Prof. dr Young Hae Choi is a renowned natural product chemist specializing in plant-derived compounds. He is also the founder of the NADES (Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents) concept. He obtained his BSc in Pharmacy from Seoul National University in 1992 and completed his PhD at the same institution in 2000. His doctoral thesis, titled “Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Nitrogen-Containing Natural Products”, focused on advanced extraction technologies for bioactive compounds.
Following two years of postdoctoral research applying mass spectrometry to the identification of natural products, he joined Leiden University, the Netherlands, where he currently holds his position.
Over the past two decades, he has developed a wide range of metabolomics methodologies for plants and microorganisms. These approaches have been applied to diverse biological model systems to address key questions in biology, physiology, and ecology. His representative research includes studies on tobacco–TMV (tobacco mosaic virus), Brassica–herbivore interactions, Senecio–thrips relationships, and Brassica and Arabidopsis treated with signaling molecules such as salicylic acid, jasmonate, and benzothiadiazole.
He has also investigated Catharanthus–phytoplasma interactions, conducted chemotaxonomic studies on Ilex and Cannabis, and explored numerous traditional medicines using metabolomics approaches. In addition to metabolomics, his research has significantly contributed to green extraction technologies, particularly through the development and application of natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) and supercritical fluid technologies.
To date, he has published more than 300 peer-reviewed scientific papers, which have received over 30,000 citations.