearrrr 🤯 Ended the super busy year with my first flash talk prize ever at my second MASC #masc2024 🥰 (so proud of our dream team!! @jakeylg.bsky.social) The amazing magic and Christmas gift from @profdaveleigh.bsky.social, wish all of us a magical Christmas 🎠🪄🎁🥳 #chemsky

Excellent presentation from @jiarongwu.bsky.social at #MASC2024 in York, UK! Very proud! #chemsky 💯💯💯

@profdaveleigh.bsky.social treating everyone to some magic and magical chemistry at #masc2024 with help from @jiarongwu.bsky.social from @jakeylg.bsky.social group #chemsky

We had a nice #xmas dinner last night with associated co-workers (feat. @jiarongwu.bsky.social, Deepu and Lasse). Together, we have had a wild and action packed year, I couldn't have asked for a better team to be doing science with! 🇬🇧🇨🇳🇩🇪🇮🇳 #chemsky

8-bit style graphic showing different coordination cage isomers as though they are fighting video game characters.

📄 New pre-print from the group 📃 Paulina has been looking at how different coordination sphere interactions affect isomer selectivity in heteroleptic Pd(II) coordination cages assembled from low-symmetry ligands doi.org/10.26434/che... #chemsky

So for today... This cover (ChemComm) was designed and assembled by @jiarongwu.bsky.social 🎨 to represent the diversity of properties achieved for our iminobispyrazole photoswitches! 💡With initial inspiration from “The Dark Side of the Moon” album cover 🎸🎵 #chemsky

and for today... here is some previous cover art! I had to hide this in case of any infringements, but I was pretty proud of our take on an "NME" magazine cover. A fair bit of effort that I had to leave out 😅 A few easter-eggs for the #blink-182 #sum41 #theclash fans in the #chemsky community! 😃

Iminobispyrazole (IBP) photoswitches: two pyrazole rings can be better than one We recently demonstrated that suitably functionalised aryliminopyrazoles can exhibit useful photoswitching properties. This study investigates the photoswitching potential of iminobispyrazoles (IBPs)....

and for today... a [3x3] study of iminobispyrazole 💡switches. We found the variation in properties dependent upon the regiochem. This led to a more extensive study (the Angew.).
We hope to continue this imine series in the future, stay tuned📻 #chemsky #teamimine #imines4life
doi.org/10.1039/D4CC...

It's always hard to start on a new platform, make sure to give Jiarong (@jiarongwu.bsky.social) a follow. She has done the majority of the heavy lifting our groups papers 😃 #chemsky (yes... I was in need for a haircut in this photo...)

Photoswitchable imines: aryliminopyrazoles quantitatively convert to long-lived Z-isomers with visible light Arylimines offer promise in dynamic-covalent materials due to their recyclability and ease of synthesis. However, their light-triggered E/Z isomerism has received little attention. This is attributed ...

And the post for today... this is where our imine photoswitch adventure started (also the start of the group😀)
We were surprised how the functionalization impacted the imines differently from the azo-switches.
We look forward to sharing more imines in the future :D #chemsky
doi.org/10.1039/D3SC...

Switching Sides: Regiochemistry and Functionalization Dictate the Photoswitching Properties of Imines You know what imine? Aryliminopyrazoles have demonstrated their suitability as photoswitches and in driving dynamic-covalent reactions out-of-equilibrium. However, the influence of their structure on...

💡If you find these improved imine-based photoswitches interesting, you can find an overview of their properties at the link below 👇, as well as the first crystal structure of a metastable Z-aldimine! TOC designed by @jiarongwu.bsky.social

#chemsky #photoswitch #imine

doi.org/10.1002/anie...

Photoswitchable Imines Drive Dynamic Covalent Systems to Nonequilibrium Steady States Coupling a photochemical reaction to a thermal exchange process can drive the latter to a nonequilibrium steady state (NESS) under photoirradiation. Typically, systems use separate motifs for photores...

If anyone is interested in what our group does... we make imine-based photoswitches 💡. We are currently exploring their unique properties arising from the dynamic-covalent linkage and its response to photoirradiation.

Check out paper 👇( #OA #RIPFunds ) #chemsky

doi.org/10.1021/jacs...