Qing-Yun Chen (; 25 January 1929 – 2 March 2023) was a Chinese

organic chemist Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

and member of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

, specializing in the field of organic fluorine chemistry.

Biography

Chen was born on January 25, 1929, in

Yuanjiang Yuanjiang () is a county-level city in the Province of Hunan, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Yiyang. Located in the north of the province, the city is bordered to the north by Nan County, to the northeast b ...

Hunan Province Hunan is an inland province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Guangdong and Guangxi to the south, and Guizhou and Chon ...

, into a family that was not particularly wealthy. His parents attached great importance to education and did their best to ensure that he received a formal education; in 1948, Chen was admitted to

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

, from which he graduated four years later with a degree in chemistry. After finishing his bachelor's degree in 1952, he joined the Instrumentation Hall of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (now known as

Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics The Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP; zh, s=长春光学精密机械与物理研究所), of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), is a state research institution in Changchun, Jilin, China. It was founded in 1 ...

of the Chinese Academy of Sciences) as a research assistant. In 1956, after passing the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

entrance exam, he entered the Institute of Elemental Organic Compounds of the

Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (un ...

to obtain his master's degree. He received his Ph.D. in

organofluorine chemistry Organofluorine chemistry describes the chemistry of organofluorine compounds, organic compounds that contain a carbon–fluorine bond. Organofluorine compounds find diverse applications ranging from Lipophobicity, oil and hydrophobe, water repell ...

in 1960 under the supervision of

Ivan Knunyants Ivan Lyudvigovich Knunyants (, ; – 21 December 1990), was a Soviet chemist of Armenian origin, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union, a major general and engineer, who significantly contributed to the advancement of Sovie ...

and N. P. Gambaryan. In 1960, after finishing his degree, he returned to China to study the development of fluorinated rubber, and in 1963, he was transferred to the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he continued the development of fluorinated rubber. Chen and colleagues found the chromate fog inhibitor F-53 and studied and synthesized a variety of chemicals. He then used this as a basis for a systematic study of single-electron transfer of fluoroalkyl halides. In 1993, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. After 2000, Chen expanded his research interests to the synthesis and application of fluoroalkylated

porphyrins Porphyrins ( ) are heterocyclic, macrocyclic, organic compounds, composed of four modified pyrrole subunits interconnected at their α carbon atoms via methine bridges (). In vertebrates, an essential member of the porphyrin group is heme, whi ...

. He developed two practical methods for the preparation of various fluoroalkylated porphyrins, the sulfinatodehalogenation reaction and the

palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...

-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction. On March 2, 2023, he died at the age of 94 in Shanghai.

Personal life

In 1961, Chen married Zhi-Fen Yu and they had a son and a daughter.

References

{{Reflist 1929 births 2023 deaths Chemists from Hunan Chinese organic chemists Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Peking University alumni