Charting the Future of Stereoselective Carbohydrate Synthesis: The Essential Role of Cross-Disciplinary Innovation

Cross-disciplinary endeavours are well recognized to be incubators and propellors for frontier advancements. Established scientific fields often emerge out of commonality of research interests, and the need to consolidate knowledge through interactive exchanges within a commonly identified arena. Counter-intuitively, there is a rapid paradigm shift for mining new knowledge through the willingness of crossing established fields. Paradoxically, when seemingly irrelevant chemistry fields are knitted together through their commonality in bond-forming chemical phenomena, fresh new ideas to tackle long-standing challenges emerge along the boundary lines. In this perspective dedicated to the Advanced Science 2025 Young Innovator Award, I will narrate my research group and my personal exciting journey in the discovery of knowledge at the intersection of numerous fields of catalysis, carbohydrate chemistry, and supramolecular chemistry/non-covalent interactions. By sharing our laboratory's story in the discovery of the σ-hole based catalytic glycosylation strategy, we hope this rewarding experience will provide the sparks for younger researchers to innovate beyond field-specific paradigms. As researchers return to curiosity, inquisitiveness, and the pure enjoyment for chemistry, I believe that the assimilation of an interdisciplinary research paradigm into catalytic carbohydrate synthesis will serve as an impetus for the discovery of novel chemical phenomena throughout the chemical sciences.