One month before he defends his bachelor’s thesis, Vietnamese undergraduate Vu Huy Hoang has already published a research paper which he co-authored with other graduate fellows.

‘Superparamagnetic nanoparticles as a recyclable catalyst’ explores new access to phenol esters via cross dehydrogenative coupling reactions, Hoang explained.

It was published on December 8 in the RSC Advances, a journal by the Royal Society of Chemistry that is indexed by International Scientific Indexing (ISI).

“Our study results have the potential for application in the development of new materials, especially in the field of pharmaceutical chemistry,” Hoang said.

The research paper published on RSC Advances

A senior in chemical engineering at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), Hoang was invited to the graduate research group thanks to his outstanding academic achievements.

“Prior to joining the study, I had had little practical experience in the lab,” Hoang confessed. “I have learnt a lot from the six months working alongside my professors and forerunners.”

“The task that I was in charge of was both an integral part of and independent from the rest of the study, and required a lot of time and financial commitment,” he added. “Hard work and a bit of luck were what helped me fulfill my duty.”

According to his instructor, Hoang is rare case of a HCMUT student who has had a paper published in an ISI-indexed journal before earning his bachelor’s degree.

“Not many chemistry students in Vietnam get to have their study published in an international scientificjournal, let alone one with an impact factor of 3.2 like the RSC Advances,” said Dr. Nguyen Lac Ha, a research fellow at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia.

Sharing his vision of seeking graduate education abroad, Hoang said that he had been studying German since his sophomore year, and that this journal publication would be another big plus in his academic portfolio.

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