Professor Hyotcherl Ihee has been widely recognized as a distinguished scientist and a prominent leader in the field of time-resolved X-ray solution scattering and time-resolved optical spectroscopy. His research is focused on understanding the structural dynamics of a wide range of molecules covering small molecules to proteins using time-resolved X-ray liquidography (or solution scattering), time-resolved X-ray crystallography, and time-resolved optical spectroscopy. In particular, he has made significant contributions to the establishment of time-resolved X-ray liquidography, which is a state-of-the-art method for visualizing the three-dimensional molecular structures of the reaction intermediates in the liquid and solution phases. Using the technique, he has elucidated the structural dynamics and mechanisms of various haloalkanes, photocatalysts, and proteins. Also, Professor Ihee has revealed the relationships of catalyst-substrate association for diverse metathesis Mo and Ru catalysts using time-dependent fluorescence quenching spectroscopy.
Professor Ihee is a recipient of the Kyung-Am Academic Award (2016), the Myung Soo Kim Academic Excellence Award (2015), the Morino Lectureship Award (2011), and the Young Scientist Award (2006). He is currently on the Editorial Advisory Board of Acc. Chem. Res., Int. J. Mol. Sci. and Struct. Dyn., and served as an editorial board member of the ChemPhysChem from 2011 to 2014.