Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC), Chinese Academy of Sciences, is a renowned organic chemistry research center with a long history, a gathering of talents, strong capabilities, first-class facilities, and fruitful achievements, enjoying high reputation and influence both domestically and internationally. It is a comprehensive chemistry institute integrating basic research, applied research, and high-tech innovation research. Founded in June 1950, SIOC is one of the first 15 research institutes established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with its predecessor being the Institute of Chemistry of the former Academia Sinica, founded in July 1928. Starting from research on antibiotics and polymer chemistry, after nearly 60 years of hard work and struggle by several generations, SIOC has achieved remarkable accomplishments in basic research centered on organic chemistry, applied research, high-tech development, and talent cultivation. In China's significant achievements such as the development of the "two bombs, one satellite," the "total synthesis of bovine insulin, the total synthesis of yeast alanine transfer ribonucleic acid," and "two basic problems in physical organic chemistry: substituent delocalization parameters in free radical chemistry and the concept of aggregation of organic molecules," our researchers made important contributions. In 1998, SIOC was among the first to enter the CAS Knowledge Innovation Program. Since then, featuring interdisciplinary research and oriented towards national strategies and major issues in the national economy, with organic chemistry basic research and applied basic research as the leading focus, SIOC centers on three major areas: population and health, resources and environment, and new materials, highlighting six research directions including basic organic chemistry topics related to health and life, environment and ecosystems, resource utilization and development, new materials, energy development and application, and national security, thereby driving the development of eight disciplines: chemical biology, organometallic chemistry, organic synthetic chemistry, element organic chemistry, physical organic chemistry, chemical informatics, organic materials chemistry, and organic analytical chemistry. SIOC currently houses the State Key Laboratory of Bioorganic and Natural Products Chemistry, the State Key Laboratory of Organometallic Chemistry, the CAS Key Laboratory of Organofluorine Chemistry, the CAS Key Laboratory of Synthetic Chemistry of Natural Products, the CAS Key Laboratory of Synthesis and Assembly of Organic Functional Molecules, the CAS Research Center for Interdisciplinary Sciences of Biology and Chemistry, the Key Laboratory of Propellant Key Materials, the Shanghai-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory in Synthetic Chemistry, the CAS Research Center for Organic Synthesis Engineering, and enterprise joint laboratories. Entrusted by the Chinese Chemical Society, SIOC edits and publishes three SCI-indexed journals: Acta Chimica Sinica, Chinese Journal of Chemistry, and Chinese Journal of Organic Chemistry. As of the end of 2016, the institute had 865 employees, including 9 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 81 professors, 36 winners of the CAS "Hundred Talents Program," 23 recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 1 top "*" selected person, 1 short-term project selected person under the "*" innovative talent program, and 20 youth project selected persons under the "*" program. There were 581 graduate students and 48 postdoctoral researchers. Since its establishment, SIOC has won a total of 348 various scientific research achievement awards, including 72 national grand awards, among which 3 first prizes of the National Natural Science Award (2 as cooperative), 18 second prizes (1 as cooperative); 3 National Invention Awards and 4 second prizes of the National Invention Award (3 as cooperative); 3 special prizes of the National Science and Technology Progress Award (cooperative), 1 first prize (cooperative), and 11 second prizes (5 as cooperative); 145 CAS various awards including 28 first prizes of the CAS Natural Science Award; and 82 Shanghai municipal science and technology achievement awards. It has obtained 656 authorized patents (including 20 foreign patents) and published over 11,150 academic papers. SIOC has established extensive contacts with research institutions and universities worldwide, deepening international cooperation and exchange, and strengthening cooperation with large enterprises and schools domestically and internationally. SIOC will advance with the times, achieve leapfrog development, and strive to build itself into an important world research base for organic chemistry, a research center for organic chemistry in China, and a cradle for cultivating first-class organic chemists.