The predecessor of Shanghai Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Institute of Pesticide and Pharmaceuticals, ECUST was founded in 1992. From the beginning of establishing, we always implemented the concept of “integrity, unity and excellence”, adhered to the theme of innovation, and combined basic theory and engineering development. At present, a highly educated and efficient scientific research team with the mission of serving the country with technology has been formed, which is one of the main research teams in the field of pesticide chemistry and aromatic heterocyclic chemical biology in China. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology was formally approved in 2001.

There are 19 fixed researchers, including 13 professors, 4 associate professors, 2 lecturers, and 1 lab management, among which 17 persons have doctorate and 17 persons have overseas studying/working experience. There are approximately 50 doctoral candidates, 150 graduate students and several postdoctoral fellows. Thus, a young, highly-educated, and high-level research team was formed.

The talent team of the institute includes one academician of the Chinese academy of engineering, 973 chief scientists, one "ten thousand plan" of the organization department of the central committee, one“young and middle-aged science and technology innovation leading talent of the ministry of science and technology”, one “Shanghai ten thousand plan”, two “Shanghai pujiang talent”, one “Shanghai young science and technology morning star” and one “Shanghai young science and technology talents sailing plan”.

To attract and cultivate outstanding young talent, the key laboratory provides good academic environment, including initial fund, guidance of experienced professors and various opportunities of exercise and improvement.

Director of laboratory

Pro. Li zhong: doctoral supervisor, “young and middle-aged science and technology innovation leading talent of the ministry of science and technology”, "ten thousand plan" of the organization department of the central committee, “new century outstanding talent of the ministry of education”, “Shanghai outstanding academic leader”, “Shanghai dawn scholar”. Li zhong was born in July, 1968. He received the bachelor of engineering degree in applied chemistry, the master of science degree in physical chemistry, and the doctor of engineering degree in fine chemistry from ECUST in 1990, 1993 and 1996 respectively. In 1995, he stayed in ECUST for work. He was employed as associate professor in 1998, professor in 2003 and doctoral supervisor in 2004 respectively. During the period from 1999 to 2001, he was funded by the national AIST and ITIT postdoctoral foundation of Japan, and engaged in postdoctoral research in the Japanese institute of industrial technology.

The research field of Pro. Li was green pesticide chemistry and new pesticide innovation. In recent years, he has presided one “national key research and development program” (23.55 million yuan), three “national natural science foundation”, two “863 projects” (2011AA19A207, 8.77 million yuan; 2006AA10A201, 6.8 million yuan), two “973 sub-projects”. He has published more than 100 papers and obtained 14 Chinese invention patents and 15 foreign patents. Among them two patents realized technology transfer and come into two products with independent intellectual property rights: neonicotinoid insecticides PaiChongDing and Cycloxaprid.At present, these two insecticides have been officially registered as new national pesticides and entered the industrialization implementation stage.

Research fields of laboratory

The overall positioning of the laboratory is to carry out innovative research in the field of chemical biology of aromatic heterocyclic ring and to become a base of fundamental research and application development with distinctive characteristics, regular teams and advanced conditions. At present，our team has three academic leaders, namely Li zhong (chemical biology of pesticides), Yang youjun (chemical biology of dyes) and Song gonghua (methodology of active molecule construction).

Chemical biology of pesticides

The development of environmentally friendly, highly efficient and low toxic ecological pesticides concerns the national welfare and people's livelihood as well as the development of the whole economy and society. Novel methodology has been integrated into molecular design and leader discovery of ecological pesticides. Taking advantage of discipline characteristic of ECUST, chemistry, biology and information science were integrated to combine pesticide development and chemical engineering. At present, various research directions of insect growth regulation, smart pesticide, plant antiviral activators, nematicides, pesticide nanotechnology and pesticide crystal engineering are exploring.

Chemical biology of dyes

Fluorescence sensor chemistry for biological science and technology and environmental ecological security is a frontier with broad application prospects. Using aromatic planar conjugated heterocycle as the main clue, a series of fluorescent probes were designed. And the systematic and innovative study was carried out on their molecular design principle, synthetic methods, performance evaluation and application technology.

Methodology of active molecule construction

The construction of active molecules is crucial to the development of new drugs. Complex field promotion based on microwave-ultrasonic wave, combinatorial chemistry based on functionalized ionic liquid, multicomponent reactions based on fluoride block and green synthetic method based on fluoride compound were innovated to strengthen their advantages on atom economy, synthetic efficiency and structural diversity so as to provide diverse compound library for drug screening.