Tao Yi

Tao Yi, Ph.D., full professor in chemistry, obtained her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from Peking University in 1987, 1990 and 1998, respectively. From 1999 to 2004, she conducted research at Kyoto University (JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow), Tokyo University, and Paris University (XI) in France. From May 2004, she joined Fudan University as an associate professor and full professor (2007). From 2019, she moved to Donghua University as a full professor. She has received the outstanding young scientist fund from the national natural science foundation of China and the outstanding academic leader in Shanghai. She received the Shanghai Natural Science Award (first contributor, 2023), the First Prize of Natural Science of the Ministry of Education (second contributor, 2015), and National Science and Technology Progress Award Second Prize (fourth contributor, 2000).

Her research focuses on responsive fluorescent functional materials and activated controlled-release systems. Her research group has developed several smart molecular probes and diagnostic systems that can be applied in biological systems, achieving in situ imaging and targeted treatment for major diseases such as malignant tumors and organ injury. She has published over 260 research papers in journals such as J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Adv. Mater., Chem. Soc. Rev., etc., with more than 15,000 citations. She has led over ten national-level scientific research projects.


Education and Work Experience

1983.09 - 1987.07, Peking University, Department of Chemistry, Bachelor's Degree

1987.09 - 1990.07, Peking University, Department of Chemistry, Master's Degree

1990.08 - 2001.01, Peking University, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Assistant Professor, Lecturer

1994.09 - 1997.06, Peking University, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Doctoral Candidate (while on the job)

1999.06 - 2001.05, Kyoto University, Faculty of Engineering, Postdoctoral Researcher (JSPS) (while on the job)

2001.06 - 2002.03, Tokyo University, Faculty of Science, Postdoctoral Researcher

2002.04 - 2003.03, Kyushu University, Faculty of Engineering, Research Assistant (COE)

2003.04 - 2004.04, University of Paris (XI), Institute of Molecular Sciences, Research Assistant (Red position of CRNS)

2004.06 - 2007.10, Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Fudan University, Associate Professor

2007.11 - 2021.03 Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Professor

2019.06 – Present, Donghua University, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Professor


Recent main research directions and brief introduction

1. Fluorescent probes and tracer-type prodrug controlled-release systems

Develop functional fluorescent materials based on organic small molecules or inorganic nanosystems, and apply them to the detection of disease-related markers as well as activation-type drug controlled-release systems for specific diseases.

2. New organic and hybrid optical functional materials

Develop new functional optical materials through structural design for performance optimization, construct multifunctional materials with fluorescence, phosphorescence, delayed fluorescence, color change, light sensitivity, stimulus response, etc., and explore their applications in anti-counterfeiting identification, sensing, biological imaging, etc.

3. Light-absorbing materials and diagnostic systems based on macrocyclic structures

Utilize organic synthesis and coordination assembly methods to construct new macrocyclic compounds and host-guest assembly systems, study their structure-activity relationship, and explore their applications in photocatalysis, drug delivery, and diagnosis.


Honors and Awards:

  1. Second Prize of Shanghai Natural Science Award (2023, first contributor)

  2. First Prize of Natural Science of the Ministry of Education (2015, second contributor)

  3. Shanghai Outstanding Academic Leader (2012)

  4. National Outstanding Young Scientist Fund (2011)

  5. Shanghai Pujiang Talent (2006)


Representative papers

  1. Zhiting Wu, Liyi Zhang,# Xinrui Mao, Jingjing Zhu, Jiaoduan Li, Chengcheng Wang, Weiwei Jiang, Yun Zhang, Xuexue Huang, Hongjun Zhuang,* Peng Wei,* and Tao Yi*, Ferrous Iron Metabolism Modulator for Immune Stress Regulation and Its Application in Skin Allograft Models, J. Am. Chem. Soc.2025, 147, 25325−25336


  1. Feiyang Liu, Lingyan Liu,* Mengfan Zhang, Jinzi Li, Mingxin Li, Peng Wei, and Tao Yi*, A Multivalent Targeting Strategy for Developing Reactive Oxygen Species-Activated Tumor-Seeking Probe to Guide Precise Surgical, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2025, e202510441


  1. Mingjie Jia, Yishuo Sun, Weiwei Jiang, Qingqing Wang, Xuexue Huang, Gangqiang Wang, Hongwei Wu,* Peng Wei,* and Tao Yi* Near-Infrared Light-Triggered In Situ Construction of 3D “Fishing Net” Polymer Networks Using Upconversion Nanoparticles for Tumor Therapy, ACS Nano2025, 19, 23379−23392


  1. Yan Liu, Xiang Wang, Ben Wang, Zhenni Lu, Changru Wu, Zhanghao He, Libo Jiang,* Peng Wei,* Tao Yi*, Constructing Activatable Photosensitizers Using Covalently Modified Mesoporous Silica, Adv. Sci.2025, 2406887.


