Ming Joo Koh
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| name = Ming Joo Koh
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| birth_place = Singapore
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| nationality = Singaporean
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| occupation = Academic, organic chemist
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| known_for = Sustainable catalysis in organic and organometallic chemistry
| title = Dean's Chair Professor and Deputy Head (Research), Department of Chemistry, NUS
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| awards = President's Science and Technology Awards (2022)
| website = {{URL|mjkohgroup.com}}
| education = Nanyang Technological University (BSc)
Boston College (PhD)
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| doctoral_advisor = Amir H. Hoveyda
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| discipline = Chemistry
| sub_discipline = Organic chemistry, organometallic chemistry
| workplaces = National University of Singapore
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| main_interests = Sustainable catalysis, stereoselective synthesis
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Ming Joo Koh is a Singaporean academic and organic chemist who is the Dean's Chair Professor and Deputy Head of Research in the Department of Chemistry at the National University of Singapore.{{Cite web|url=https://www.asianscientist.com/scientist/ming-joo-koh/|title=Ming Joo Koh |website=Asian Scientist}}{{Cite web|url=https://cen.acs.org/synthesis/catalysis/Ming-Joo-Koh/100/i25|title=Ming Joo Koh|website=Chemical & Engineering News}}
Early life and education
Ming Joo Koh was born and raised in Singapore.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mjkohgroup.com/dr-koh|title=THE PI|website=kohgroup}} He earned a Bachelor of Science with first-class honours in chemistry and biological chemistry from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in 2012, where he conducted research under Philip Chan on gold‐catalyzed cycloisomerization reactions for heterocycle formation.https://chemistry.nus.edu.sg/people/koh-ming-joo/{{Cite web|url=https://www.cares.cam.ac.uk/personal-profiles/?profile_id=520|title=Personal Profiles|date=October 18, 2018}}
After completing his undergraduate degree, Koh pursued doctoral studies in organic chemistry at Boston College under Amir H. Hoveyda.{{Cite web|url=https://en.nusricq.cn/news/nusnews/146.html|title=NUS News - NUS (Chongqing) Research Institute}} During his Ph.D., he collaborated with Richard R. Schrock at MIT on developing stereoselective olefin metathesis catalysts, focusing on methods to control alkene stereochemistry in natural products and pharmaceutical synthesis. He continued as a post-doctoral fellow in the same laboratory, shifting his research to catalytic stereoselective transformations of organofluorine compounds.
Career
Koh returned to Singapore in June 2018 to join the Department of Chemistry at the National University of Singapore (NUS) as a President's assistant professor. During his early tenure at NUS, he developed a research program in sustainable catalysis and organic synthesis.{{Cite web|url=https://www.innovatorsunder35.com/the-list/ming-joo-koh/|title=Ming Joo Koh | Innovators Under 35|website=Innovators Under 35}} He was promoted to tenured associate professor in 2023, and in 2024 he assumed the role of Deputy Head (Research) of the Chemistry Department and was appointed as a Dean's Chair Professor for 2024–2027.
Koh also serves as an Adjunct Senior Principal Investigator at A*STAR's Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment (ISCE²) from 2024 and is a principal investigator with the Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES) in a sustainable chemistry programme.
Research
Koh's research centers on sustainable catalysis in organic and organometallic chemistry. He develops catalytic methods using abundant base metals such as iron, nickel, and copper in place of precious metals to reduce environmental impact and lower costs. His work includes creating catalyst systems that perform multi-step reactions in one operation, for example, nickel-catalyzed tandem Heck coupling with alkene isomerization to produce stereochemically defined olefins.{{Cite web|url=https://www.acs.org/pressroom/newsreleases/2022/july/talented-12-cen-announces-2022-rising-stars-in-chemistry.html|title=Talented 12: Chemical & Engineering News announces its 2022 rising stars in chemistry|website=American Chemical Society}}https://www.science.nus.edu.sg/blog/2021/08/stereoselective-alkene-synthesis-with-non-precious-nickel-catalysis/ He has also developed a metal-free photochemical method for glycosylation using visible light and an iron-catalyzed remote protoboration technique for selective boron installation on alkenes.{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Winners of the 2024 Mitsui Chemicals Catalysis Science Awards |url=https://jp.mitsuichemicals.com/en/release/2024/2024_0627/index.htm |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=MITSUI CHEMICALS, INC. |language=en}}
