NUS: Department of Chemistry

Associate Professor LI TIANHU

B. S., 1980, Jilin University; M. S. 1982, Beijing Institute of Chemical Technology; Ph. D., 1992, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Postdoc. 1992-1994, The Scripps Research Institute

Contact Information:

Department of Chemistry, NUS
3 Science Drive 3
Singapore 117543

Office: S5-03-14
Tel: (65)-6516-1377
Fax: (65)-6779-1691
Email: chmlth@nus.edu.sg

Research Interests

Design and development of certain structural entities of oligonucleotides that could act as inhibitors of human topoisomerase I and topoisomerase II as well as serve as molecular probes for tracing subcellular distribution of these two types of enzymes:

image1 of Li

Construction of supercoilded DNA with manipulable lengths, sequences and superhelical densities:

Fabricati on of DNA molecular machines that are capable of c on ducting translati on al moti on s al on g linear and circular paths;

Representative Publications

1. Xinming Li, Magdeline Tao Tao Ng, Yifan Wang, Xiaoqian Liu and Tianhu Li, Dumbbell-shaped circular oligonucleotides as human topoisomerase I inhibitors, submitted in March 2007

2. May Ling Chua, Yifan Wang, Xinming Li, Xiaoqian Liu and Tianhu Li, Gap-containing unimolecular oligonucleotides as inhibitors of human topoisomerase I, submitted in March 2007

3. Tianyan Zhou, Yifan Wang, Xinming Li, Qiang Zhang and Tianhu Li, Synthesis and Characterization of a Fluorescein-Labeled Circular G-Quadruplex, Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan, Vol. 79, No. 8 pp.1300-1302, (2006)

4. Tianyan Zhou, Guoshu Chen, Yifan Wang, Qiang Zhang, Ming Yang and Tianhu Li, Synthesis of unimolecularly circular G-quadruplexes as prospective molecular probes, Nucleic Acids Research, 32, No. 21 e173 (2004)

5. Dongsheng Liu, Jian Chen, Alex H. F. Lee, Larry M. C. Chow, Albert S. C. Chan, and Tianhu Li. Small Circular Oligodeoxynucleotides Achieved from Self-Assembling Entities. Angew. Chem.,Int. Ed. Engl. (2003), 42 (7), 797-799.

6. Lee, A. H. F.; Chen, J.; Liu, D.; Leung, T. Y. C.; Chan, Albert S. C.; Li, Tianhu. Acid-Promoted DNA-Cleaving Activities and Total Synthesis of Varacin C. Journal of the American Chemical Society (2002), 124(47), 13972-13973.

7. Lee, Alex H. F.; Chan, Albert S. C.; Li, Tianhu. Acid-accelerated DNA-cleaving activities of antitumor antibiotic varacin. Chemical Communications (Cambridge, United Kingdom) (2002), (18), 2112-2113.

8. Chen, Jian; Liu, Dongsheng; Lee, Alex H. F.; Qi, Jianying; Chan, Albert S. C.; Li, Tianhu. G-quadruplex as a new class of structural entities for directing the formation of circular oligodeoxyribonucleotides. Chemical Communications (Cambridge, United Kingdom) (2002), (22), 2686-2687.

9. Li, Tianhu; Liu, D.; Chen, J.; Lee, A. H. F.; Chan, A. S. C. Construction of Circular Oligodeoxyribonucleotides on the New Structural Basis of i-Motif.Journal of the American Chemical Society (2001), 123(51), 12901-12902.

10. Nicolaou, K. C.; Winssinger, N.; Vourloumis, D.; Ohshima, T.; Kim, S.; Pfefferkorn, J.; Xu, J.-Y.; Li, T. Solid and Solution Phase Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Combinatorial Sarcodictyin Libraries. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1998), 120(42), 10814-10826.

11. Nicolaou, K. C.; He, Y; Roschangar, F; King, N. P.; Vourloumis, Dionisios; Li, Tianhu. Total synthesis of epothilone E & analogs with modified side chains through the Stille coupling reaction. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. (1998), 37(1/2), 84-87.

12. Nicolaou, K. C.; Kim, S; Pfefferkron, J; Xu, J.; Ohshima, Takashi; Hosokawa, Seijiro; Vourloumis, Dionisios; Li, Tianhu. Synthesis and biological activity of sarcodictyins. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. (1998), 37(10), 1418-1421.

13. Nicolaou, K. C.; Finlay, M. R. V.; Ninkovic, S.; King, N. Paul; He, Yun; Li, Tianhu; Sarabia, F.; Vourloumis, D. Synthesis and biological properties of C12,13-cyclopropyl-epothilone A and related epothilones. Chem. Biol. (1998), 5(7), 365-372.

14. Nicolaou, K. C.; Winssinger, N.; Pastor, J.; Ninkovic, S.; Sarabia, F.; He, Y.; Vourloumis, D.; Yang, Z.; Li, T.; Giannakakou, P.; Hamel, E. Synthesis of epothilones A and B in solid and solution phase. Nature (London) (1997), 387(6630), 268-272.

15. Nicolaou, K. C.; van Delft, Floris; Ohshima, Takashi; Vourloumis, Dionisios; Xu, Jinyou; Hosokawa, Seijiro; Pfefferkorn, Jeffrey; Kim, Sanghee; Li, Tianhu. Total synthesis of eleutherobin. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. (1997), 36(22), 2520-2524.

16. Liu, Chen; Smith, Brian M.; Ajito, Keiichi; Komatsu, Hironori; Gomez-Paloma, Luigi; Li, Tianhu; Theodorakis, Emmanuel A.; Nicolaou, K. C.; Vogt, Peter K. Sequence-selective carbohydrate-DNA interaction: dimeric and monomeric forms of the calicheamicin oligosaccharide interfere with transcription factor function. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. (1996), 93(2), 940-4.

17. Nicolaou, K. C.; Ajito, Keiichi; Komatsu, Hironori; Smith, Brian M.; Li, Tianhu; Egan, Miles G.; Gomez-Paloma, Luigi. DNA-carbohydrate recognition: design and synthesis of an eight-base sequence-selective DNA-binding oligosaccharide. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. (1995), 34(5), 576-8.

18. Li, T.; Nicolaou, K. C. Chemical self-replication of palindromic duplex DNA. Nature (London) (1994), 369(6477), 218-21.

19. Li, Tianhu; Zeng, Zijian; Estevez, Virginia A.; Baldenius, Kai U.; Nicolaou, K. C.; Joyce, Gerald F. Carbohydrate-Minor Groove Interactions in the Binding of Calicheamicin g1I to Duplex DNA. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1994), 116(9), 3709-15.

20. Li, Tianhu; Rokita, Steven E. Selective modification of DNA controlled by an ionic signal. J. Am. Chem. Soc. (1991), 113(20), 7771-3.