  1. Mengfan Zhang, Lingyan Liu, Peng Wei*, Wei Feng,*Tao Yi*, A proximity tagging strategy utilizing an activated aldehyde group as the active site. Chin. Chem. Lett.2025, 36, 110127.


  1. Lei Gao, Glib V. Baryshnikov, Amjad Ali, Artem Kuklin, Cheng Qian, Xianrui Zhang, Fengkun Chen, Tao Yi,* and Hongwei Wu* Hydrophilic Cocrystals with Water Switched Luminescence, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2024, e202318497


  1. Chengcheng Wang, Jingjing Zhu, Shasha Wang, Lingzhou Zhao,* Peng Wei,* and Tao Yi* Self-Assembled Nano-CT Contrast Agent Leveraging Size Aggregation for Improved In Vivo Tumor CT Imaging, Adv. Mater.2024, 2309789


  1. Feiyang Liu, Lingyan Liu, Peng Wei*, Tao Yi*, A reactive oxygen species-triggerable theranostic prodrug system, J. Controlled Release2024, 376, 961–971


  1. Xiang Wang, Yu Guo, Long Zhao, Yuqin Yang*, Peng Wei*, Tao Yi,* Conditionally restricted detection of nitrite under acidic conditions by activatable fluorescent probes, J. Hazard. Mater.2024, 478, 135495


  1. Shasha Wang, Jiexiang Zhan, Xiaojun Zhou, Chuanglong He,* Peng Wei,* and Tao Yi*, Design and Application of an In Situ Traceable Nitric Oxide Donor for Promoting the Healing of Wound Infections, Adv. Healthcare Mater. 2024, 2400922.


  1. Zhenni Lu, Peng Wei, Hongying Peng, Libo Jiang*, Peiyi Wu*, and Tao Yi*, A smart hypochlorous acid fluorescent probe enabling Ibuprofen-release for osteoarthritis theranostics. Theranostics, 2024; 14(10): 3900-3908.


  1. Chengcheng Wang Roumin Wang Lingzhou Zhao Shasha Wang Yan Liu Jinhua Zhao Yi Dong Lingyan Liu Peng Wei,* Zhi-Ying Wu,* Tao Yi,* Constructing “smart” chelators by using an activatable prochelator strategy for the treatment of Wilson’s disease, Redox Biology2024, 70, 103076


  1. Mingjie Jia, Yonghang Liu, Peng Wei* Tao Yi*, From small to large—The application of in situ polymerizationwithin tumor cells, Aggregate, 2024, e533


  1. Dengqing Zhang*, Man Li, Bei Jiang, Senkun Liu, Jie Yang, Xiang Yang, Ke Ma, Xiaojuan Yuan, Tao Yi*, Three–step cascaded artificial light–harvesting systems with tunable efficiency based on metallacycles, J. Colloid Interface Sci. 2023, 652, 1494–1502.


  1. Lingyan Liu, Feiyang Liu, Dongya Liu, Wei Yuan, Mengfan Zhang, Peng Wei*, TaoYi*. A Smart Theranostic Prodrug System Activated by Reactive Oxygen Species for Regional Chemotherapy of Metastatic Cancer. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022,61 (12), e202116807.


  1. Yiran Li, Glib V. Baryshnikov, Farhan Siddique, Peng Wei, Hongwei Wu,* and Tao Yi*.Vibration-Regulated Multi-State Long-Lived Emission from Star-Shaped Molecules. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022,134, e202213051


  1. Feiyang Liu, Lingyan Liu, Dongya Liu, Peng Wei,* Wei Feng and Tao Yi*. An excipient-free “sugar-coated bullet” for the targeted treatment of orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma. Chem. Sci. 2022,13 (36), 10815-10823


  1. Lei Zhou, Hong-Jun Zhuang,* Qing Chen, Li-Ping Jiang, Xue-Min Han, Yu-Xiang Ge, Tai-Wei Zhang, Hai-Feng Liang, Wang Ding, Ming Qi, Jian Dong,* Tao Yi*, Li-Bo Jiang,*. Precise targeting of osteopontin in non-small cell lung cancer spinal metastasis to promote chemosensitivity via a smart hollow nano-platform. Chem. Eng. J.2022,436, 132131.


