Title:Professor Shi Bingfeng, Zhejiang University: Abundant-Metal-Catalyzed Asymmetric C–H Activation   

Speaker: Prof. Shi Bingfeng (Zhejiang University)   

Time: 16:00–17:30, Thursday, 27 November 2025   

Venue: Room 330101, Building 33, Wushan Campus   

Host: Prof. Zhang Min   

Organizers: School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Engineering   

[Abstract]

Abundant-metal-catalyzed asymmetric C–H activation offers a fresh strategy for the efficient creation of chiral molecules. However, the variable valence states and coordination modes of these metals have hampered mechanistic studies, leaving the design of tailor-made chiral ligands a formidable challenge. By gaining deep insight into the coordination chemistry and mechanistic manifold of earth-abundant metals, we have developed novel chiral ligands and established new catalytic systems based on cobalt, copper and nickel. These protocols enable rapid access to molecules bearing central, axial, planar and inherent chirality with high efficiency.   

[Biography]

Shi Bingfeng is Qiushi Distinguished Professor and doctoral supervisor at Zhejiang University, and Vice Director of the Faculty of Science. He received the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in 2019 and its continuation grant in 2025. He obtained his B.S. from Nankai University in 2001 and Ph.D. from the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, CAS, in 2006. After post-doctoral stays at UC San Diego and The Scripps Research Institute (2006–2010), he joined the Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, in May 2010. Prof. Shi was selected into Zhejiang Province’s “Ten-Thousand Talents” Program and has received numerous awards, including the Merck Lectureship Excellence in Chemistry Research, the Chinese Chemical Society Award for Young Chiral Chemists, the WuXi AppTec Life Science Research Award, the Distinguished Lectureship Award of the Chemical Society of Japan, the Thieme Chemistry Journal Award, and the Shen Shan-Hong Distinguished Young Scholar Award of Zhejiang University. He currently serves as Associate Editor of The Journal of Organic Chemistry (ACS) and sits on the editorial boards of several journals. He is also a Council Member of the Chinese Chemical Society, Executive Council Member of the Zhejiang Chemical Society, and serves on multiple national committees for organic chemistry, physical organic chemistry, phosphorus chemistry and awards. His research focuses on the precise catalytic transformation of inert C–H bonds and asymmetric synthesis.

Announced by School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering