Founded in 1985, the State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry (SKLAOC) at Lanzhou University is one of the first state key laboratories established in China. With continuous effort in years, the SKLAOC has become an indispensable national center for scientific research and education in the area of organic chemistry and related disciplines.

As its name indicates, research in the SKLAOC aims to bring organic molecules to industrial applications. The main research topics in the SKLAOC are: (1) organic synthesis methodology; (2) natural product total synthesis; (3) natural product chemistry & chemical biology; and (4) organic material chemistry.

The faculty and staff of the SKLAOC bring together our research strengths and enable the earning of scientific achievements. Research activities at SKLAOC are delivered across 62 faculties, including 2 CAS Academicians, 2 Changjiang Scholars, 4 Changjiang Young Scholars, 5 Distinguished Young Scholars, and 3 Excellent Yong Scholars. The SKLAOC was headed sequentially by Profs. You-Cheng Liu, Zhong-Li Liu, Yong-Qiang Tu, Hong-Bin Zhai. Prof. Wei Wang is currently head of the SKLAOC.

The SKLAOC Core Facilities provide high-end equipment for spectroscopic analysis. Available instruments include: Varian Inova 600, Varian Mercury 400 and Mercury 300 NMR, Bruker Avance DRX-200 wide-bore NMR spectrometer equipped with photo-CIDNP and in vivo micro-imaging probes, Bruker Avance 400 solid-state NMR spectrometer, FT-ICR mass spectrometer, HP 5988 GC mass spectrometer, Jasco J-810 and J-20C CD spectropolarimeters, and Princeton PAR-170 electrochemical systems. Also available are: Bruker ER 200D EPR spectrometer, Enraf-Noinus CAD 4 X-ray diffractometer, Nicolet 170 SX IR spectrometer with GC and Spex DM 103 laser Raman spectrometer. These instruments and services provided by staff at the Core Facilities make possible all the scientific innovations happening at the SKLAOC.

The SKLAOC also serves as an outstanding platform for International outreach. Scholars from the SKLAOC attend International conferences to present state-of-the-art research on a regular basis; students continue their scientific training at world-renowned institutions such as Harvard University and the Scripps Research Institute; the SKLAOC seminars are given frequently by International scientists; and academic collaborations are established with countries all across the globe, including the US, Japan, UK, Germany and dozens of other countries.

Alumni from the SKLAOC contributes to the scientific community from all aspects. They became respectful educators, prolific scientists, and respectful leaders. The SKLAOC has been the cornerstone of organic chemistry education and research in China. It will continue to serve as the birthplace of young scientists and future scientific innovations.