1962年生于江苏宝应，1982年本科毕业于华东化工学院(现华东理工大学)，1985、1988年分别获该校工学硕士、博士学位。1989年-1991年，先后为美国拉玛大学副研究员、德国维尔兹堡大学洪堡基金博士后。1992年回华东理工大学任教，1995年起任教授，1992-1995任药物化工所副所长、所长，精细化工学科主任，1995年任校长助理、1996年-2000年任副校长。2004年7月至2015年3月任华东理工大学校长。2007年-2008年，任亚太化工联盟主席。2011年12月当选中国工程院院士，2014年兼任中国工程院化工、冶金与材料工程学部常委

有机化工，精细和特殊有机化工，主要从事生物有机化学品(染料、农药)的分子设计、化学合成、生物生态功能和药效性能等研究，聚焦在染料衍生的荧光分子传感器和抗癌剂先导、绿色化学农药特征的杀虫剂和植物抗病免疫剂

FRET-based mito-specific fluorescent probe for ratiometric detection and imaging of endogenous peroxynitrite: Dyad of Cy3 and Cy5，J. Am. Soc. Chem., 2016, 138 (34), 10778–10781.

A reusable heterogeneous catalyst without leaking palladium for highly-efficient Suzuki-Miyaura reaction in pure water under air, RSC Advances, 2016, 6(66), 60996-61000.

Removal of mercury from aqueous solution using mesoporous silica nanoparticles modified with polyamide receptor, J. Colloid and Interface Sci., 2015, 458, 229-234.

Reactive fluorescent dye functionalized cotton fabric as a ""Magic Cloth'' for selective sensing and reversible separation of Cd2+ in water, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2015, 3(33), 8485-8489.

Fluorescence imaging of metal ions implicated in diseases, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2015, 44(14), 4487-4493.

Discovery of a novel family of polycyclic aromatic molecules with unique reactivity and members valuable for fluorescent sensing and medicinal chemistry, ChemCommun. , 2015, 51(30), 6480-6488.

PTID: an integrated web resource and computational tool for agrochemical discovery, Bioinformatics, 2013, 29(2), 292-294.

Development of unsymmetrical dyads as potent noncarbohydrate-based inhibitors against human beta-N-acetyl-D-hexosaminidase, ACS Med. Chem., 2013, 4(6), 527-531.

A dual-emission and large stokes shift fluorescence probe for real-time discrimination of ROS/RNS and imaging in live cells, ChemCommun., 2013, 49(18), 1862-1864.

Short and scalable synthesis of an anhydride precursor of the environment-sensitive fluorophore 6-dimethylaminonaphthalimide, Nature Protocols, 2011, 6(12), 1990-1997.

Acenaphtho[1,2-b]pyrrole-based selective fibroblast growth factor receptors 1 (FGFR1) inhibitors: Design, synthesis, and biological activity, J. Med. Chem., 2011, 54(11), 3732-3745.

Advanced research on cis-neonicotinoids, Chimia, 2011, 65(12), 957-960.

A new class of naphthalimide-based antitumor agents that inhibit topoisomerase II and induce lysosomal membrane permeabilization and apoptosis, J. Med. Chem., 2010, 53 (6), 2589-2600.

China: Forward to the green pesticides via a basic research program, J. Agri. Food Chem., 2010, 58(5), 2613-2623.

Recent progress of highly efficient in vivo biological screening for novel agrochemicals in China, Pest Management Sci, 2010, 66(3), 238-247.

Chemical Biotechnology and Bioengineering, RSC Green Chemistry, 2015, published by RSC, U.K."