Welcome to the Laboratory of Supramolecular Organic Functional Assemblies (SOFA Lab) Website. We are located in the Department of Chemistry at Westlake University. We focus on the development of Molecular-Strain Engineering (MSE) and Supramolecular Organic Functional Assemblies (SOFAs). MSE implies using strain to impose intramolecular tension on molecules, which, owing to their precisely tunable strained conformations, can exhibit enhanced performance in certain situations, such as the control of assembly processes, modulation of their own properties, and manipulation of reaction progress and selectivities.
Projects in the Liu’s SOFA Lab involve：
(i) molecular-strain engineering of multi-walled Platonic solids;
(ii) mechanical trapping of active intermediates employing molecular-strain engineering;
(iii) strain-modulated emergent properties of supramolecular assemblies as well as topological knots and links.
Current application areas of interest include precisely-controllable and functional assembly of macrocycles, stimuli-responsive materials for eco-friendly settings, supramolecular catalysis, and energy conversion.
