Employment and Academic History

• 11/2016-present: Institute Director of Anticancer Agents Development and Theranostic Application, Qufu Normal University, China.
• 01/2015-present: Professor, Distinguished Taishan Scholars, Qufu Normal University, China.
• 02/2014–02/2015: Research Fellow, University of Basel, Switzerland, Prof. Thomas R. Ward group
• 01/2012–01/2014: Research Fellow, University of Warwick, UK. Prof. Peter J. Sadler group.
• 10/2008–11/2011: PhD, University of Warwick, U.K. Supervisor: Prof. Peter J. Sadler

My research interests are centred on the coordination chemistry of metals in medicine, in particular on the design of organometallic anticancer complexes and catalytic drugs, and multifunctional fluorinated graphene as theranostic agents.

1. Design of organometallic anticancer complexes

Liu, Z.; Sadler, P. J. Organoiridium Complexes: Anticancer Agents and Catalysts. Acc. Chem. Res. 2014, 47, 1174-1185. (Impact Factor：20.833)

2. Mechanism studies

Liu, Z.; Sadler, P. J. Organoiridium Complexes: Anticancer Agents and Catalysts. Acc. Chem. Res. 2014, 47, 1174-1185. (Impact Factor：20.833)

Liu, Z.; Romero-Canelón, I.; Qamar, B.; Hearn, J. M.; Habtemariam, A.; Barry, N. P. E.; Pizarro, A. M.; Clarkson, G. J.; Sadler, P. J. The Potent Oxidant Anticancer Activity of Organoiridium Catalysts, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 3941-3946. (VIP，Impact Factor：13.734，reported by BBC and Science Daily)

Liu, Z.; Romero-Canelón, I.; Habtemariam, A.; Clarkson, G. J.; Sadler, P. J. Potent Half-Sandwich Iridium(III) Anticancer Complexes Containing C^N-Chelated and Pyridine Ligands. Organometallics 2014, 33, 5324-5333. (Impact Factor：4.145)

Liu, Z.; Sadler, P. J. Formation of Glutathione Sulfenate and Sulfinate Complexes by an Organoiridium(III) Anticancer Complex. Inorg. Chem. Front. 2014, 1, 668-672. (Impact Factor：4.532)

Liu, Z.; Habtemariam, A.; Pizarro, A. M.; Fletcher, S. A.; Kisova, A.; Vrana, O.; Salassa, L.; Bruijnincx, P. C. A.; Clarkson, G. J.; Brabec, V.; Sadler, P. J. Organometallic half-sandwich iridium anticancer complexes. J. Med. Chem. 2011, 54, 3011-3026. (Impact Factor：5.614)

Liu, Z.; Salassa, L.; Habtemariam, A.; Pizarro, A. M.; Clarkson, G. J.; Sadler, P. J. Contrasting reactivity and cancer cell cytotoxicity of isoelectronic organometallic iridium(III) complexes. Inorg. Chem. 2011, 50, 5777-5783. (Impact Factor：4.593)

Liu, Z.; Habtemariam, A.; Pizarro, A. M.; Clarkson, G. J.; Sadler, P. J. Organometallic iridium(III) cyclopentadienyl anticancer complexes containing C,N-chelating ligands. Organometallics 2011, 30, 4702-4710. (Impact Factor：4.145)

Novohradsky, V.; Liu, Z.; Vojtiskova, M.; Sadler, P. J.; Brabec, V.; Kasparkova, J. Mechanism of Cellular Accumulation of an Iridium(III) Pentamethylcyclopentadienyl Anticancer Complex Containing a C,N-Chelating Ligand. Metallomics 2014, 6, 682-690. (Impact Factor：4.099)

Hearn, J. M.; Romero-Canelón, I.; Qamar, B.; Liu, Z.; Hands-Portman, I.; Sadler, P. J. Organometallic Iridium(III) Anticancer Complexes with New Mechanisms of Action: NCI-60 Screening, Mitochondrial Targeting, and Apoptosis. ACS Chem. Biol. 2013, 8, 1335-1343. (Impact Factor：5.442)

3. Catalytic drugs

Upregulation of Artificial Metallo-Enzymes

(a) Chemical structure of NADH and NAD+. (b) Ir catalysts utilized for NAD+/NADH conversion. (c) Proposed mechanism for catalytic hydride transfer from NADH to Ir–H2O complexes.

(a) One- and two-electron reduction of a quinone leading to semiquinoneand hydroquinone, respectively. (b) Chemical structures of menadione and duroquinone. (c) EPR spectra of menadione (top) and duroquinone (down)radical anions. (d) Proposed mechanism for the catalytic reduction of duroquinone by NADH/Ir system.

Liu, Z.; Lebrun, V.; Kitanosono, T.; Mallin, H.; Köhler, V.; Häussinger, D.; Hilvert, D.; Kobayashi, S.; Ward, T. R. Upregulation of an Artificial Zymogen by Proteolysis. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 11587–11590. (Impact Factor：11.709)

Liu, Z.; Sadler, P. J. Organoiridium Complexes: Anticancer Agents and Catalysts. Acc. Chem. Res. 2014, 47, 1174-1185. (Impact Factor：20.833)

Liu, Z.; Romero-Canelón, I.; Qamar, B.; Hearn, J. M.; Habtemariam, A.; Barry, N. P. E.; Pizarro, A. M.; Clarkson, G. J.; Sadler, P. J. The Potent Oxidant Anticancer Activity of Organoiridium Catalysts, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 3941-3946. (VIP，Impact Factor：13.734，reported by BBC and Science Daily)

Liu, Z.; Deeth, R. J.; Butler, J. S.; Habtemariam, A.; Newton, M. E.; Sadler, P. J. Reduction of Quinones by NADH Catalyzed by Organoiridium Complexes. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 4194-4197. (Impact Factor：13.734)

Betanzos-Lara, S.; Liu, Z. (并列一作); Habtemariam, A.; Pizarro, A. M.; Qamar, B.; Sadler, P. J. Organometallic ruthenium and iridium transfer hydrogenation catalysts using coenzyme NADH as a cofactor. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 3897-3900. (Impact Factor：13.734)

4. Multifunctional fluorinated graphene as theranostic agents

Du, J.; Liu, J.; Gong, P.; Tian, M.; Sun, L.; Ji, S.; Zhang, L.; Liu, Z.* Construction of a novel fluorinated graphene-based magnetic nanocomposite and its application in cancer photo-chemotherapy. Mater. Lett. 2017