On June 24th, the list of winners for the 2023 State Science and Technology Awards was announced. The project "Research on Asymmetric Catalysis Methodology Based on Angle Regulation and Synergistic Promotion Strategies," completed by Prof. Wanbin ZHANG's team from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (SCCE) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), won the second prize in the State Natural Science Award.

Award-Winning Project:

Research on Asymmetric Catalysis Methodology Based on Angle Regulation and Synergistic Promotion Strategies

Asymmetric catalytic synthesis is closely related to chiral materials in pharmaceuticals, fragrances, pesticides, and other fields, and is crucial for life sciences. However, issues of selectivity and efficiency have severely restricted the development of this field. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the project team focused on fundamental scientific problems such as the precise construction of phosphorus chiral centers and multi-chiral center molecules, and the efficiency improvement of asymmetric hydrogenation. They proposed new strategies of angle regulation and synergistic promotion, created chiral bicyclic imidazole catalysts, and developed new P,N ligands of biphenyl and ferrocene. They also developed the first asymmetric catalytic reaction for constructing phosphorus (V) chirality, bimetallic synergistic catalytic stereodivergent synthesis reactions, and dispersion force synergistically promoted asymmetric catalytic hydrogenation reactions. They revealed new mechanisms and important rules of chiral induction and transmission in asymmetric catalysis, with several results achieving industrial application. The project results are important to the fields of synthetic chemistry and medicinal chemistry and have strongly promoted the development of organic chemistry.

The 2023 State Preeminent Science and Technology Award was awarded to Academician Deren LI and Academician Qikun XUE. A total of 49 State Natural Science Awards, 62 State Technological Invention Awards, and 139 State Science and Technology Progress Awards were granted. China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award was given to 10 individuals.

                                                                                                                                                                                                         Translator: Chenyun SUN

                                                                                                                                                                                                         Reviser: Xiaoke HU