Zhou Guangzhao Professorship in Natural Sciences

Chemistry is the study of the composition, structure, properties and reactions of matter, especially of atomic and molecular systems. It is known as the central science and The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is at the forefront of pioneering research in synthetic chemistry as well as interdisciplinary research between Chemistry, Materials Science, and Medicines.

Professor Che Chi-Ming, Chair of Chemistry of the Department of Chemistry, HKU, has made inspiring contributions in virtually all areas of chemistry. His innovative research is based on synthetic chemistry, coordination chemistry and photochemistry, and he has made tremendous contributions to integrate coordination chemistry with materials science, reaction methodology, catalysis, and biomedical science.

Professor Che has pioneered the chemistry of d8 and d10 metal complexes including their photo-physics and excited state chemistry as well as closed shell metal-metal interactions of d8 and d10 metal ions. He is a leading figure in developing reactive metal-ligand multiple bonded complexes for practical atom and group transfer/insertion reactions and for selective functionalisation of alkanes with practical interest in organic synthesis. He has made efforts to develop translational and interdisciplinary research in the areas of new medicines and new materials. And he has done innovative research to develop new metal medicines for cancer treatment by combining coordination chemistry, organic chemistry, proteomics, and molecular biology.

His research team has invented physiologically stable gold(III) and platinum(II) compounds which are highly potent and can be used for treatment of drug resistant cancers. Recently, he embarked on research into chemical biology of bioactive natural products from Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM) with a vision to uncover non-toxic natural TCM compounds for cancer treatment. Professor Che is also a world leader in OLED (organic light-emitting diode) materials; his team has successfully developed practical platinum(II) emitters that have already been licensed to national and international display companies with millions US dollars licensed fees.

Professor Che received BSc (1978) and PhD (1982) degrees from HKU and conducted research studies at the California Institute of Technology from 1980 to 1983. He joined the Department of Chemistry at HKU in 1983 and was promoted to a Chair Professor in 1992. He was the Hui Wai Haan Chair of Chemistry from 1999 to 2016 and is the Director of State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Chemistry at HKU.

He is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, and a Foreign Associate of National Academy of Sciences, USA. He is one of the directors and the founding members as well as the Vice President of the Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong. He has received the First Class Prize of the State Natural Science Award of China, TWAS (the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World) Prize in Chemistry, and RSC (the Royal Society of Chemistry) Centenary Prize. Professor Che was the winner of Leader of the Year (Education/Research Category) in 2007, and he was awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star from the Hong Kong SAR Government for his continuous contribution to scientific research. Professor Che has been granted, accumulatively, HK$260 million for his research activities. He is listed as one of the Highly Cited Researchers worldwide by ISI HighlyCited.com and his current H-index is 98.