The APA Award in 2012, Osaka, Japan
Pi‐Tai Chou,
Chair Professor
Department of Chemistry
National Taiwan University
Prof. Pi-Tai Chou has made groundbreaking works in excited-state reactions. His early focus has been on the hydrogen-bonding interaction and its associated excited-state proton-transfer (ESPT) reaction. He invented the world first “intramolecular proton-transfer laser” based on a four electronic levels, ultrafast ESPT processes (JPC 1984, 88, 4596, 260 citations). This seminal study has great impact from modern lasing action to applications on bright flat panel display. His another outstanding contribution is to seminally explore the proton-coupled-charge transfer reaction (JPC 1993, 97, 2618, 152 citations) and to probe role of solvents in femtosecond regime. New insights into solvent-polarity induced barrier and dipolar-functionality tuning ESPT have been experimentally established (Acc. Chem. Res. 2010, 43, 1364).
Prof. Chou is also acclaimed by making enormous contribution to modern progress of spin-orbit coupling and associated relaxation processes. These include discovery of full O2 spectrum covering singlet-oxygen dimer 634/703 nm and singlet-sigma 765 nm emission in solution, adding a new chapter in the story of excited O2 (JACS 1996, 118, 3031). His recent contribution in spin-orbit event is to gain understanding on the photophysics of transition metal complexes. Exquisite correlation for structure versus intersystem crossing has been unveiled. He formulated new empirical theories such as external versus internal heavy atom effect, the role of d-d transition, etc., which render great impact to harness the phosphorescence pathways in lighting materials (JACS, 2012, 134, 7715, 2011, 133, 12085, Chem. Eur. J. 2007, 13, 380 (302 citations)).
Prof. Chou has shown remarkable devotion and vitality in photoscience and is apparently the top-notch scientest in Taiwan as well as a world excellent photochemist. Not only in research, his outstanding contribution is also in education and administration as well as in promoting scientific research of Taiwan onto the Asia and international arena. He is a Fellow of Royal Chemical Society. Thoughout his 30 year research carrer he has publshed more than 350 SCI papers with nearly 8000 citations and current h-index of 50.