Ching Yong Goh

Fields of interest

Supramolecular chemistry, application of calixarenes, small molecule gelators, crystallisation

Biography

Ching Yong Goh is investigating the effect of acidic amino acids on the crystallisation of various minerals in his PhD project. Acidic amino acid residues (such as aspartic acid and glutamic acid) have been found in relatively high concentrations in biominerals (e.g., sea urchin). By attaching acidic amino acids onto calixarene scaffolds, the interaction between the amino acid and growing mineral can be studied. Some of these calixarene derivatives have been found to form hydrogels in the presence of specific electrolytes, and significant effort has been put into studying the origin of this phenomenon.