1) Design and synthesis of molecular motors. We are interested in designing novel molecular motor scaffolds with tailored photophysical/chemical properties and unprecedented functions towards the applications particularly in biomedical fields.
2) Design and fabrication of intelligent motorized materials via supramolecular engineering. We are interested in designing novel intelligent motorized materials in which the responsiveness of molecular motor can be delivered to the surroundings through efficient supramolecular communication.
3) Soft matter derived from Chinese herbal medicine. Many soft matters with therapeutic effects have been discovered from Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), and they are now assumed to be the new material base of CHM. We are interested in how these soft matters are formed from the basic assembly units, and (supra)molecular mechanism of their pharmacological effect. Particularly, we attempt to develop novel strategies for comprehensive and good quality control over CHM at multiple length scales.