University Chemistry ›› 2026, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (6): 166-174.doi: 10.12461/PKU.DXHX202605044

• Special Subject • Previous Articles    

Case design of the Chemistry “101 Plan” comprehensive chemistry experiment: taking laser confocal cell imaging of MOC-16 as an example

Jiayi Wu1, Yaping Wang2, Jijun Jiang1, Mei Pan1, Chengyong Su1   

  1. 1 School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong Province, China;
    2 Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510030, Guangdong Province, China
  • Received:2026-05-13 Accepted:2026-05-21 Published:2026-06-18
  • Contact: Mei Pan, Chengyong Su E-mail:panm@mail.sysu.edu.cn;cesscy@mail.sysu.edu.cn

Abstract: To meet the requirements of the Chemistry“101 Plan” for a “high-level, innovative, and challenging” comprehensive chemistry experiment course, this paper presents a comprehensive cell imaging experiment based on the biological imaging performance of pH-responsive organometallic supramolecular cage MOC-16 leveraging a large-scale instrument sharing platform. This experiment covers the complete scientific research chain including cell culture, pH-dependent cell membrane targeted incubation, one-/two-photon imaging via confocal laser scanning microscopy and image analysis, which can cultivate students’ practical ability to operate large-scale instruments and interdisciplinary thinking. As the core module of the “Modern Chemical Research Methods and Experiments” course under the chemistry “Strong Foundation Plan”, this experiment has been included in the comprehensive part of the synthetic chemistry experiment textbook of the Chemistry “101 Plan”. It can be offered as a standalone course in chemical biology experiments, or combined with the content of the synthesis and characterization of supramolecular cages to be offered as a comprehensive experiment for biomedical applications. It has refined an experimental teaching model that aligns with the goal of cultivating top-notch innovative talents and has also provided a replicable and scalable model for supporting the cultivation of basic disciplines through a large-scale instrument sharing platform.

Key words: Chemistry “101 Plan”, Comprehensive chemistry experiment, Confocal laser scanning microscopy, Large-scale instrument sharing platform, Top-notch talent cultivation, Supramolecular materials