School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University was founded in 1928 as the Chemistry Department of Jiao Tong University. Back then, it was attached to School of Natural Sciences, with Professor Xu Mingcai serving as the first dean.

In 1937, part  of the  department of  Chemistry moved westward to Chongqing with the university, because of Japanese invasion against China.  Shanghai was occupied by the enemy. while the remainder  departments moved into the French Concession to continue running, of which are suspended after the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1942. After the Chinese victory of the Anti-Japanese war in 1945, the Jiao Tong University returned to Shanghai and the department of chemistry got reconstructed.

In 1946, the department of Chemical Engineering  was set up, promoting the synchronous development of basic research and applied research. Within the next few years, organic chemistry labs and biology labs were built, which  make the academic development more comprehensive . Chemistry developed rapidly  at that time. Many famous scholars had once worked in  the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering: such as Yuanfu Su, Yidong Gu, Zhaolun Zeng, Dayu Zhang and Xuezhou Wu. They brought up Many students., such as Baogong Qian, Guangxian Xu, Xiaoxia Gao, Xiaobai Xu, Fangding Wang, Jingtang Wang, Ruren Xu, Ying Hu and Xingya Guan.  nowadays, they are all academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Academy of Engineering , have made outstanding contributions to the construction of the new China.

In 1952, the adjustment of department setting for college and university ,this moving just imitate former USSR’ experience . At the same year, the Department of Chemistry all moved to Fudan University and the Department of Chemical Engineering moved into the Co-founder, the East China Institute of Chemical Technology(now East China University of Science and Technology).  Jiao Tong University moved again from Shanghai to Xi'an in 1956. The chemistry teaching and research division (which was set up after the adjustment) also moved to Xi’an and later became the important pillar of the basic subjects in Xi'an Jiao Tong University. In 1956, the chemistry teaching and research division was rebuilt, and so did the physico-chemical analysis teaching and research division in 1957.

After 20 years' recovery, in May, 1979, Shanghai Jiao Tong University formally established the Applied Chemistry Department, which included three  teaching and research divisions: chemistry, physico-chemical analysis and polymer materials. In the same year, the electrochemistry teaching and research division was established. In 1984, institute of environmental science and engineering and institute of biological science and technology were set up. The Department of Applied Chemistry started to recruit postgraduates major in environmental chemical engineering and molecular biology. It laid foundation for the rapid development of two emerging subjects (now School of Environmental Science and Engineering and School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology).  It showed the foresight and wisdom of  The Department of Applied Chemistry.

From 1979 to 1997, the Applied Chemistry had fully developed in aspects such as subject distribution, research structure and talents cultivation, which built up a solid foundation for its later great-leap-forward development. Under such  circumstances, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering  was officially set up in 1997.

Nowadays, SCCE  has three departments -- Department of Polymer Science and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering and Department of Chemistry, seven institutes -- Institute of Chiral Chemistry and Technology, Research Institute of Fine Chemicals, Institute of Electrochemical Engineering & Energy Technology, Polymer Science Institute, Advanced Rheology Institute, Power Battery Material Institute and Hirano Materials Innovation Institute, two experiment centers -- Central Analytic Lab and Fundamental Chemistry Experiment Center, and two labs -- Shanghai Key Lab of “Electric Insulation & Thermal Aging” and SJTU-Hitachi Chemical Research Center. School’s discipline layout is integrated. We have first-class postdoctoral research center of chemistry, first-class doctoral program of chemistry and second-class doctoral program of applied chemistry. We also have two first-class master degree programs: one is of chemistry and the other one is of chemical engineering and technology, and master degree programs in the field of chemical engineering. In the undergraduate part, we have two majors: applied chemistry and chemical engineering and technology, among which polymer chemistry and physics are key subjects in Shanghai.

SCCE now has a qualified faculty of 136 full-time teachers and researchers, of which over 90% have doctoral degrees, 80% have studied or worked abroad experience, including 36 professors, 1 academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2 academicians of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 1 chair professor of "Thousand Young Talent Program", 1 chief scientists of “973 plans projects”, 1 National Top Talent and Innovation Team, 4"Chang Jiang Scholars Program"chair professors, 10 winners of National Science Funds for Outstanding Youths, 2 Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize winners, 2 winners of “Hundred Talent Program” and 13 New Century Talent recognized by the Ministry of Education.

SCCE has a laboratory building of nearly 20,000  m² and various instrument and equipment with the total value over 65 million yuan, which provides wonderful experimental conditions and bases for teaching and scientific research. Now, SCCE has various advanced instrument and equipment such as high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet spectroscopy, fluorescence spectrophotometer, gel permeation chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer, thermal gravimetric analysis, NMR spectroscopy, high performance liquid chromatography, capillary rheometer, a rotational rheometer, various polymer performance test equipment, electrochemical tester, micro-chemical reaction equipment and supercritical separation equipment.

SCCE’s major research fields: Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative chemistry, materials chemistry, inorganic nanomaterials and chiral mesoporous materials, supramolecular chemistry, organometallic chemistry, asymmetric synthesis and catalysis chiral ligands, bioanalytical chemistry and metabolic chemistry, molecular modeling and computational chemistry, method and application of the quantum chemistry of heavy atom system, density functional theory method and application, polymer self-assembly, polymer rheology, rubber processing and product, polymer composites, electrochemical engineering and energy storage battery technology, catalytic reaction engineering and new energy chemical industry, fine chemicals, green chemical technology, metal corrosion and protection technology development and environmental protection and comprehensive utilization.

SCCE, adhering to the mutual promotion of science and engineering and the principle of putting emphasis both on theoretical basis and application, has made great achievements in  training, basic theory and technology research. According to the data published by ESI -- an authoritative international assessment tool, subject of chemistry in SJTU ranks in the world's top 1%. According to 2012 World University Rankings issued by Quacquarelli Symonds, the subject of chemistry and the subject of chemical engineering and technology rank among global TOP100. For example, SCCE has made several research results with international influence in the field of the controllable preparation of hyperbranched polymer and self-assembly, chiral chemicals and photoelectric conversion materials, respectively high level academic papers were published on the "SCIENCE" and "NATURE", which is the first time in the history of SJTU, and later won the second prize of China's State Natural Science Award.

Utilize  the key technology of fluoride ion separation membrane, SCCE has tackled the problem bothered domestic  industry for many years and won the second prize of National Award for Technology Invention. "College Chemistry", " Organic Chemistry"offered by SCCE have been assessed as excellent courses in Shanghai’ and  national. SCCE’s students have a good performance in paper writing, and scientific and technological activities. Three postgraduates won IUPAC Prizes For Young Chemists respectively while there are only 5 winners each year.

In recent years, SCCE published over 200 SCI papers yearly on International Journals. such as J.Am.Chem.Soc., and Angew.Chem.Int.Ed. The research funding reaches 50 million yuan per year which provides fund guarantee for the school.

Mingcai Xu, Chengqi Pan, Baogan Lu, Suming Shen, Pu Liang, Weiyu Qiu, Yuanfu Su, Birou Sun, Xiangming Xu, Xiaozhen Tang, Jie Yin, Qinghua Lu, Jiesheng Chen, Xinyuan Zhu  have served successively as dean or president of SCCE.