2023 Chinese Chemical Society Young Chemist Award

Professor Zhongxing Huang from the Department of Chemistry has been honoured with the 2023 Chinese Chemical Society Young Chemist Award in recognition of his achievements in the synthesis and application of novel chiral dinuclear metal catalysts. This places him among the ten outstanding young chemists who have received this recognition.

The award was established by the Chinese Chemical Society in 1983 and stands as one of the society's earliest academic awards. It is bestowed upon exceptional young chemists, under the age of 35, who have demonstrated innovative and independent contributions in the fields of fundamental and cutting-edge research in chemistry, applied and industrial chemistry, or chemical education.

Professor Huang's research team centres around the asymmetric transformations of active methylene derivatives. Leveraging the structural characteristics of these substrates, they have successfully developed a class of chiral tetradentate ligands that incorporate an amino alcohol unit for stereocontrol, a phenol core, and a triarylmethanol side chain. This framework has paved the way for the creation of pioneering dinuclear zinc catalysts, representing a noteworthy milestone in achieving enantioselective reduction of malonic esters. Consequently, they have accomplished the synthesis of a diverse array of chiral building blocks, including fully substituted quaternary and tertiary carbon stereocenters, chiral tertiary halides, tertiary alcohols, and α-tertiary amines. Building upon this foundation, their research opens new avenues for the development of innovative synthetic routes to numerous natural products and biologically active compounds. 

Click here to learn more about the award.