Interview with Professor Andy Hor, University of Hong Kong and President of the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies (FACS), at Pacifichem 2015. Mario Müller talked with him in Hawaii for ChemistryViews.org about the state of chemical research in Asia and Europe, the challenges FACS faces, and what prompted Professor Hor to leave Singapore for Hong Kong.

Andy Hor, born in Hong Kong in 1956, studied chemistry at Imperial College, London, UK, as well as Oxford University, UK. He completed his doctorate degree in Oxford in 1983, and then took up postdoctoral research at Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. He joined the chemistry department at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1984, and became Professor of Chemistry there in 2000. In 2010, Professor Hor became Executive Director of the Institute of Materials Research & Engineering (IMRE) of A*STAR, Singapore. Since 2015, he serves as Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Hong Kong.

Professor Hor’s research interests include organometallic catalysis, supramolecular assemblies, intermetallic systems, and functional materials. He is a member of the international advisory boards of several journals, including Chemistry – an Asian Journal.

 

Selected Publications

• Manganese Oxide Catalyst Grown on Carbon Paper as an Air Cathode for High-Performance Rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries,
  Afriyanti Sumboja, Xiaoming Ge, F. W. Thomas Goh, Bing Li, Dongsheng Geng, T. S. Andy Hor, Yun Zong, Zhaolin Liu,
  ChemPlusChem 2015, 80, 1341–1346.
  DOI: 10.1002/cplu.201500183
• Investigation on the Cyclability of Lithium-Oxygen Cells in a Confined Potential Window using Cathodes with Pre-filled Discharge Products,
  Dongsheng Geng, Ning Ding, T. S. Andy Hor, Sheau Wei Chien, Zhaolin Liu, Yun Zong,
  Chem. Asian J. 2015, 10, 2182–2189.
  DOI: 10.1002/asia.201500355
• Ligand Effect and Control of E– and Z-Selectivity in the Silver-Catalyzed Synthesis of 4-Bromooxazolines,
  Valerie H. L. Wong, Andrew J. P. White, T. S. Andy Hor, King Kuok Mimi Hii,
  Adv. Synth. Catal. 2015, 357, 2485–2491.
  DOI: 10.1002/adsc.201500157
• New solid-state Eu(iii)-containing metallo-supramolecular polymers: morphology control and optical wave-guiding properties,
  Andre Duerrbeck, Sergey Gorelik, Jonathan Hobley, Anna Marie Yong, Gomathy Sandhya Subramanian, Andy Hor, Nicholas Long,
  J. Mater. Chem. C 2015, 3, 8992–9002.
  DOI: 10.1039/c5tc01703c
• Tuning the aspect ratio of NH₂-MIL-53(Al) microneedles and nanorodsvia coordination modulation,
  Jia Min Chin, Eric Yu Chen, Ajay Govinda Menon, Han Yang Tan, Andy Tzi Sum Hor, Martin Karl Schreyer, Jianwei Xu,
  CrystEngComm 2013, 15, 654–657.
  DOI: 10.1039/c2ce26586a
• Cobalt-catalyzed hydrogen desorption from the LiNH₂–LiBH₄ system,
  Wan Si Tang, Guotao Wu, Tao Liu, Andrew T. S. Wee, Chaw Keong Yong, Zhitao Xiong, Andy T. S. Hor, Ping Chen,
  Dalton Trans. 2008.
  DOI: 10.1039/b719420j

 

Also from Pacifichem

• Video: Have Fun with Science,
  Mario Müller,
  ChemistryViews.org 2015.
  Interview with Sam Kean, the author of the bestseller “The Disappearing Spoon”
• Snapshots from Pacifichem 2015

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• Recorded at Pacifichem 2015, the international chemical congress of pacific basin societies
• Event: Pacifichem 2015, Hawaii.