Recently, Professor Zhu Shoufei from Nankai University, was awarded the "11th CCS-BASF Youth Innovation Prize" for blazing a new trail in catalytic hydrogen transfer, establishing new reactions and strategies for hydrogen transfer, and driving progress in the research on hydrogen transfer, according to a resolution made by the Award Working Committee of the Chinese Chemical Society after deliberation by the Jury Committee of the CCS-BASF Youth Innovation Prize. 

As a well-known scholar in the field of organic chemistry, Zhu Shoufei has led a team to engage in long-term research on catalytic organic synthesis chemistry. From the unique perspective of hydrogen transfer control, he studied three types of important catalytic organic synthesis reactions, and made a number of original achievements. He put forward the concept of "chiral proton-shuttle catalyst", which offers a new solution for the asymmetric proton-transfer reaction of metal catalysis. It has solved a long-standing problem in the field of asymmetric catalysis, as well as provides an efficient synthesis method for important chiral building blocks such as α-amino acids. Hailed as “combination blow for catalysis”, it has spawned a series of related researches. 

Following a long period of scientific research, Zhu Shoufei discovered the new reaction of catalytic carbene inserted to B-H Bonds, which becomes a new-generation carbon-boron bonding reaction. This discovery combining metal carbene chemistry and organoboronic chemistry significantly expands the synthesis space of organic boron structure diversity. It is applied to the fields such as biocatalysis, triggering a slew of follow-up studies. At the same time, his scientific research team has developed a variety of new open-shell iron catalysts, which show themselves to be irreplaceable in a variety of hydrogen transfer reactions. The spin state effect of iron catalysts has been discovered. The findings were cited by many research groups. 

It is reported that the "CCS-BASF Youth Innovation Prize" is an academic award jointly established by the Chinese Chemical Society and BASF New Materials Co., Ltd. in 2001. The prize is given in recognition of outstanding young scientists under the age of 45 who are engaged in such fields as petrochemicals, polymer materials, fine chemical engineering, natural products and organic synthesis, surface and colloid chemistry, biological engineering (crop protection agents, feed additives). The award is presented to four persons every two years. By the end of 2021, the prize had been presented to a total of 44 winners. 

(Edited and translated by Nankai News Team)