September 9, 2025
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The anti-cancer drug Pt1b developed by Prof. Che and his team in LSCCB has passed the IND application review in Mainland China and the clinical trials has now begun.
September 9, 2025
che
group
Explore the fascinating world of Metal Chemistry and its integration with materials science, catalysis and medicines
Our Science
The investigations conducted by the Che Group have resulted in significant innovations. These include the development of novel excited-state atom transfer catalysis, selective hydrocarbon functionalization reactions, practical phosphorescent and metal-assisted TADF emitters, unique functional supramolecular metal assemblies, and anti-cancer metal medicines to combat metastatic malignancies.
Sustainable Catalysis
Luminescent materials
Anti-cancer d8/d10 metal complexes
Reactive Metal-Ligand Multiple-bonded Complexes for Sustainable Catalysis
Professor Che pioneered the isolation and understanding of highly reactive metal-oxygen/nitrogen/carbon complexes, transforming them from fleeting intermediates into powerful, predictable tools for chemistry and creating practical methods for synthesising valuable molecules.
Leading research in this field since 1985
Our current work
With our continuing effort to study metal-ligand multiple bonds and their applications in transition metal catalysis for practical organic transformations, various metal catalysts have been developed for oxygen atom and carbene or nitrene group transfer/insertion reactions. Through judicious choice of ligands and metal ions, we are able to synthesize and isolate diverse classes of metal-oxygen, -nitrogen and -carbon multiply bonded complexes including highly reactive ones for understanding the mechanisms of metal-catalyzed atom and group transfer to organic substrates at the molecular level via spectroscopic measurements and/or by DFT calculations. Useful structural information has been obtained for the rational design of more robust metal catalysts with higher selectivity.
Image ref: Zhou, D., To, P., Ming Tong, G. S., Cheng, G., Du, L., Phillips, D. L., & Che, M. (2020). Tetradentate Gold(III) Complexes as Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence (TADF) Emitters: Microwave-Assisted Synthesis and High-Performance OLEDs with Long Operational Lifetime. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 59(16), 6375-6382. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201914661
Phosphorescent d⁸/d¹⁰ metal complexes
Our group’s longstanding expertise in designing proprietary phosphorescent platinum(II) complexes has yielded a robust palette of highly luminescent materials—spanning from blue to red, white, and near-infrared emissions—enabling advanced full-color displays and lighting, with key patents licensed to industry leaders such as Samsung and Merck.
Development of metal complexes in cancer diagnostics and treatment
Che’s PNAS work merges coordination chemistry with multi‑omics to identify anticancer targets, showing gold(III) porphyrin and d⁸ pincer complexes as potent anti‑metastatic scaffolds. He also pioneered phosphorescent platinum(II) and gold(III) complexes for detecting DNA, RNA, and mismatched nucleic acids.
01 Innovative Gold/Platinum Anticancer Medicines and Theragnostic
02 Proteomics and Drug Targets Identification
03 Natural Products from Chinese Medicines
What’s New
August 25, 2025
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Prof. Che received a new plaque of the State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Chemistry at the presentation ceremony hosted by the Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Yin Hejun. see: hkumedia
August 25, 2025
September 8, 2024
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Prof. Che has been prominently featured in a special topic by HKTKWW
September 8, 2024
June 18, 2024
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Prof. Che has been listed among the best scientists in the field of Chemistry and ranked 71st globally (5th in China) in the 3nd edition of Research.com with a D-index of 150. See: research.com/u/chi-ming-che & HKU News
June 18, 2024
May 28, 2024
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Prof. Che has received funding from the Research, Academic, and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme (RAISe+) for Innovative molecular emitters for practical OLEDs and wearable devices, details: hkumedia
May 28, 2024
Image: Yee Fong Lectureship (義芳化學講座) at National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, China, November 25, 2025
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