Rate My Professor Zhe Dong

Zhe Dong is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at Southern University of Science and Technology, where he joined in 2021 as a tenure-track faculty member. He earned his B.S. degree from the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering at Peking University in 2012, working under the guidance of Professor Zhi-Xiang Yu. He then pursued his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, completing it in 2018 under Professor Guangbin Dong, after the group relocated from the University of Texas at Austin. Following his doctorate, he conducted postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Professor David W. C. MacMillan at Princeton University from 2018 until 2021.

Dr. Dong’s doctoral research centered on palladium- and norbornene-catalyzed multicomponent cross-coupling reactions and meta-selective arene C–H bond activation. During his postdoctoral work, he developed a metallaphotoredox-enabled deoxygenative arylation of alcohols. His independent research program at SUSTech focuses on photoredox-enabled organoboron chemistry, heterocycle functionalization, stereospecific coupling reactions for constructing chiral quaternary carbons, and applications in medicinal chemistry and photo-biochemistry. Prior to joining SUSTech, he authored nine first- or corresponding-author papers that have collectively received more than 1,500 citations. He has received several honors, including the China Scholarship Council Scholarship for Outstanding Self-financed Students Studying Abroad (2015), Reaxys PhD Prize Finalist (2017), Yang Cao-Lan-Xian Best Thesis Award from the University of Chicago (2018), and the Oversea Young Investigator Award (2020). Representative publications include works in Nature, Nature Chemistry, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, and Chemical Reviews.