Walking into the State Key Laboratory of Elemental Organics of Nankai University, a group of young people are huddled in a heated discussion among the reagent racks full of bottles and cans and the humming instruments. Pan Binbin, a 2021 doctoral student majoring in organic chemistry in the School of Chemistry of Nankai University, is among them. He told reporters that at present, his research group of academician Zhou Qilin is focusing on promoting the research in the field of asymmetric transformation of active carbene intermediates, hoping to achieve breakthroughs in the synthesis of unnatural amino acids and peptides.
Pan is a young man from Anhui. When he first came to the research group of his mentor Academician Zhou Qilin in 2019, he was full of excitement and excitement, but he was still a little ignorant about his future scientific research career. In the first class of the first class, he and his classmates learned about the inheritance of chemistry in Nankai, and learned about the stories of Qiu Zongyue, Yang Shixian, Li Zhengming and other chemical pioneers who overcame difficulties and continued to struggle for the motherland and the people on the road of scientific and technological research, and answered the "three patriotic questions" loudly with everyone. He was deeply impressed by such an enthusiastic first lesson. At the end of 2019, not long after Mr. Pan arrived in Mr. Zhou's research group, he heard that the project 'Discovery of Efficient Chiral Spiro-ring Catalysts' led by Mr. Zhou won the only first prize of the National Natural Science Award that year.
"Before I registered, I only knew that the chemistry discipline of Nankai University was very powerful, but I didn't know where the 'power' was. Now, I realize what a strong team I have entered! Guest Pan sighed sincerely.
In the face of such excellent seniors and teachers, Pan's inner sense of responsibility and mission arises spontaneously, and he knows that only by working hard can he be worthy of this team and firmly grasp the scientific research "baton" handed over by his predecessors.
However, in reality, obscure literature and inconclusive experiments are like "roadblocks", which makes him wonder whether he is suitable for scientific research. In the face of this difficulty, Pan did not be confined to the confusion and pain of self-doubt, but chose to read a lot of literature, based on the ideas that have been proposed, and then investigate the literature to verify its significance, veto some of the selected topics, gradually narrow the scope of the selected topics, and so on, and strive to accumulate a possible ladder of verification with experimental data.
In the research group, Academician Zhou Qilin will personally participate in the group meeting every week to check the direction of everyone's research and solve the problems encountered. He always exhorted everyone not to do scientific research just for the sake of publishing articles, but to "do useful chemistry", and the purpose of research should ultimately be for the benefit of the country and the people.
With the help and drive of Mr. Zhou, in the two-year scientific research process, Mr. Pan has established the overall situation of "knowing China and serving China", and has always maintained a good attitude and the spirit of not being discouraged. Finally, his group designed and synthesized a chiral spiral catalyst with high pKa value, and realized the asymmetric insertion reaction of such highly active carbene intermediates into heteroatom hydrogen bonds for the first time. At the same time, the asymmetric conversion process from the inorganic chemical ammonia to the amino acids, the source of organic life, has also been realized in related fields, which provides an effective solution for the efficient conversion application of ammonia.
The seeds of scientific research bear gratifying fruits in the hard cultivation.
Today, under the leadership of the teacher, Mr. Pan and the members of the research group continue to challenge the scientific research peak in the field of catalysis. Whenever he walked past the MRI room in Shixian Building, he would always remember the general secretary's earnest entrustment when he inspected Nankai University: only by integrating the small self into the big self can we have a mind like the sea and a lofty mountain.
He said that in the field of asymmetric catalysis, he is still a small explorer, and he is trying to touch the boundaries of science with enthusiasm. "I want to continue to uphold this love, closely combine the direction of scientific research with the major needs of the country, be a down-to-earth person, do a down-to-earth study, and let the blood of youth always beat in the pulse of the motherland." (Jinyun News reporter: Duan Wei)
Source: Jinyun
Review: Li Chenxue
Braided hair: Ma Kai
Material arrangement: Chen Zhuo, Lv Xinwei