Selected publications
- {{Cite journal|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature17396|title=Direct synthesis of Z-alkenyl halides through catalytic cross-metathesis|first1=Ming Joo|last1=Koh|first2=Thach T.|last2=Nguyen|first3=Hanmo|last3=Zhang|first4=Richard R.|last4=Schrock|first5=Amir H.|last5=Hoveyda|date=March 2, 2016|journal=Nature|volume=531|issue=7595|pages=459–465|via=www.nature.com|doi=10.1038/nature17396|hdl=1721.1/108033|hdl-access=free|url-access=subscription}}
- {{Cite journal |last1=Yu |first1=X. |last2=Zhao |first2=H. |last3=Xi |first3=S. |last4=Chen |first4=Z. |last5=Wang |first5=X. |last6=Wang |first6=L. |last7=Lin |first7=L. Q. H. |last8=Loh |first8=K. P. |last9=Koh |first9=M. J. |year=2020 |title=Site-selective alkene borylation enabled by synergistic hydrometallation and borometallation |journal=Nature Catalysis |volume=3 |pages=585–592 |url=https://www.scinapse.io/papers/3033743834}}
- {{Cite journal|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41929-021-00658-2|title=Olefin functionalization/isomerization enables stereoselective alkene synthesis|first1=Chen-Fei|last1=Liu|first2=Hongyu|last2=Wang|first3=Robert T.|last3=Martin|first4=Haonan|last4=Zhao|first5=Osvaldo|last5=Gutierrez|first6=Ming Joo|last6=Koh|date=August 2, 2021|journal=Nature Catalysis|volume=4|issue=8|pages=674–683|via=www.nature.com|doi=10.1038/s41929-021-00658-2|pmc=9431960}}
- {{Cite journal|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41929-022-00854-8|title=Synthesis of tri- and tetrasubstituted stereocentres by nickel-catalysed enantioselective olefin cross-couplings|first1=Chen-Fei|last1=Liu|first2=Zi-Chao|last2=Wang|first3=Xiaohua|last3=Luo|first4=Jiawei|last4=Lu|first5=Charyl Hui Min|last5=Ko|first6=Shi-Liang|last6=Shi|first7=Ming Joo|last7=Koh|date=October 2, 2022|journal=Nature Catalysis|volume=5|issue=10|pages=934–942|via=www.nature.com|doi=10.1038/s41929-022-00854-8|url-access=subscription}}
- {{Cite journal|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s44160-022-00162-w|title=Visible light activation enables desulfonylative cross-coupling of glycosyl sulfones|first1=Quanquan|last1=Wang|first2=Boon Chong|last2=Lee|first3=Ting Jun|last3=Tan|first4=Yi|last4=Jiang|first5=Wei Han|last5=Ser|first6=Ming Joo|last6=Koh|date=December 2, 2022|journal=Nature Synthesis|volume=1|issue=12|pages=967–974|via=www.nature.com|doi=10.1038/s44160-022-00162-w|url-access=subscription}}
- {{Cite journal|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07548-0|title=Direct radical functionalization of native sugars|first1=Yi|last1=Jiang|first2=Yi|last2=Wei|first3=Qian-Yi|last3=Zhou|first4=Guo-Quan|last4=Sun|first5=Xia-Ping|last5=Fu|first6=Nikita|last6=Levin|first7=Yijun|last7=Zhang|first8=Wen-Qiang|last8=Liu|first9=NingXi|last9=Song|first10=Shabaz|last10=Mohammed|first11=Benjamin G.|last11=Davis|first12=Ming Joo|last12=Koh|date=July 2, 2024|journal=Nature|volume=631|issue=8020|pages=319–327|via=www.nature.com|doi=10.1038/s41586-024-07548-0|pmc=11236704}}
Awards and recognition
- 2021: MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 Asia Pacific Award
- 2021: TCI-SNIC Industry Award in Synthetic Chemistry{{Cite web|url=https://www.snic.org.sg/index.php/awards/snic-industry-awards|title=SNIC – Industry Awards|website=www.snic.org.sg}}
- 2022: Thieme Chemistry Journals Award{{Cite web|url=https://www.thieme.de/en/thieme-chemistry/thieme-chemistry-journals-award-previous-winners-107365.htm|title=Previous Winners - Thieme Chemistry - Georg Thieme Verlag|website=Thieme}}
- 2022: C&EN Talented 12
- 2022: President's Science and Technology Awards{{Cite web|url=https://www.asianscientist.com/2022/12/awards/singapore-two-researchers-receive-2022-presidents-science-and-technology-awards/|title=Singapore Recognizes Two Researchers With 2022 President’s Science And Technology Awards – Asian Scientist Magazine|website=Asian Scientist}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/2-veterans-and-2-young-scientists-bag-president-s-science-and-technology-awards|title=2 veteran and 2 young scientists bag President’s Science and Technology awards|date=December 9, 2022}}
- 2023: Asian Scientist 100https://www.science.nus.edu.sg/blog/2023/07/asian-scientist-100-2023/
- 2023: Novartis Early Career Award in Chemistry{{Cite web|url=https://news.nus.edu.sg/assoc-prof-koh-ming-joo-wins-the-novartis-early-career-award-in-chemistry/|title=Assoc Prof Koh Ming Joo wins the Novartis Early Career Award in Chemistry|website=Assoc Prof Koh Ming Joo wins the Novartis Early Career Award in Chemistry}}
- 2023: NUS Researcher Award{{Cite web |title=NUS University Awards 2023: Celebrating our flag-bearers in education, research and service |url=https://news.nus.edu.sg/nus-university-awards-2023-celebrating-our-flag-bearers-in-education-research-and-service/ |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=news.nus.edu.sg |language=en-sg}}
- 2024: Mitsui Chemicals Catalysis Science Award