Front blind spot crashes in Hong Kong.

In 2012-2014, our laboratory had investigated a total of 9 suspected front blind spot crashes, in which the medium and heavy goods vehicles pulled away from rest and rolled over the pedestrians, who were crossing immediately in front of the vehicles. The drivers alleged that they did not see any pedestrians through the windscreens or the front blind spot mirrors. Forensic assessment of the goods vehicles revealed the existence of front blind spot zones in 3 out of these 9 accident vehicles, which were attributed to the poor mirror adjustments or even the absence of a front blind spot mirror altogether.

Validation of pedestrian throw equations by video footage of real life pedestrian/vehicle collisions.

A total of 11 real life vehicle/pedestrian collisions in 2012-2014 were captured by CCTV cameras/car cameras in Hong Kong. Some of the footage was recorded in HD format at 30 frames per second, enabling accurate determinations of impact speeds with pedestrians, exact points of impacts and final rest positions of pedestrians as well as kinematics of the collisions. The calculated impact speeds from footage analysis were used to validate the published empirical and semi-empirical pedestrian throw equations.

Functionalized BODIPY with various sensory units--a versatile colorimetric and luminescent probe for pH and ions.

A series of BODIPY (4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene) derivatives containing ion- and pH-sensory units have been successfully designed and synthesized. One of the compounds was structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. Owing to the presence of an ICT absorption band, one of the compounds was found to show pronounced solvatochromic behavior in different organic solvents.

Single-turn helix-coil strands stabilized by metal···metal and π-π interactions of the alkynylplatinum(II) terpyridyl moieties in meta-phenylene ethynylene foldamers.

Dinuclear alkynylplatinum(II) terpyridyl complexes with oligomeric bridge consisting of five repeating meta-phenylene ethynylene (mPE) units have been found to exhibit a strong tendency to fold back onto themselves to form short helical strands through the stabilization of Pt···Pt and π-π interactions. The steric bulk of the terpyridine ligands and the length of the oligomeric bridge have been found to affect the extent of the intramolecular Pt···Pt interaction that governs the stabilization of the short helical strand in solution. Their folding properties via Pt···Pt and π-π stacking interactions have been studied by (1)H NMR, 2D ROESY NMR, electronic absorption, and emission spectroscopies.

Design, synthesis, characterization, luminescence and non-linear optical (NLO) properties of multinuclear platinum(II) alkynyl complexes.

A series of luminescent multinuclear platinum(II) alkynyl complexes containing triethynylbenzene or 1,4-bis(3,5-diethynylphenyl)buta-1,3-diyne as cores has been successfully synthesized and characterized. The electronic absorption, emission, nanosecond transient absorption and electrochemical properties of these complexes have been reported. These complexes show long-lived emissions in degassed benzene solution and in alcoholic glass at 77 K.

Photochromic alkynes as versatile building blocks for metal alkynyl systems: design, synthesis, and photochromic studies of diarylethene-containing platinum(II) phosphine alkynyl complexes.

The synthesis of newly designed photochromic dithienylethene-containing ethynylthiophene and ethynylthieno[3,2-b]thiophene has been described, and their incorporation as versatile ligands into the platinum(II) phosphine system was demonstrated. All platinum(II) complexes have been successfully characterized by (1)H and (31)P NMR spectroscopies, positive fast atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometry, as well as elemental analysis. One of the complexes has been characterized by X-ray crystallography.

Synthesis, characterization, luminescence, and non-linear optical properties of oxadiazole- and truxene-containing platinum(II) alkynyl complexes with donor-acceptor functionalities.

A series of luminescent platinum(II) alkynyl complexes containing 2,5-diphenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole (oxa-2,5) and 10,15-dihydro-5H-diindeno[1,2-a;1',2'-c]fluorene (truxene) as the cores and different electron donors at the periphery has been synthesized and characterized. These complexes showed long-lived emissions in both solution and in the solid state at room temperature and have been found to exhibit two-photon absorption (2PA) and two-photon induced luminescence. Their 2PA cross-sections (sigma(2)) have also been determined.

Room-temperature phosphorescence and energy transfer in luminescent multinuclear platinum(II) complexes of branched alkynyls.

A series of luminescent branched platinum(II) alkynyl complexes, [1,3,5-{RC[triple bond]C(PEt3)2PtC[triple bond]C-C6H4C[triple bond]C}3C6H3] (R=C6H5, C6H4OMe, C6H4Me, C6H4CF3, C5H4N, C6H4SAc, 1-napthyl (Np), 1-pyrenyl (Pyr), 1-anthryl-8-ethynyl (HC[triple bond]CAn)), [1,3-{PyrC[triple chemical bond]C(PEt3)2PtC[triple bond]CC6H4C[triple bond]C}2-5-{(iPr)3SiC[triple bond]C}C6H3], and [1,3-{PyrC[triple bond]C(PEt3)2PtC[triple bond]CC6H4C[triple bond]C}2-5-(HC[triple bond]C)C6H3], was successfully synthesized by using the precursors [1,3,5-{Cl(PEt3)2PtC[triple bond]CC6H4C[triple bond]C}3C6H3] or [1,3-{Cl(PEt3)2PtC[triple bond]CC6H4C[triple bond]C}2-5-{(iPr)3SiC[triple bond]C}C6H3]. The X-ray crystal structures of [1,3,5-{MeOC6H4C[triple bond]C(PEt3)2PtC[triple bond]CC6H4C[triple bond]C}3C6H3] and [1,8-{Cl(PEt3)2PtC[triple bond]C}2An] have been determined. These complexes were found to show long-lived emission in both solution and solid-state phases at room temperature.