Recently, Zhang Zhen, a distinguished associate research fellow at the Key Laboratory of Coarse Cereal Processing funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in the College of Pharmacy and Bioengineering, published as the first author and with Chengdu University as the first affiliated institution the latest research paper entitled "Transition-Metal-Free Lactamization of C(sp3)—H Bonds with CO2: Facile Generation of Pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidin-4-ones" in Green Chemistry, a top international journal in the field of chemistry and green sustainable technology. Zhang Zhen and Yu Dagang, a famous expert in CO2 utilization, are joint corresponding authors.

In this research, eco-friendly, non-toxic and renewable CO2 was used as the carbonyl source, and a series of bioactive pyrimidinone compounds were efficiently made from pyridine imine compounds. Compared with the previous method of using carbon monoxide as the carbonyl source, this kind of conversion, with no need for highly toxic CO, equivalentoxidant and transition metal, is green and simple in reaction, with sound application and development prospects.