  1. Peng Wei, Qing Wang, and Tao Yi*, From Fluorescent Probes to the Theranostics Platform, Chin. J. Chem. 2022, 40, 1964-1974.


  1. Dengqing Zhang,* Wei Yu, Suwan Li, Yan Xia, Xianying Li, Yiran Li, and Tao Yi*Artificial Light-Harvesting Metallacycle System with Sequential Energy Transfer for Photochemical Catalysis, J. Am. Chem. Soc.2021, 143, 1313-1317


  1. Xiaomin Li, Junyi Wang, Fengfeng Xue, Yichen Wu, Hualong Xu, Tao Yi,* and Qiaowei Li* An Imine-Linked Metal–Organic Framework as a Reactive Oxygen Species Generator. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 2534-2540


  1. Dongya Liu, Lingyan Liu, Feiyang Liu, Mengfan Zhang, Peng Wei,* and Tao Yi*. HOCl-Activated Aggregation of Gold Nanoparticles for Multimodality Therapy of Tumors. Adv. Sci. 2021,8 (17), 2100074


  1. Wen Wang, Ruohan Li, Shuzhang Xiao*, Qilin Xing, Xia Yan, Jiayu Zhang, Xinghong Zhang, Haichuang Lan & Tao Yi*, Design of High-Contrast Mechanochromic Materials Based on Aggregation-Induced Emissive Pyran Derivatives Guided by Polymorph Predictions, CCS Chem.2021, 3, 1587–1597


  1. Peng Wei, Lingyan Liu, Wei Yuan*, Jiajia Yang, Ruohan Li & Tao Yi* A fluorescent probe operating under weak acidic conditions for the visualization of HOCl in solid tumors in vivo. Sci. China Chem. 2020,63 (8), 1153-1158


  1. Peng Wei, Lingyan Liu, Ying Wen, Guilong Zhao, Fengfeng Xue, Wei Yuan, Ruohan Li, Yaping Zhong, Mengfan Zhang, Tao Yi.*Release of Amino- or Carboxy-Containing Compounds Triggered by HOCl: Application for Imaging and Drug Design. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019,58 (14), 4547-4551


  1. Peng Wei, Wei Yuan, Fengfeng Xue, Wei Zhou, Ruohan Li, Datong Zhang and Tao Yi*. Deformylation reaction-based probe for in vivo imaging of HOCl. Chem. Sci,2018,9 (2), 495-501.


  1. Xudong Yu, Liming Chen, Mingming Zhang, Tao Yi. * Low-molecular-mass gels responding to ultrasound and mechanical stress: Towards self-healing materials, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2014, 43, 5346-5371.


  1. Junchen Wu, Ying Zou, Chunyan Li, Wilhelm Sicking, Ivo Piantanida, Tao Yi*, and Carsten Schmuck*, A Molecular Peptide Beacon for the Ratiometric Sensing of Nucleic Acids, J. Am. Chem. Soc.,2012, 134, 1958-1961.


  1. Ying Zou, Tao Yi,* Shuzhang Xiao, Fuyou Li, Chunyan Li, Xia Gao, Junchen Wu, Mengxiao Yu, Chunhui Huang. Amphiphilic Diarylethene as a Photoswitchable Probe for Imaging Living Cells. J. Am. Chem. Soc.2008, 130, 15750-15751.


  1. Junchen Wu, Tao Yi,* Tianmin Shu, Mengxiao Yu, Zhiguo Zhou, Miao Xu, Yifeng Zhou, Huijun Zhang, Jiantao Han, Fuyou Li, Chunhui Huang*.Ultrasound switch and thermal self-repair of morphology and surface wettability in a cholesterol-based self-assembly system. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2008, 47(6), 1063-1067.

Main academic positions held:

  1. Editorial Board Member of “Chinese Journal of Inorganic Chemistry”

  2. Editorial Board Member of “Smart Molecules”

  3. Editorial Board Member of “Advanced Interventional Materials”

  4. Editorial Board Member of “Crystals”

  5. Editorial Board Member of “Nanomedicine Therapeutics”

  6. Editorial Board Member of “Journal of Donghua University (English Edition)”

  7. Member of the Shanghai Society of Biomedical Engineering

  8. Member of the Ceramic Committee of the Chinese Crystal Society

  9. Member of the Interdisciplinary Committee on Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Biology

International Exchange and Cooperation

We have maintained cooperation and exchanges with multiple research groups from the United States, Japan, France, and Singapore. We have participated in international academic conferences and delivered invited presentations over 30 times.


Contact Information

Room B628, Composite Materials Collaborative Innovation Building, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Songjiang District, Shanghai 201620

Email: yitao@dhu.edu.cn