The list of winners of the 3rd Science and Technology Innovation Awards of the China Society for the Promotion of Science and Technology Commercialization was recently announced.

The team of Chair Professor Xumu ZHANG, Vice Dean of the College of Science at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) and foreign member of the Russian Academy of Engineering (RAE), together with Chiral Quest Biochemical (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., won the second prize of the Science and Technology Innovation Awards for their project “Application of Asymmetric Hydrogenation in Green Synthesis of Major Drugs”.

Xumu ZHANG has long been engaged in studying the green and asymmetric synthesis of chiral drugs. After years of comprehensive and exploratory research, his team has achieved successful results in the field of asymmetric hydrogenation and chiral phosphine ligands.

Prof. ZHANG also developed the chiral toolbox that has been extensively used globally in the field of asymmetric catalysis. Among them, DuanPhos, Binapine, TangPhos, TunePhos, and other chiral phosphine ligands are widely used worldwide.

He received the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society in 2002, the first scientist from mainland Chinese to do so.

The Zhang enyne cycloisomerization, a named reaction developed by Prof. ZHANG, is crowned with his last name because of its importance. At present, less than five Chinese scientists in the world have this honor.

The Science and Technology Innovation Awards of the China Society for the Promotion of Science and Technology Commercialization is a social science and technology award approved by the National Office for Science and Technology Awards. The award acknowledges individuals and groups who have made important contributions to scientific and technological innovation and industrialization.